https://www.localfutures.org/
https://www.localfutures.org/

ANNUAL REPORT 2022

DIRECTOR’S NOTE
For decades, Local Futures’ work
has straddled two worlds. On the
one hand, there are those in our
movement who are motivated towork politically to change the rulesof the global economy. While they
resonate strongly with our bigpicture critique of techno-economic
globalization, they have tended toview hands-on localization projects
as quaint, but ultimately doomed in
the face of the bigger system.
At the same time, many thousandsof people on every continent are
working hands-on at the grassroots to build community and local
economies. While these peoplecelebrate the ‘solution-multiplier’of localization, they sometimes
switch off at the notion of systemicchange, believing that only local
action is worthwhile.

Photo credit: Local Futures

here and now are the very sameactions needed to catalyze amovement for systemic change.
For example, to figure out how
we, as communities, can reduce
our dependence on the global
system and support our own
homegrown localization projects,
we actually need to understandhow the mechanisms of the global
system keep us trapped. By thesame token, if we are to strengthen
our collective call for policy changes,
we need to build more localized
systems that will preserve ourautonomy, connect us to one
another, and ultimately empower
us as a political force.

It has always been our contention
that these two kinds of work –‘resistance’ and ‘renewal’ – need tocome together. And, over the past
year, this marriage has happened
more rapidly than ever before.
Covid, extreme weather events, andexpanding centralized technocracy
have made it increasingly evident
that economic decentralization isboth a matter of survival, and themost radical move to preserve andgrow political autonomy. As a result,
grassroots localizers are exercising
their political muscles, while outspoken political changemakers are
becoming committed localists.

In other words, big-picture, globalto-local awareness informs the
successful creation of local ‘lifeboats’,
while local ‘lifeboats’ give momentum
to political awareness. In this way,resistance and renewal are twosides of the same coin.

And whether or not one believes in
the possibility of transforming the
global economy, Local Futures
brings the perspective that theactions needed to affirm wellbeing,
connection and resilience in the2

Similarly, localization bridges thegap between environmental andeconomic concerns. Over this lastyear in particular, the cost of living
has risen sharply, and people in the
middle class are working harderjust to put a roof over their heads
and food on the table. At the sametime – and because of the same
policies – nature is being destroyedat an escalating rate. All the while,
corporate profits have soared to
new heights.

I am gratified that Local Futures’
efforts over the decades – ourwritings, films, campaigns andconferences – have incubatedthis growing awareness of localization
as the systemic antidote. The
success of last year’s flagshipprograms – especially the World
Localization Day campaign andthe release of our film Planet
Local: A Quiet Revolution – hasme feeling both optimistic andmotivated about the year ahead.

The interconnectedness of thesecrises is more and more evident,
dissolving the false left/right,
progressive/conservative divisions
that keep people apart. Despite thepolarization and divisiveness seededby media algorithms, opposition tocorporate rule – and a corresponding
embrace of local, life-affirming
economies – is now identifiable
across the political spectrum. It is
exciting to be working in this spaceat a time when the potential for new
coalitions is blooming.

I feel there’s no more importantwork to be doing at this timethan the work of spreading
big-picture awareness of theeconomic system, while supporting,fostering and making visible thealternatives offered by the worldwide localization movement.

Photo credit: Neil Vyas, Unsplash

Helena Norberg-Hodge
Director, Local Futures

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These were extremely diverse, andincluded:• A series of conferences focused onnature- and localization-based solutions
across eight Spanish cities, culminating
in a multi-city Climate Journey, allorganized by Social Climate.

FROM THE GROUND UP• A virtual journey around a
400-year-old farming community in
Vietnam, focusing on traditional
agriculture and how to cook the
famous local dish, phở, thanks toNhật Anh Trần (Kiara Unseen).

Following the success of World
Localization Day (WLD) in 2020
and 2021, we continued to develop
and promote this celebration of theworldwide localization movementin 2022.

• A Twitter event by the East Africancollective, Amplify Girls, looking at how
community-driven organizations
provide local solutions to local problems,in turn helping to build flourishingcommunities in which girls are given
more agency.

