Local Bites

Described by journalist George Monbiot as “one of the greatest thinkers of our age,” Jeremy Lent is the founder of the Liology Institute and the author of ‘The Patterning Instinct' and, most recently, ‘The Web of Meaning'. His work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization's existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future. In his own words, his work: “has been a journey of many years, during which I dedicated myself full time to deep research in disciplines such as neuroscience, history, and anthropology, and to exploring the great traditions of Buddhism, Taoism, Neo-Confucianism, and Indigenous wisdom.” In this conversation with Helena Norberg-Hodge, Jeremy unpacks many of the assumptions and world views that underpin modern society's destructive trajectory. Together, they outline worldview transformations that contribute to a vision for a more sustainable and humane future – a future that both Helena and Jeremy truly believe to be within our grasp.   See our new - Localization Action Guide. Please write to info@localfutures.org with any comments and ideas for future topics/guests. Intro music by Gillicuddy (CC BY-NC 3.0).

Brazilian researcher and activist Dr. Camila Moreno has attended almost all the major climate conferences in the last decade. In this conversation with Helena Norberg-Hodge, she offers a rare glimpse into the internal workings of the multilateral negotiations. She explains how the narrow focus on carbon is turning climate itself into a tradable commodity for profit, and how the "decarbonization" agenda is linked to technocracy and increased surveillance. We are left with greater clarity, and a stark choice between a human future and a high-tech dystopia. This is key listening for climate/environmental activists. See our new - Localization Action Guide. Please write to info@localfutures.org with any comments and ideas for future topics/guests. Intro music by Gillicuddy (CC BY-NC 3.0).

You would struggle to find three individuals more equipped to navigate the big picture of global economic mega-structures and civilizational transformation than Tyson, Alnoor and Helena. Between them, they share a wealth of diverse experiences, radical analysis and bold future-visioning, as well as a healthy dose of banter and laughter. Their far-reaching conversation analyses conspiracy theory, the global financial system and capitalist ideology, while outlining the power of localization and sacred activism to build a radically different future. This one is well worth a listen. Please write to info@localfutures.org with any comments and ideas for future topics/guests. Intro music by Gillicuddy (CC BY-NC 3.0).

  Tyson Yunkaporta, author of Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, joins Local Futures’ director Helena Norberg-Hodge to explore “right story” - cognitive frameworks that can help us navigate through the neo-colonial, techno-globalist age, and towards more interconnected, land-based futures. Touching on everything from marginal identities to electromagnetic pulses, from the local food movement to civilizational “apocalypse”, they outline the great necessity for all people to experience a “right of return”: to land, to community, to the local.   Related links: - Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World

In this episode, we cover the inspiring story of the Copenhagen Food Coop, a member-owned alternative to mainstream grocery stores which allows people to not only have regular access to fresh local food, but also to make decisions about what foods the coop purchases and how the coop is run.   NOTE: This episode was recorded before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though some of the activities mentioned in this episode - such as community harvest celebrations and group farm visits  - are currently 'on hold', the work of the Copenhagen Food Coop and other groups to build strong local food economies has never been more important.   Related links: - Website of the Copenhagen Food Coop - Ökostart (toolkit for starting a food coop, created by the Copenhagen Food Coop) (site in Danish) - Planet Local library   Intro music by Gillicuddy (CC BY-NC 3.0).   Please write to info@localfutures.org with any comments and ideas for future topics/guests!

In this episode we speak with Judith Hitchman, the president of Urgenci, an international network of community-supported agriculture groups (CSAs). The conversation touches on decommodifying food, ISDS clauses, local food policy councils, and many more topics related to local food.     Related links: - Urgenci - the international CSA network - Article: 'Saving Japan’s seed heritage from “free trade”' - Article: 'Tosepan - Resistance and Renewal in Mexico' - Booklet: 'Localization: Essential Steps to an Economics of Happiness' - Links to Organizations for Change - 'Insane Trade' factsheet and short film   Photo by Peg Diaz (http://pegdiaz.com/) Music by Gillicuddy: 1; 2; 3 (CC BY-NC 3.0).   Please write to info@localfutures.org with any comments and ideas for future topics/guests!

