New York, USA 2014

Voices of Hope in a Time of Crisis

Climate chaos, world conflict, species extinction, income inequality, financial insecurity…

All our most pressing crises are connected. And they have their roots in an economy dominated by global corporations.
In our film, The Economics of Happiness, we documented how the global economy is destroying ecosystems, cultures and any prospect of financial security. The economy also deeply affects our personal wellbeing, with rates of depression, alienation, suicide and violence on the rise. We need structural change.

Rebuilding local economies is a solution-multiplier, reducing our ecological footprint while simultaneously
increasing our social and economic well-being. Want to help build the movement? Join us for a day of cutting-edge discussion, debate and cultural exchange with inspirational speakers from around the world. Be part of the launch of the International Alliance for Localization, a new forum for global collaboration to support place-based solutions on a planetary scale.

Voices of Hope Program

Photo by Liz Withham

TOPICS:

Michael Shuman
The Coming Local Capital Revolution and the End of Wall Street

Judy Wicks
Localization and Business: Awakening the Heart of the Entrepreneur

Chris Hedges
Driving American Politics Underground

Adebayo Akomolafe
Keeping Local Culture Alive in the South

Manish Jain
Reimagining Education for Life-based Economies

Catherine Ingram
Keeping your Cool in a World on Fire

Scott Chaskey
Local Food, Local Economies

Charles Eisenstein
Connecting with People, Connecting with the Earth

Laura Flanders
Commonomics: Building Strong Local Economies (A project of YES Magazine and GRITtv)

Camila Moreno
Trade Treaties and Food Sovereignty

Helena Norberg-Hodge
The Economics of Happiness

Elizabeth Yeampierre
Climate Justice and Place-based Resilience

With an introductory talk by Peter Buffet

Photos of the event

Videos of the talks

Speakers

.	Bayo Akomolafe (PhD) is an ethnopsychotherapeutic researcher, lecturer and author from Covenant University in Nigeria. He is an international speaker, poet and activist for radical systemic shifts in current social, political and economic configurations. He is Coordinator of the International Alliance for Localization. His is an emerging voice in the world calling for a new forms of consciousness by turning to each other in small ways, and reconnecting with our “shamanic effusiveness and utter magnificence.” Bayo and his “life-force,” Ej, are currently on an enchanted journey to reclaim their lives and intimacy with the earth, with community, and with a larger palette of possibilities. He is writing his second book, And We Shall Dance with the Mountains and a novel, The Boy Who Stayed Outside. Ej and Bayo are ecstatic parents of a girl, Alethea-Aanya.
.	Camila Moreno works with social movements in Brazil and Latin America on social and environmental dimensions of biotechnology and agribusiness expansion in the region. Her main areas of study, writing and activism in recent years have been on the territorial impacts of development policies and emerging schemes associated to the green economy.
.	Catherine Ingram is the author of Passionate Presence, In the Footsteps of Gandhi, and A Crack in Everything. A former journalist specializing in issues of consciousness and activism, she has internationally led retreats and public sessions of Dharma Dialogues since 1993 and is founder and president of Living Dharma, an educational nonprofit organization.
.	Charles Eisenstein is a speaker and writer focusing on themes of human culture and identity. He is the author of several books, most recently Sacred Economics and The More Beautiful World our Hearts Know is Possible. His background includes a degree in mathematics and philosophy from Yale, a decade in Taiwan as a translator, and stints as a college instructor, a yoga teacher, and a construction worker. He currently writes and speaks full-time. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and four children.
.	Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and foreign correspondent who writes a regular column for Truthdig.com. His books include, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (with Joe Sacco), Death of the Liberal Class, and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.
.	Elizabeth Yeampierre is a nationally recognized Puerto Rican attorney and environmental justice leader of African and Indigenous ancestry born and raised in New York City. She is Executive Director of UPROSE and a long-time advocate and trailblazer for community organizing around sustainable development, environmental justice and community-led climate adaptation and community resiliency. Her work is featured in several books and a variety of media outlets throughout the United States, Latin America and Europe. Elizabeth was recently named one of the top 100 Green Leaders by Poder Hispanic Magazine.
.	Helena Norberg-Hodge is pioneer of the worldwide localisation movement, and recipient of the Goi Peace prize and the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’. She is the producer of the award-winning The Economics of Happiness and author of Ancient Futures – based on her in-depth knowledge of ancient Tibetan culture. She is the founder of Local Futures and International Alliance for Localization (IAL) and a founding member of the International Forum on Globalisation (IFG) and The Global Ecovillage Network.
.	Laura Flanders is a broadcast journalist and author. She hosts GRITtv with Laura Flanders, and is a regular contributor to Yes! Magazine(“Commonomics”), The Nation and MSNBC. Her books include, Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians andBushwomen: Tales of a Cynical Species, a study of the women in George W. Bush’s cabinet. Follow her on twitter at @GRITlaura
.	Judy Wicks is founder of White Dog Café and an international leader and speaker in the local living economies movement. Judy is co-founder of the nationwide Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). She also founded the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia and Fair Food.
.	Manish Jain is co-founder of Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Institute for Re-thinking Education and Development and co-founder of Swaraj University, which is dedicated to the regeneration of local culture, economy and ecology. He is the editor of several books on such themes as learning societies, unlearning, gift culture, community, and tools for deep dialogue.
.	Michael Shuman is an economist, attorney, author, and entrepreneur, and a globally recognized expert on community economics. He is a founding board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), and a Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. The author of Local Dollars, Local Sense, he leads community-based economic development efforts across the country.
.	Peter Buffet is an Emmy Award winning musician and philanthropist. He composed the score for 500 Nations, CBS miniseries produced by Kevin Costner and his piece, Spirit: The Seventh Fire, premiered as part of the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. Together with his wife, Jennifer, he is co-chair and co-president of the NoVo Foundation. He is the author of Life Is What You Make It.
.	Scott Chaskey author, poet, philanthropist and farmer, runs Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett, New York, one of the first CSA farms in the country. He is the author of Seedtime: On the History, Husbandry, Politicsand Promise of Seeds and This Common Ground: Seasons on an Organic Farm.