We are keen for WLD to be a global
celebration, rather than a solely
Local Futures event. We therefore
acted as an umbrella organizationin 2022 – encouraging groups andindividuals around the world toorganize their own events, while we
promoted the overall program andorganized a smaller number of ourown contributions. Although many
people had become accustomed toonline events thanks to Covid-19,
others were keen to reconnect inperson, and we chose to curate ahybrid schedule with a mix ofonline and face-to-face gatherings.
Many organizations celebrated theevent on 21st June, while others did
so throughout the month, with a
few activities continuing into July.

• A celebration of "Local cooking withlocal sun", which involved more than
300 children at Prakriya Green
Wisdom School in India (in association
with Bhoomi College) cooking rice
curry in portable solar cookers.

Part of Local Futures’ own contribution
to WLD was a lively conversationthat took place on WLD itself,
when author Jeremy Lent andLocal Futures' Director Helena
Norberg-Hodge discussed a wide
range of topics around globalization,
localization, and system change.

We were very pleased that 90
groups in 30 countries took partin this worldwide celebration,
many of which hosted multiple
events. Some included a screeningof our new film, Planet Local: A
Quiet Revolution (discussed later),which was released on the official
date of WLD. Other events consistedof highly imaginative activities, alarge number of which we showcased on the WLD website.

WLD also gave a boost to our social
media reach in 2022, with increases
in Local Futures’ and Helena’s
Instagram accounts being noted
following WLD. These were helpedby some particularly active partners,
including EcoResolution, YoCo,
Ecolise, Amplify Girls and Pesticide
Action Network Asia Pacific(PANAP).

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Photo credit: Graphic Node, Unsplash

ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS CONFERENCE
JEONJU, SOUTH KOREA
Our ongoing collaboration with the city of Jeonju continued in 2022,with the 8th Economics of Happiness Conference in Jeonju taking placein September. International speakers included Nathan Schneider, Mika
Tsutsumi, Diana Finch, Helena Norberg-Hodge, along with Song Wi-chinand other highly respected thought leaders from South Korea.
The event provided a forum for discussions on a “sustainable cities”
approach. As a city of 665,000 people, Jeonju's focus on localization ismaking it a significant example of how smaller cities can be truly sustainable.
The municipality is committed to "Shifting its administrative system awayfrom a paradigm that prioritizes growth and development towards one thatputs people first … to create an economy that works for the people andmakes local communities happy.”
Additionally, Jeonju's mayor, Kim Seung Soo, voiced the need for policy-led
localization at the municipal level in our film Planet Local: A Quiet Revolution.

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PLANET LOCAL: A QUIET REVOLUTION
A major accomplishment was our film, Planet Local: A Quiet Revolution,
which premiered on World Localization Day, 21st June. A 50-minutecompilation of contributions to recent Local Futures events worldwide,
the film gives voice to some of the growing number of people building
a more beautiful world. It features grassroots activists from every continent,alongside internationally known figures like Noam Chomsky, Vandana
Shiva, Russell Brand, Naomi Klein, Jane Goodall, Gabor Maté and Helena– all of them bringing inspiration and clarity to a world full of dark news.
Our wonderful team of volunteers
has already translated the film
into eighteen languages, enabling
it to reach a far larger audience.
Translations
includeChinese(Mandarin), French, Hindi, Kiswahili
and Tagalog.
In addition, the trailer is available
in fourteen languages.
Although the film was launched on WLD, its impact continues to growlong after that event. By the end of the year, the English version had
received over 30,000 views on YouTube, with nearly 2,500 on Vimeo.
The German version had received 10,000 YouTube views, and Spanish
nearly 8,000. The total number of YouTube views across all languages
is over 60,000 at the time of writing. In addition, we attracted 2,300
new subscribers to our YouTube channel: an increase of more than 25%
in one year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHAXdrLagwY&t=2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lou1ZFu2U78&list=PLOKS2pvabkipA_e3WWsYf7woEKCOTAx1F&index=20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4EEfu55tto&list=PLOKS2pvabkipA_e3WWsYf7woEKCOTAx1F&index=17

As well as community and individual screenings, we were very pleased
that the film was also broadcast on Cape Town TV, a non-profit,
free-to-air, community television station in South Africa, as part of World
Localization Day.
In order to help communities engage with the issues raised by the film, we also
produced a five-page discussion guide with key questions for consideration.
https://www.localfutures.org/wp-content/uploads/Planet-Local-Discussion-Guide-2022.pdf"I think that the film, Planet Local, is stupendous.
Incisive and very beautifully put together. The
chorus of voices is magnificent. I think it will be
powerfully useful for all of us."
— David Abram

author of "The Spell of the Sensuous"

