Local Futures Podcast

Agrarian localism: becoming 'ecological protagonists' – Chris Smaje

Chris Smaje is an author, small-scale farmer, social scientist, and food system analyst. His work explores the current moment of vast change, as the dynamics of climate, energy, politics and natural ecosystems upend familiar assumptions about how the world is supposed to work. He’s written two books – ‘A Small Farm Future’ and ‘Saying No to a Farm-free Future’ – which are both grounded his belief that we need to develop low-energy localisms that give people the means to make practical and sustainable livelihoods.
In this episode, Chris explains how the organisation of food systems is ultimately an energetic question; one that, in the modern era, has been answered by an over-reliance on cheap fossil fuels. He argues that, in a future of lesser energy abundance and mounting crises, localised food systems will be vital for survival. Chris encourages an embrace of agrarian localism not only to avoid chaotic disruption, but also to bring profound and immediate benefits to people and planet. Local Futures is an international non-profit organization, dedicated to renewing ecological and social well-being by strengthening communities and local economies.
 
To watch the video of this series, visit: Planet Local Voices interview series
 
The music for this series is ‘Pines and Violet’, by Sky Toes.

Car-free cities, corporate control and the power of people – Debra Efroymson

Debra Efroymson (Bangladesh/USA) is a tireless advocate for policies that support public health, wellbeing and happiness. She is the co-founder and Executive Director at Institute of Wellbeing, Bangladesh, and is faculty at the Asian University for Women. While her particular interests lie in urban planning and transportation, her holistic perspective leads her to envision profound transformations in economics, governance, and society as a whole. 
In this episode, Debra calls into question things many of us take for granted – including how our cities are planned, how we get around, and what priorities shape development. She connects the idea of car-free cities to localization, and she explores the nitty gritty of policymaking and movement building, drawing on her personal experiences of David-and-Goliath struggles between activists and corporate power. 
 
To watch the video of this series, visit: Planet Local Voices interview series
 
The music for this series is ‘Pines and Violet’, by Sky Toes.

A World Yet To Come – Adebayo Akomolafe

Bayo Akomolafe (Nigeria) is a widely celebrated speaker, teacher, public intellectual and writer. In this episode, he “meanders the vortices of a world yet to come”, posing questions, sharing stories, and searching for the cracks in modernity. In his playful and poetic way, he encourages us to gather in these cracks – to participate in the emergence of what comes next.
A one-of-a-kind thinker, Bayo blurs the lines between the personal and the political, prompting us to unlearn, rethink, and radically imagine our role in the world. He is the author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak. He is also the founder and curator of the Emergence Network and Chief Host of the course/festival series, We Will Dance with Mountains.
 
Local Futures is an international non-profit organization, dedicated to renewing ecological and social well-being by strengthening communities and local economies.
Follow the Planet Local Voices interview series: https://www.localfutures.org/programs/planet-local-voices/
Listen to this interview as a podcast: https://www.localfutures.org/programs/global-to-local/local-futures-podcast/
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Connecting to the land: paving the way for young farmers – Ele Saltmarsh

Ele Saltmarsh is a young farmer, scientist and activist. In this episode, she tells her family’s story of pursuing organic farming, and suggests big-picture policy frameworks that could provide avenues for the growing ranks who dream of a life connected to nature and to community. She also makes a powerful case for agroecology and localised economies for feeding the UK, and speaks candidly about community, climate crisis, and about her worries and hopes for the future.
Ele comes from a small farm in Southern England, where she lives and practices agroecology. Since returning from her studies in biology and agricultural sciences at Oxford and Penn State Universities, she has worked with the Landworkers’ Alliance, and with a young farmers’ organisation called FLAME. She applies her research to show how the UK can feed itself sustainably, and campaigns for policies to support small farmers, food security, and real climate action.
 
To watch the video of this series, visit: Planet Local Voices interview series
To learn more and to follow the series, visit and subscribe at www.localfutures.org
 
The music for this series is ‘Pines and Violet’, by Sky Toes.

Reimagining education: from deadlihoods to alivelihoods – Manish Jain

The second episode in the Planet Local Voices series features Manish Jain.A leading advocate for un-learning, de-schooling, and deepening place-based knowledge systems, Manish discusses why and how to rethink conventional education and conventional economic development. He points to a growing movement of 'walk-outs' and 'drop-outs' as a great reason for hope, as well as highlighting a rich tapestry of living cultures and knowledge systems that still exists around the world, despite the onslaught of globalization. Having 'unlearnt' the worldview imparted by an education at Harvard, and having 'walked out' from a job as an investment banker, Manish lands a heavy critique of the economic growth-for-the-rich, highlighting the importance of localization for rebuilding trust, and rediscovering real wealth and meaningful work.Based in Udaipur, India, Manish Jain has served as the coordinator of Shikshantar: The Peoples' Institute for Rethinking Education and Development. He co-founded the Swaraj University, a unique institution which is dedicated to the regeneration of local culture, local economy and ecology. Through a myriad of other projects, he has done groundbreaking work with children, rural communities and prisoners.To watch the video of this series, visit: Planet Local Voices interview series https://www.localfutures.org/programs/planet-local-voices/
To learn more and to follow the series, visit and subscribe at www.localfutures.orgThe music for this series is 'Pines and Violet', by Sky Toes.

Insights of an economic hitman “from a death to a life economy” – John Perkins

Here's the first episode of Planet Local Voices – an interview series by Local Futures.
 
In this wide-ranging episode, economist, author and whistleblower John Perkins calls us to meet the defining challenge of our time – shifting from a "death economy" to a "life economy". He shares his own personal story of how he came to question the neoliberal worldview he'd been trained in, and discusses topics like empire and democracy, international relations, “free trade” treaties, redefining growth, embracing the local, and learning from indigenous cultures.
John spent many years working to advance the interests of American corporations in Global South countries, at a time when neoliberal policies were being rolled out. Upon realizing the destructive ramifications of the work he was doing, he became an important whistleblower. His best-known book is 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man' (2004), which describes his role in a clandestine process of economic colonization at the behest of corporations, banks, and the United States government. The book spent more than 70 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
The music for this series is 'Pines and Violet', by Sky Toes. 
Local Futures is an international non-profit organization, dedicated to renewing ecological and social well-being by strengthening communities and local economies. 
To watch the video of this episode, visit:https://www.localfutures.org/programs/planet-local-voices/
To learn more and to follow the series, visit and subscribe at www.localfutures.org
 

Courageous optimism with Alnoor Ladha

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)

Rediscovering wisdom in a world gone mad with Iain McGilchrist

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.

Towards a new and ancient culture with Charles Eisenstein

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).

The Power of People with Vandana Shiva

In this episode, Helena Norberg-Hodge talks to her friend and colleague of 40 years, Vandana Shiva. Vandana trained as a quantum physicist, but turned her attention to campaigning for the rights of small farmers, seed savers and local communities in her home country of India when she witnessed the imposition of industrial agriculture and its tragic impacts on health, biodiversity and livelihoods. Today, she is one of the most powerful voices challenging corporate rule.In their conversation, Helena and Vandana reminisce about friends who inspired them both, delving deep into the stories and personalities of the environmental and anti-globalization movements. They explore the structures of corporate globalization - from its roots in colonialism to the present day - as well as ecofeminism, movement building and deep ecological wisdom. Their conversation highlights the importance of focusing on economic structures, on scale and on the power of people to build 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).