Local Futures Podcast

Alnoor Ladha – Courageous optimism

In this episode, Helena Norberg-Hodge talks to Alnoor Ladha. Raised in Canada, Alnoor comes from a Sufi lineage, and today lives in community in Costa Rica. He is an important and incisive activist whose work brings together political organizing, systems thinking, structural change and narrative transformation. His conviction that the spiritual and political are fundamentally inseparable underpins his writings, which have been published in Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Truthout, Huffington Post and more. Alnoor was on the board of Greenpeace International, and has directed organizations such as The Rules and Culture Hack Labs, and is the co-author of Post Capitalist Philanthropy: The healing of wealth in the time of collapse.
Helena and Alnoor have a deep friendship and a long-standing collaboration. In this episode, they explore politics and spiritualism together, and delve into their own philosophies of change, sketching a holistic political vision that goes beyond the left-right divide. They analyse the outrageous and deeply abstract ideologies of today’s global elite, and contrast those with lessons from intact indigenous cultures. They name value shifts and structural changes that are integral to healing the world.
It is all too rare to find two individuals so deep in the action of systemic change. An informed and courageous optimism pervades their conversation.
Intro music by  Gillicuddy (CC BY-NC 3.0)

Iain McGilchrist – Rediscovering wisdom in a world gone mad

In this episode, Helena Norberg-Hodge talks to Iain McGilchrist. Iain is a one-of-a-kind thinker, an Oxford literary scholar as well as a doctor in psychiatry and neuroscience. His interdisciplinary achievements reflect his conviction about the importance of holistic thinking – a topic he has explored in-depth in his two ground-breaking works, 'The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World', and, more recently, 'The Matter with Things'.
In this conversation, Iain and Helena employ a big-picture lens to critique artificial intelligence, corporate globalization, and the profit-orientation of science and academia. They ask some hard questions about how things might change – through collapse, through movement-building, through grassroots action, or through a combination of these? And they also articulate insights into who we are as human beings, what constitutes genuine intelligence, and what a fulfilling life really entails.

Episode 22 - Charles Eisenstein - Towards a new and ancient culture

In this episode, Helena Norberg-Hodge speaks with Charles Eisenstein. Charles is a pioneering storyteller of a new world – in his words, “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible”. His writings and talks, renowned for their eloquence, deal with civilizational history and mythmaking, new economies, spirituality, pandemics, power, climate change, ecological living, and – at the deepest level – who we are as human beings. This conversation examines truth, metaphysics, learning from traditional cultures, activism and more, exploring various aspects of the civilizational transformation at hand in a post-covid world. Together, Helena and Charles decry the power structures that continue to dominate modern global society, and share stories of hope from the grassroots.
 
Please write to info@localfutures.org with any comments and ideas for future topics/guests.
Intro music by Gillicuddy (CC BY-NC 3.0).

Episode 21 - Vandana Shiva - The Power of People

In this episode, Helena Norberg-Hodge talks to her friend and colleagueof 40 years, Vandana Shiva. Vandana trained as a quantum physicist, butturned her attention to campaigning for the rights of small farmers,seed savers and local communities in her home country of India when shewitnessed the imposition of industrial agriculture and its tragicimpacts on health, biodiversity and livelihoods. Today, she is one ofthe most powerful voices challenging corporate rule.In their conversation, Helena and Vandana reminisce about friends whoinspired them both, delving deep into the stories and personalities ofthe environmental and anti-globalization movements. They explore thestructures of corporate globalization - from its roots in colonialism tothe present day - as well as ecofeminism, movement building and deepecological wisdom. Their conversation highlights the importance offocusing on economic structures, on scale and on the power of people tobuild a better world from the ground up.
 
Please write to info@localfutures.org with any comments and ideas for future topics/guests.
Intro music by Gillicuddy (CC BY-NC 3.0).

Episode 20 - Mental Health in the Global Economy with Gabor Maté

In this newly published episode of the Local Futures podcast, Helena Norberg-Hodge talks to the renowned Dr. Gabor Maté. The two dispel false ideas about human nature and analyze the ways macro-level economic structures are impacting our personal identities. A remarkable and far-reaching compassion for people from all walks of life imbues their conversation.
 
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).

Episode 19 - Jeremy Lent: Shifting Paradigms

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).

Episode 18 - COP, carbon and high-tech: who is setting the agenda?

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).

Episode 17 - Beyond Conspiracy: Framing Meaningful Activism

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).

Episode 16 - Unpacking Global Empire from an Indigenous Perspective

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

Episode 15 - More than Just the Vegetables

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!