Local Futures Podcast

A political economist and environmentalist, Andrew Simms is at the forefront of the movement for a new economy in the UK and around the world. His books include Cancel the Apocalypse, Tescopoly: How One Shop Came Out on Top and Why it Matters, and Economics: A Crash Course. He is coordinator of the New Weather Institute, the Rapid Transition Alliance and the Badvertising campaign. He is also a fellow at the New Economics Foundation, and research associate at the Centre for Global Political Economy, University of Sussex.
In this episode, Andrew outlines why a shift from global to local is integral to his vision of a new economy. He shines an incisive light on the foundations of today's economy, exposing and interrogating ideas like "growth" through GDP, and exploring practicable alternatives. Brimming with informed optimism, he highlights the very real possibilities for economic change.
 
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.

Eva Henje is a neuroscientist, trauma therapist, and associate professor at Sweden’s Umeå university, specialising in child and adolescent psychiatry. Eva describes herself as mental health activist, because she’s passionate about raising awareness about the systemic reasons behind increasing rates of depression. She has created programs to empower and destigmatize young people with psychological suffering, and has helped develop alternatives to the current psychiatric diagnostic systems.
 
In this episode, Eva elucidates some of the profound connections between the economy we live in and our most intimate experiences of being human. Exploring the root causes of the widespread mental health crises, Eva shifts the focus from individual pathologies to societal malaise and the economic system responsible for it. She also lays out a path for people to shift from isolation and disempowerment towards community care, connection and, ultimately, activism.
 
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.

Juan del Rio is a pioneer of the Transition movement in Spain, and the Co-Director of ECOLISE, the European network for community-led initiatives on climate change and sustainability. He is the co-founder of the Municipalities in Transition project, and the co-director of an inspiring new film about bottom-up initiatives in Spain called ALTERNATIVAS: Building possible futures.
In this episode, Juan opens our eyes to the plethora of community-led responses to social, economic crises and climate change, especially in the Spanish-speaking world, where models of transition are being adapted to diverse cultures and bioregions. He speaks about how this movement of alternatives is helping to bridge the divide between left and right, and he also offers advice on how the grassroots can and should collaborate with local governments.
 
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.

Keibo Oiwa is a professor, cultural anthropologist, and a widely respected philosopher and organizer in Japan. He co-authored, with David Suzuki, a book about bottom-up movements for peace, human rights and environmentalism, called 'The Japan We Never Knew'. He is the founder of The Sloth Club – an NGO that promotes slow and sustainable living. The Sloth Club, coupled with Keibo's book Slow is Beautiful: Culture as Slowness, have fostered a new appreciation of rural life and a simpler way of living.
In this episode, Keibo offers us a portrait of a Japan moving in two different directions. He sounds the alarm about the cultural and spiritual devastation that has been a deeply tragic cost of Japan's pursuit of globalized development. But he also speaks of a widespread cultural resurgence – a movement towards regeneration, community and nature. He highlights cultural "keywords" that can be rediscovered in the Japanese cultural fabric, and which can be used as a guide for these emerging movements.
 
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.

Thais Mantovani is a young woman from São Paulo, Brazil, passionate about educationreform and eco-cultural regeneration. An alumnus of Schumacher College, she is the co-founder of EcoUniversidade, a Youth Climate Leaders fellow, a member of the Global Regeneration CoLab network, and a long-time collaborator of Local Futures. She studies and promotes localization and regeneration in Brazil.
In this episode, Thais encourages those trapped in the modern world to step beyond its ideological confines. She shares experiences of living local cultures in indigenous Amazonia, and gives examples of localization projects in the favelas of São Paulo. She calls out modern schooling as a tool of indoctrination, and highlights the importance of reweaving trust-based community relationships – not only for survival, but also for health and happiness.
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.

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.

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.

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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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.

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.