Helena Norberg-Hodge

Helena is a widely respected analyst of the impact of the global economy and international development on local communities, local economies, and personal identity, and is a leading proponent of ‘localisation’, or decentralisation, as a means of countering those impacts. For this work she was awarded the prestigious Goi Peace prize in 2012 and Arthur Morgan award in 2017. Since 1975, she has worked with the people of Ladakh, or “Little Tibet”, to find ways of enabling their culture to meet the modern world without sacrificing social and ecological values. For these efforts she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, or ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’. Helena’s seminal book, Ancient Futures has been described as “an inspirational classic,” offering guidelines for a better future. Together with the film of the same title, it has been translated into more than 40 languages, and sold about half a million copies. She is also the producer and co-director of the award-winning film, The Economics of Happiness. Helena has written numerous articles, essays, and book chapters, and is the co-author of two groundbreaking books on food and farming: Bringing the Food Economy Home and From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture. Helena has lectured at numerous universities including Oxford, Harvard, Melbourne, Tokyo, Stockholm, Munich and Berkeley, and taught regularly at Schumacher College. She appeared in media worldwide, including MSNBC, The London Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian. Helena is the founder/director of Local Futures and The International Alliance for Localization (IAL). She is also a founding member of the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, the International Forum on Globalization and the Global Ecovillage Network.