Author archive: Local Futures

After Paris: Climate Change or System Change?

#Occupy Happiness

Occupy Main Street!

Local Futures’ mission is to protect and renew ecological and social well being by promoting a systemic shift away from economic globalization towards localization. Through its “education for action” programs, Local Futures develops innovative models and tools to catalyze collaboration for strategic change at the community and international level.

In the wake of the Paris climate talks, Local Futures has released a 16-page action paper entitled Climate Change or System Change? In this paper we argue that globalization – that is, the deregulation of trade and finance through an ongoing series of “free trade” treaties – is the driving force behind climate change. As a result, the climate problem can only be tackled effectively if governments stop subsidizing globalization, and begin pursuing a localization agenda instead. Although … [Read more...]

Occupy Wall Street has captured the imagination of people all over the world with the prospect of a more participatory, people-powered future. We at ISEC are particularly excited that the Occupy Movement is focusing its critique on corporate control. We have been working for many years to scale back the power of corporations by building a new economy--one based on an economics of localization. A central part of that work is to point out not only on the abuses of large-scale business and … [Read more...]

« February 2020 »

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) has ‘gone local’, with hundreds of communities across the United States holding Occupy Main Street demonstrations and general assemblies. While the Occupy Movement is quickly gaining momentum, it remains to be seen how it might improve economic and social conditions in the long run. A related movement—the movement for economic localization—has been resisting corporate influence and simultaneously creating community oriented, environmentally-minded alternatives for … [Read more...]