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GREAT MINDS IN SOUTH KOREA:
ILLUSTRATED LECTURES
Another major event in 2022 was a series of illustrated lectures on Local
Futures’ work and the ‘big picture’ of global-to-local systems change
for the South Korean television channel, EBS (Educational Broadcasting
System), as part of their Great Minds project.
The series consists of twenty short (4-10 minute) “lessons” given by
Helena. The sessions were professionally filmed in a studio, with “b-roll”
footage – tailored to the content – added later. The format allowed anarray of subjects to be covered in an accessible manner, with Helena
addressing a variety of topics, from a critical analysis of technologicaldevelopment to the benefits of place-based reconnections.
Great Minds is an on-demand subscription service that presents
lectures by some of the world’s leading experts and scholars on a broad
range of academic subjects – from history and science to IT and music.
Thus, Helena’s lectures appear alongside other well-known thinkers andartists like Yuval Noah Harari, Jane Goodall and James Cameron.
The lectures have now been broadcast in South Korea and are available
internationally via the EBS Great Minds website. Crucially, Local Futures
has the rights to use the footage, and we hope to use it as a central partof a landmark online course in 2024.
/https://www.thegreatminds.com

Photo credit: Christian Mackie, Unsplash

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NEW PUBLICATIONS FROM LOCAL FUTURESFirst published in 1991, Helena’s bookAncient Futures remains as relevant
today as when it was written. After
updated editions were published in2009 and 2016, and an e-book in
2017, we have now published it as our
first audiobook, with a brand-new
Introduction and an Afterword inwhich Helena contextualizes both thecrises we face and the solutions wecan be part of. She also introduces
us to a multitude of grassroots
initiatives, giving listeners inspiration
for action.
https://www.localfutures.org/store/Ancient-Futures-audiobook-p483562206

Life After Progress: Technology, Community and the New Economy isa collection of essays by Helena and members of the Local Futures
team, with a foreword by Bayo Akomolafe. Written over the past 25
years, some of the essays ask us to rethink our basic assumptions abouthuman nature, poverty, progress and happiness, while others point to
the root causes of our many crises. Taken together, they outline thesteps needed to bring a happier, healthier world into being. It is alsoavailable as an e-book.
https://www.localfutures.org/store/Life-After-Progress-paperback-p501111572

https://www.localfutures.org/store/Life-After-Progress-E-book-p515088449

A large number of smaller writing projects for other organizations have also
been undertaken by Local Futures staff, with Helena receiving invitations towrite ten articles and other written publications, while Alex Jensen andSteven Gorelick have also contributed book chapters, and magazine andwebsite articles. These have been published in places as varied as Dumbo
Feather magazine in Australia, the Vikalp Sangam website, and a forthcoming
book titled Climate Adaptation: Accounts of Resilience, Self-Sufficiency and
Systems Change. This is in addition to blogposts on our own website, which/https://www.localfutures.org/chak-chok-a-campaign-against-junk-foodfeatured several staff contributions in 2022: Chak
Chok: a campaign against junk/https://www.localfutures.org/chak-chok-a-campaign-against-junk-food
food (Kunzang Deachen and Alex Jensen), Supply chain failures (Helena, Henry/https://www.localfutures.org/putting-technology-in-its-place
Coleman and Steven Gorelick) andPutting technology in its place (Helena).
/https://www.localfutures.org/supply-chain-failures-another-reason-for-localized-economies

8LADAKH: BARLEY, ICE AND MORE!
The Local Futures Ladakh (LFL) team worked with a wide range of partners to
successfully organize several exciting events and campaigns. Some of thesecontinued the work of previous years, while others were new innovations.
Along with other partners, the team arranged a two-day festival called
Celebrating Nas (barley). Barley and roasted barley flour (ngamphay)
are very important in the traditional Ladakhi diet and in cultural and ritual
activities, but are being overlooked in favor of rice and packaged food. The
festival was very well attended and included a wide range of speakers andactivities. Subjects varied from the importance of nas in Ladakhi culture to
the experiences of artisans involved in related crafts such as basketmaking
and pottery. In addition to the talks, there were many other activities –from music to a puppet show illustrating the importance of Ladakhi foodand the dangers of junk food. Food stalls provided a selection of delicious
and varied traditional dishes. A full report on the event is available.
https://www.localfutures.org/wp-content/uploads/Celebrating-Nas-Local-Food-Confluence-and-Fest-Ladakh.pdf

