“Local. A simple concept with the potential to change the world. The antidote to consumer capitalism. The key to solving our seemingly endless ecological crises. A guiding principle to take us back home: to community, to the natural world, and to prosperous, place-based economies.”

For more than four decades, Helena Norberg-Hodge has been raising awareness about the need to return to local – to move away from dependence on global monopolies, towards decentralised, regional economies.

Since the advent of colonialism and globalisation, the fabric of local interdependence has been steadily unravelling, writes Helena. We have been made dependent on distant bureaucracies and vast technological systems for everything from our food to our jobs, from the information we receive to our means of social interaction. To our own detriment, we have been distanced from the complex, interdependent web of life that is not only the real, localised economy, but a perpetual source of wonder and fulfilment.

In this conversation, Helena will remind us that it’s not too late to find our way back home. Speaking to the growing movement happening worldwide in which local self-reliance is being reclaimed, she will show us how we can withdraw our dependence on a resource-intensive global economy and create nourishing, life-affirming alternatives from the ground up. Often the work of stepping off the treadmill can be overwhelming, where do you start?

Join us as Helena shares examples from her own journey, as well as those of the many incredible people she’s come to meet, in which local alternatives to education, food, media, politics and economics have been implemented around the world.

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About Helena Norberg-Hodge:

Helena is a pioneer of the local economy movement. Through writing and public lectures on three continents, she has been promoting an economics of personal, social and ecological well-being for more than 30 years.

She is a widely respected analyst of the impact of the global economy and international development on local communities, local economies, and personal identity, and is a leading proponent of localisation, or decentralisation, as a means of countering those impacts.

Helena is the founder and director of Local Futures and The International Alliance for Localization (IAL). Based in the USA and UK, with subsidiaries in Germany and Australia, Local Futures examines the root causes of our current social and environmental crises, while promoting more sustainable and equitable patterns of living in both North and South. Helena is also a founding member of the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, the International Forum on Globalization and the Global Ecovillage Network.

Helena’s seminal book, Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh, has been described as “an inspirational classic,” providing insightful solutions to the unintended impacts of development, based on her decades living and working in Ladakh, India. Together with the film of the same title, it has been translated into more than 40 languages, and sold about half a million copies.

About our host, Berry Liberman:

Berry is the co-founder and Creative Director of Small Giants, the Publisher of Dumbo Feather and a mum to the three cutest kids in the world. Berry loves the garden at work. Especially the roses. A few years back, Berry used to write screenplays in LA and directed a few short films but decided to come home, get married to Danny and start Small Giants.

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Concession Rate:

We offer concession rates to support those who are unemployed, studying or working for non-profits and B Corporations. Please check out using the concession ticketing option.

Accessibility:
If you require Auslan Interpretation, please contact us at info@smallgiants.com.au at least 2 weeks prior to the event. We will be very happy to arrange this for you.

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About Small Giants Academy:

Our vision at Small Giants Academy is for a just and inclusive transition to a global economy that supports human flourishing while living in harmony with the natural world. Through articles, podcasts, conversations and masterclasses that illuminate the work of global thought leaders, Small Giants Academy is leading its communities towards a hopeful future, the Next Economy.

Contact the host of Conversation: Helena Norberg-Hodge on Local Futures

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