Happiness In A Time Of Crisis – UK, 2019

Thursday, July 11th to Monday July 15th, 2019
(this event has passed)

The Gaunts House
Dorset, UK

With Helena Norberg-Hodge, Satish Kumar, Mac Macartney
& guest speakers

The Richard Glyn Charitable Foundation hosted this highly participatory, first-of-its-kind residential event at Gaunts House. The course was designed to re-awaken our deep ties to community and nature, and to explore the actions, attitudes and policy shifts that can lead to a happier, healthier and more equitable world.

The course was hosted by Local Futures’ founder Helena Norberg-Hodge, together with renowned peace and environmental activist Satish Kumar, and author and eco-warrior Mac Macartney. All three are internationally-recognized and inspirational thought-leaders and speakers. We were also joined by guest speakers and facilitators with a diverse breadth of knowledge and experience.

Gaunts House offered a perfect setting for this event with its 2,000 acres of stunning grounds that include lush forests, flower meadows, organic gardens and extensive parkland.

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View all photos in our Flickr album here.

What the Course is About:

The crises we face are all linked. From global warming to financial meltdown, to widespread depression to the rise of the far right, everything is telling us that we need fundamental changes in society. More and more, people are realising that the global economy isn’t working, and they’re calling for system change. Transforming the economy is becoming the world’s most urgent issue.

We believe the solutions are linked and lie in a radically different paradigm. Rather than attempting to ‘grow the economy’, we need to focus instead on meeting real human and ecological needs through re-awakening our deep ties to community and nature.

We need a systemic shift from Globalising to Localising economic activity – reversing the process of economic globalisation while encouraging the regeneration of healthy ecosystems and communities.

Localisation is a powerful strategy for inner and outer healing, as local economies rebuild our connections to one another and to the natural world – connections that are essential not only for our wellbeing but for our survival.

Topics Covered

Main Contributors

Helena Norberg-Hodge – Founder & Director of Local Futures

is a pioneer of the new economy movement. She has been promoting an economics of social and ecological wellbeing for four decades on four continents and has been awarded the Alternative Nobel prize, the Goi Peace Prize and the Arthur Morgan Award for her work. She appeared at the Gaunts House Summer Gathering last summer. Read more about Helena here.

Satish Kumar – Peace & environment activist, Editor of Resurgence Magazine

has been quietly setting the global agenda for change for over 50 years. He continues to teach and run workshops on reverential ecology, holistic education and voluntary simplicity, and is a much-sought-after speaker both in the UK and abroad. Read more about Satish here.

Mac Macartney – ‘Eco-warrior’ & founder of Embercombe

is an international speaker, writer and change-maker, with profound and original insights. Mac seeks to inspire the emergence of the leader in each of us, the leader who will take courageous action for a better world. Read more about Mac here.

Guest Speakers

Camila Moreno – Environmental researcher, author & activist

has worked extensively on land reform, deforestation, GMOs, agribusiness, biofuels and biodiversity issues. She is a leading climate-policy expert and critical voice on neoliberal climate policies. the “greening of capitalism schemes” and associated land grabbing, carbon trading and payment for ecosystem services. Camila has followed the resource extraction dynamics plays in Brazil and Latin America for two decades and been a strong opponent to the “modern” techno-scientific development package. She is the author of ‘Carbon Metrics: Global Abstractions and Ecological Epistemicide’ (English, Spanish, Portuguese) and ‘Carbon Metrics and the New Colonial Equations’ (Portuguese).

David Wilson – Farm manager of the Duchy Home Farm

has been an integral part of the Duchy Home Farm at Highgrove – probably the best-known biological farm in the world. For over 30 years, he has worked alongside Prince Charles to set an example of how to farm in harmony with nature, without poisons and pollution. David has a profound understanding of the fundamental importance of food production for our spiritual and physical needs and ecological wellbeing. Read more about David here.

Jyoti Fernandes – Chairperson of Five Penny Farm, Campaigns Coordinator of the Landworkers’ Alliance, Via Campesina

is a Dorset smallholder with vegetables, Jersey cows, goats, pigs and sheep (which provide excellent fleeces and knitting wool). She also produces apple juice, cider, and cheese. She is the Campaigns Coordinator of the Landworkers’ Alliance, the British arm of the worldwide peasants’ organization, Via Campesina. Read more about Jyoti here.

Peter Macfadyen – Direct democracy champion

is the author of Flatpack Democracy – a DIY guide to independent politics. He has been co-creating a new relationship between local government and the people as a councillor in Frome. Central to his belief is the need to move from a politics based on fear and confrontation to one of listening, empathy and co-operation. Read more about Peter here.

Rupert Read – Green Campaigner and spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion

is a Reader in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia and an author and blogger. He stood as the Green Party MP-candidate for Cambridge in 2015 and is currently running for the European Parliament as a Green Party candidate in the East of England. He previously chaired the Green House Think Tank. Read more about Rupert here.

Stephan Harding – Director of the MSc in Holistic Science at Schumacher College

is a deep ecologist and a specialist in gaia education. He is the author of Animate Earth and editor of Grow Small, Think Beautiful. He has taught alongside many world-leading ecological thinkers and activists and has a great gift for helping people reconnect with nature. Read more about Stephan here.

Anja Lyngbaek – Local food and new economy activist

is the Associate Programmes Director of Local Futures. She teaches on local food and new economy issues, and divides her life between her native Denmark and her home in an eco-village in Mexico. She is the co-founder of Microcuenca del Rio Citlalapa – a sustainable community development NGO – and a rural school with similar goals, both in Mexico.

Facilitators

The course will be facilitated by Anja Lyngbaek and Laura Tyley.

Laura Tyley – Outreach Coordinator at Local Futures

helps to find new ways of communicating the economics of happiness message.  She is passionate about encouraging young people to look outside the box and get engaged in groups and events that can lead them towards fulfilling and meaningful lives.