A major outcome of the festival was a boost to our campaign against junkfood, Chak Chok (meaning unwanted or rubbish). Junk food and drinks leadto health problems, large amounts of plastic and other waste, and economic
loss locally, as these products are produced elsewhere and imported into
Ladakh. They also have the effect of devaluing local products and culture,
which are often seen as old-fashioned. LFL, along with Dr. Nordan Odzer,
have been taking the Chak Chok message to dozens of schools and villages
all over the region.

Photo credit: Local Futures

The Listening to Ice project was a collaboration between famed singer-storyteller Morup Namgyal, researchers and scholars from the UK, and Local
Futures. The aim was to preserve and share the environmental knowledge
embedded in local nature and culture. It resulted in Singing Ice, a book ofmusic and songs – many in danger of being lost – about mountains, glaciers,
rivers, and streams from the rich archive that Morup has been gathering for
decades. The book launch took place at the Women's Alliance Centre in Leh,featuring collective singing from the book, and a local food meal.
As part of LFL's Tourist Education and Mindful Travel Program, we organize
regular screenings of documentary films addressing a variety of pressing
social and environmental issues, followed by wide-ranging discussions. In
2022 we began to pair the screenings with local food dinners at Solja Cafe,at the Women's Alliance Centre.

9

Photo credit: Local Futures

Another part of our Mindful Travel program is Help with the Harvest, whichpairs volunteers with local farming families as a way of alleviating labor
shortages during harvest time. This is not only helpful to the host family, italso provides meaningful cultural exchange and learning for both thevolunteer and the host. In 2022, we organized Help with the Harvest activities
in villages in the central Ladakh region, reasonably close to Leh. The mostintensive part of the program involved a group of students from Vietnam,
who stayed for three days in the village of Tarchit, where they helped five
families with pea harvesting, mustard seed threshing and straw bundle hauling.
The students also went to several ancient monasteries, met young Ladakhichangemakers, and interacted with local NGOs and socio-environmental
initiatives. A video of the trip and an article have been produced.
https://youtu.be/jWNDrM1wCbc

https://vcil.substack.com/p/vcil-travel-school-2022-ladakh-mindful

The Khunak Alliance was initiated by the LFL team to bring together young
Ladakhis from a broad range of disciplines, who are not only concerned
about the eco-cultural changes taking place in Ladakh but are also taking
action to acknowledge the anguish that they feel and tackle the issues.
Local Futures hosted the first two-day residential gathering of the Khunak
Alliance in late 2022. This was an opportunity to talk about eco-cultural
distress and initiate some projects to address it. It has so far resulted in:• an Instagram video by Padma Rigzin and filmmaker Morup Namgail on theemerging problem of land privatization, especially on the open flatlands thatare critical for wildlife;=https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoSKGRRB_Fa/?igshid=MWI4MTIyMDE• two videos by LFL staﬀ members Kunzang Deachen and Spalzes Angmo,
describing healthy local food recipes to replace packaged junk food.
Kunzang Deachen also participated in a study and report titled The Goba of
Ladakh: Current Relevance of a Traditional Governance System, as part of the
project Alternative Practice and Visions in India: Documentation, Networking
and Advocacy. This was undertaken by Kalpavriksh and sponsored by anumber of European and Ladakhi NGOs.

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TALKING THE TALK

– PODCASTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Following the re-launch of the Local Futures podcast in 2021, four new
episodes were released in 2022 featuring Iain McGilchrist, Charles Eisenstein,
Vandana Shiva and Gabor Maté, covering subjects from rediscovering
wisdom to mental health in the global economy.
/https://www.localfutures.org/programs/global-to-local/local-futures-podcast/https://www.localfutures.org/programs/global-to-local/voices-from-the-field
Local Futures also hosted three episodesof Voices from the Field. This is an
ongoing series of conversations featuring people that have hands-on experience with actions that can help build healthy communities, participatory
democracy and human-scale ecological economies, and is designed tocomplement the Localization Action Guide. In 2022, we heard about:• Car-free cities, with Shail Shrestha from Nepal;• Minga: a multi-solution cooperative in Portugal, with Jorge Gonçalves andAlexandre Castro; and• Reclaiming the commons and building resilience, with Chris Wood, founderof BALE (Building a Local Economy).
These discussions were recorded and are available on our website andYouTube channel.