Juan del Río is a co-founder of the Spanish Transition Network, and author of the first book about the Transition movement to be published in Spanish. In this interview from the New Economy and Social Innovation (NESI) forum, he gives us his thoughts on economic transition, how different economic systems encode different values, how trade treaties threaten community resilience, and what we can do about it all.     Related links: - Read about our work in Ladakh over the years - Read the foreword to Juan's book about the Transition movement in Spain, by Transition founder Rob Hopkins - The Spanish Transition Network (Red de Transición)   Photo: Juan giving a talk on the Transition movement. Music by: Gillicuddy and Podington Bear (CC BY-NC 3.0).   Please write to info@localfutures.org with any comments and ideas for future topics/guests.

From social enterprises to credit unions, a new wave of not-for-profit businesses is pushing back against the assumption that consumerism and competition must drive the economy. In this episode, we speak with Jen Hinton of the Post Growth Institute, co-author of a forthcoming book about how the line between businesses and not-for-profit organizations doesn’t have to be as rigid as you might think.     Related links: - How On Earth - the website for the forthcoming book. - 'Beyond capitalism: not-for-profit business ethos motivates sustainable behaviour', by Jen Hinton and Donnie Maclurcan, Oct 2014. - Community-Wealth.org's factsheets about worker cooperatives, social enterprises, municipal enterprises, community development corporations, and community financial institutions.   Photo: Goodwill Industries, one of the first entities to blur the line between business and nonprofit. Music by: Gillicuddy (CC BY-NC 3.0), Chris Zabriskie (CC BY 3.0), and Podington Bear (CC BY-NC 3.0).   Please write to info@localfutures.org with any comments and ideas for future topics/guests.

In this episode, we chat with Diego Isabel La Moneda of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WE-All), a growing group of people and organizations around the world focused on co-creating a new economic system. The goal of WE-All is to bring businesses, NGOs, policymakers, faith-based groups, academics and citizens all together into a coherent global new economy movement, with a vision for change and a set of strategies for how to achieve it. Related links: - The Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WE-All) website   Photo by Pierre Ferron. Music by Chris Zabriskie (CC BY 4.0).   Write to info@localfutures.org with your comments and ideas for future topics/guests.  

Francisco Grau is a co-founder of Feria Verde, one of the largest and oldest organic farmers markets in Costa Rica. In this episode, Local Futures' Associate Programs Director Anja Lyngbaek, sits down with Francisco to talk about how the market got started, how it’s kept itself running and thriving for nearly a decade, and what lessons Feria Verde has to offer for people thinking about starting farmers markets in their own communities. Related links: - Feria Verde's website (in Spanish) - Feria Verde on Facebook   Photo by Francisco Grau. Music by Chris Zabriskie (CC BY 4.0), Doctor Turtle (CC BY 4.0), and Gillicuddy ("Jupiter the Blue" & "Springish"; CC BY-NC 3.0).   Write to info@localfutures.org with your comments and ideas for future topics/guests.  

Listen to a conversation between two giants of the local economy movement in this extended episode. Helena Norberg-Hodge founded Local Futures, produced the film The Economics of Happiness, and wrote the book Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh. Wendell Berry is a poet and activist, an author of over 40 books, and a lifelong advocate for ecological health, the beauty of rural life, and small-scale farming. Their far-reaching discussion touches on human nature, technology, experiential knowledge, agriculture policy, happiness, wildness, and local food systems. Related links: - Helena's biography - Wendell's website and biography - 'In Distrust of Movements' - Wendell’s article on the 50-Year Farm Bill - Wendell’s newest book, The Art of Loading Brush: New Agrarian Writings, published in 2017 just after this conversation was recorded   Music: "Is That You or Are You You?" by Chris Zabriskie (CC BY 4.0). Photo by Guy Mendes (CC BY-SA 3.0).   Write to seankeller@localfutures.org with your comments and ideas for future topics/guests.  

In this episode, Jay Tompt tells the story of the REconomy Centre. A little bit startup incubator, a little bit co-working space, and a little bit gift-economy networking hub, this "new economy wing of the Transition movement" emerged from an abandoned office building in Totnes, England to bridge political divides and help create the conditions needed for holistic local economies to emerge around the world. Related links: - REconomy Centre Totnes - The REconomy Project - How to start a REconomy Group in your community - The CTRL-Shift Summit (March 27-29, 2018) - Planet Local: our library of inspiring grassroots projectsMusic used:Chris Zabriskie: "Is That You or Are You You?" (CC BY 4.0); Kevin Macleod: "Sonatina" (CC BY 3.0); Sean Keller: "Air"

