For our second Atelier Gardens *Talk we welcome Helena Norberg-Hodge. Helena, champion of the world-wide Localization movement and winner of the Right Livelihoods Award (aka “alternative nobel prize”) will speak to us about the radically simple idea of supporting local connections and solutions. Inviting us to rethink some of our basic assumptions, Helena Norberg-Hodge is a relentlessly optimistic advocate of fundamental economic change.

Programme:
6 pm – Welcome with light Refreshments available from Roots Radicals
7 pm – Talk by Helena Norberg-Hodge followed by a Q&A (in English)
8:30 pm – Get together

Please sign up for free here.

Local is Our Future: Connecting People and Places

As activist, writer and film maker she has inspired and documented countless initiatives worldwide that demonstrate that systems change is not a vague, anachronistic, even Utopian idea, but something that is already happening, sometimes right under our noses.

Despite the power and profits of agribusiness giants, localised food systems and vibrant farmers’ markets are multiplying. Independent shops are pushing back against the dominance of chain stores. In urban and rural areas alike, alternative institutions like holistic health centres, community schools and mutual aid networks are proving they can do a better job of meeting people’s needs than big companies and bloated government institutions. And there are countless active attempts at building interdependent, land-based communities. Together these initiatives are renewing a vibrant plurality of place-based cultures, where people help meet each other’s needs and take care of the Earth.

This is the story of localisation, a counter-narrative we can support and be part of in our every-day lives. Reconnecing with each other, nature and ourselves.

About Helena Norberg-Hodge

Linguist, author and film maker, Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of the international non-profit organisation, Local Futures, a pioneer of the new economy movement, and the convenor of World Localization Day.

She is the author of several books, including her latest book is ‘Local is Our Future: Steps to an Economics of Happiness’. Helena is also the producer of the award-winning documentary ‘The Economics of Happiness’. Educated in Sweden, Germany, Austria, England and the United States, Helena specialized in linguistics, including studies at the University of London and with Noam Chomsky at MIT. In 1986, Helena was awarded the right livelihoods prize, also known as ‘alternative nobel prize’.