11

UPGRADES, UPDATES AND OUTREACH
We are always keen to improve our existing materials, and in 2022 this included
upgrading the Localization Action Guide that we launched last year. The
Guide has been extremely popular, and we added several features that wererequested by our user test group, including a search function and the ability toview the site in dozens of languages powered by Google Translate.
Following our move to a more user-friendly website platform in 2021, we also
renewed the Local Futures homepage and updated thirty core and inner
pages. In addition, the team revised the website in order to comply with
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and CCPA (California Consumer
Privacy Act) regulations.
The International Alliance for Localization (IAL) mailouts continued toprovide valuable digests of localization-related events, news and publications.
These are compiled by Local Futures and sent to the IAL online forum. During2022, we reduced the frequency from fortnightly to monthly in order toreduce email fatigue.
A vital part of our outreach work is making our publications available in as
many languages as possible, and we were pleased to welcome Sarah Crowtherto coordinate our translation efforts. In 2022, publishers in Germany, Spain and
Finland translated and published Helena’s book Local is Our Future. In addition
to translations of Planet Local: A Quiet Revolution, we also translated our shortfilm Local food can save the world into Dutch, Hindi, Korean, Portuguese andVietnamese. We are greatly indebted to our many volunteer translators forhelping us expand our reach.
Events and interviews provided many opportunities for spreading the
global-to-local message. Helena, in particular, continued to receive a large
number of requests and participated in thirty events, podcast episodes andother interviews. Other team members were also busy promoting andexplaining localization through a score of events and interviews. These ranged
from radio interviews to attending a Carfree Cities Alliance retreat in India, andfrom addressing a Surfers for Climate Action event in Australia to organizing
screenings of Planet Local: A Quiet Revolution. We have also been able towork with universities, with Anja Lynbaek talking to the University of York, UK
as part of their One Planet Week, and teaching a local economics university
diploma course for Latin America – Plataforma de Introducción a Nuevas
Economías, Latin America (PINE). This course was coordinated and certiﬁed by
the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Cordoba, Argentina (Facultadde Ciencias Economicas, Universidad de Cordoba), and had nearly one hundred
students.

Photo credit: Sunny Tank, Unsplash

12

FINANCIAL

Total Revenue $483,251

Donations* 425,809
Lecture and event fees 28,801
Screening, streaming & broadcast 5,003
Interest and investment income 358
Royalties and writing fees 6,177
Sale of publications and videos 16,178
Administrative support fees 925* Includes $20,748 earmarked for organizations for which ISEC is the ﬁscal sponsor.

Total Expenses $423,176

Management and administrative 41,417
Global to Local Educational 169,820
WLD and Economics of Happiness 111,769
Grassroots Localization Support 28,597
Fundraising 29,521
Ladakh 26,079
International Alliance for Localization 15,973

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https://www.localfutures.org/

https://www.localfutures.org/

TEAM MEMBERS
Helena Norberg-Hodge
John Page
Steven Gorelick
Anja Lyngbaek
Kristen Steele
Marjana Kos
Alex Jensen
Henry Coleman
Carly Gayle
Victoria Clarke
Samantha Salmon
Jonny Tomlinson
Anja Light
Kunzang Deachen
Chozin Palmo
Jigmet Singge
Bertrand Raguet

Founder and Director
International Programs Director
Managing Programs Director
Associate Programs Director
Director of Special Projects
Executive AssistantResearcher and Project Coordinator
Project Coordinator
Project Coordinator
US Administrative Coordinator
UK Administrative Coordinator
Social Media AssistantSocial Media Assistant
Ladakh Project Associate
Ladakh Project Associate
Ladakh Project Associate
Audio and Visual Editor

Written by: Jane Ricketts Hein, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Henry Coleman,Alex Jensen, Anja Lyngbaek and Steven Gorelick
Designer: Nathalie Mansour
Photo credits: Front cover - Alice Kotlyarenko, Unsplash | Back cover - Ashley Kruse, Unsplash
Local Futures/International Society for Ecology and Culture
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