Countries around the world are fixated on growing their economies - but is growth doing more harm than good? In this episode, Richard Heinberg discusses the history behind how GDP growth came to be used as a measure of success, why GDP can't continue growing indefinitely, and why it's time to transition to a better metric - one that better reflects human and ecological well-being. Related links:- On our blog: 'Life in a degrowth economy, and why you might actually enjoy it'- On our blog: 'From growth to degrowth: a brief history'- Richard's articles on the Post Carbon Institute website- Richard's articles on Resilience.org- Much more detail about the Jevons Paradox- A PDF version of Limits to GrowthMusic used:Chris Zabriskie: "Cylinder Three", "Is That You or Are You You?", "Readers! Do You Read" (CC BY 4.0); Kevin Macleod: "Windswept" (CC BY 3.0); Tri-Tachyon: "Edge of the Wastelands" and Circus Marcus: "Beethoven - Bagatelle op.119 nº9" (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Societies and communities everywhere are under threat from an increasingly corporatized global economy that is shifting power and resources from the many to the few and separating us from one another and from nature. Around the world, however, an increasing number of people are actively looking to re-establish the bonds of interdependence and recreate community living in tune with nature. In this episode, Anja Lyngbaek interviews Kosha Joubert, the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), about the rapidly growing ecovillage movement, which sees the ecovillage concept being adopted and adapted by a multitude of people and diverse cultures across the globe. Kosha speaks of the multiple social and environmental benefits of ecovillages, including the mitigation of climate change. We hear of a host of inspiring initiatives, including rural villages in China choosing to transition to ecovillages, Senegal´s national ecovillage strategy, tried and tested ecovillages in Asia and emerging initiatives in Palestine and Gambia that offer youth an alternative path to the migration to big cities.

Humanity has lost nearly three-quarters of its agricultural biodiversity in the last century. Now, in the face of an increasingly volatile climate, conserving the remaining seed diversity is a matter of survival. In this episode, Local Bites interviews ecologist and renowned seed conservationist, Dr. Debal Deb on the value of traditional seeds in an unstable world. Deb argues that traditional seeds are vitally important, not just to ensure food security, but also for protecting local food sovereignty against the corporate control of food systems around the world. Deb shares insights from his work conserving and sharing over 900 indigenous seed varieties in eastern India, and he talks about why ecological farming, a communitarian ethos, and localization are all key components of his conservation efforts.For more information about Dr. Deb's work, read Seed Savior, or watch one of these short films by Jason Taylor of The Source Project: "The Farmer, the Architect and the Scientist" (made for The Gaia Foundation), and "Food Web Theory".  Image credit: Jason Taylor

In this episode, Local Bites interviews Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance to talk about the multiple social, economic and environmental benefits of local business ownership and community-scaled financial institutions. Mitchell lays out the evidence for why local ownership matters, and provides a thorough debunking of the idea that large, global corporations are more efficient or create more jobs than smaller-scale, community-rooted enterprises. After warning listeners about the growing consolidation of economic power in the hands of fewer and fewer global corporations, Mitchell exposes the policy decisions that have led to such concentrated ownership. She concludes by highlighting several promising initiatives from the growing localization movement, and articulating the key components of a 'localist policy agenda'.

In this extended episode, Local Bites interviews scholar/activist, Ashish Kothari about his book, Churning the Earth: The Making of Global India, co-authored by Aseem Shrivastava. During the first half of the interview, Kothari provides a sobering account of the social and environmental impacts of globalized development in India, arguing persuasively that the costs outweigh the benefits, and calling into questions a number of taken-for-granted assumptions about "economic growth", "progress", and the so-called inevitability of urbanization. In the second half (28:24), Kothari highlights a diverse range of localist alternatives taking place in communities throughout India, forerunners to what he calls 'radical ecological democracy', that can "take us all to higher levels of well-being, while sustaining the earth and creating greater equity."

In this episode, Local Bites interviews Dr. M. Jahi Chappell of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy on the question, "What kind of food and farming system do we need to feed a growing world population in an ecologically sustainable and socially just manner?" His responses challenge widely-held notions about the future of our food supply.

In this episode host Brian Emerson interviews Helena Norberg-Hodge on how "free" trade treaties undermine local communities, economies and democracies around the world, and why localists need to join the global resistance against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA, also known as TTIP). Norberg-Hodge ends her interview by suggesting an alternative international framework for supporting more democratic, localized solutions to global problems.