Local is our Future

Words by Nina Conrad, illustration by Emma Warren

A journey changed her view on the world: in Ladakh, India, in the 1970s, Helena Norberg-Hodge witnessed the incursion of Western values and technologies that destroyed a hitherto intact traditional society and ecology. Her experiences make her a critic of globalization and Western consumer society. With her international non-profit organization Local Futures, she is dedicated to renewing ecological and social wellbeing by strengthening communities and local economies worldwide.

Nina Conrad: Local Futures started a new campaign on Instagram, called “eco-literacy”, to explain some important mechanisms of politics and economics. What are the most important aspects to help people understand the big picture?

Helena Norberg-Hodge: It is vital that we make a distinction between the man-made techno-economic system and the natural world. That distinction is something that most people in the West don’t make, because man-made changes, particularly technology, have become so enmeshed in the natural world.

We need to clearly distinguish the techno-economic system from life itself. We are led to believe that technology creates wealth, but in actual fact, it is life – the natural world – that is the real economy, that provides for all our needs. In the dominant narrative, we are told that the techno-economic progress we are experiencing is evolutionary. This leaves us often passively accepting destructive change as some inevitable consequence of progress. We need to recognize that we are living in a man-made system that defines and organizes life in ways that have become antithetical to the needs of both the planet and human beings. It has its roots in a patriarchal, Eurocentric worldview that is imposing monoculture worldwide. It’s on a collision course with biodiversity – a fundamental principle of life. Since this system destroys life itself, it cannot be seen as evolutionary.  

Myths about this man-made system are confusing us on many levels and preventing us from having the clarity we need to support genuine ecological and human wellbeing. Big Picture Activism can help us to see more clearly the many ways that corporate greenwashing can mislead us. One of many examples is the difference between a corporate circular economy and a societal circular economy. In a circular society, the economy works with nature, seeking to reduce toxic chemicals and pollution, while corporations claiming to be circular pretend that we can continue to produce plastic and turn it into something useful. That we can produce a lot of waste, burn it, and generate heat from it. 

In other words, “eco-literacy” means you need the literacy both of understanding the modern economic system and of understanding life, ecology. If we understand both, we will be stronger and clearer in supporting a life-affirming path of wellbeing, both for human beings and for nature.

Nina: There is a mistaken belief that trade is always good and more trade is always better. For a long time, free trade agreements have been signed regularly to open economies. The belief that economies will become more efficient and products cheaper is a fallacy because global corporations are heavily subsidized by states. How exactly do these subsidies work? And what are their consequences?

Helena: It is essential to understand that taxes, subsidies and regulations are the key mechanisms that governments use to shape the economy. Governments give money to particular industries or projects, helping to cover their costs. It is important to know that these subsidies are often called investments. More and more governments have been investing in a global infrastructure that supports global corporations and disadvantages local businesses.

There is nothing wrong with trade in itself. There has been trading throughout history, but it was not dominated by monopolistic global corporations that could destroy local businesses by offering imports at artificially low prices. Governments still believe that global trade improves their economies, partly because of the way GDP is measured. However, many governments are becoming poorer relative to the wealth and power of global corporations. 

It is important to understand that GDP increases with commercialization. So, the more we commercialize, the more aspects get broken up and become a product to sell, that’s good for GDP.

If water is polluted and we have to buy it in bottles, that’s good for GDP. On the other hand, if we produce our own food in our gardens, that’s bad for GDP.

The craziness of GDP is linked to the craziness of subsidizing global corporations to increase global trade. And that’s why for a very long time governments have supported the big over the small, the global over the local.

Nina: With your NGO Local Futures, you are dedicated to renewing environmental and social wellbeing by strengthening communities and local economies worldwide. What are the main benefits of economic localization? 

Helena: The benefits of localization are systemic because it’s a direct antithesis to the systemic problems the global economy has created. One of the most important benefits of localization is that it creates more community. I learned from my experiences in Ladakh, or Little Tibet, that this is absolutely vital for our wellbeing. 

In our evolution for thousands of years, we depended on intergenerational communities, where the old and the young were connected. Where the 60-year-old grandmother took care of the eight-month-old baby, while the parents were busy working. We now have a situation where economic pressures push people into crowded urban centres and push children into institutions, where it is difficult for old people to fulfil a function in society. They become a burden. This is an anti-life system. In traditional communities, mothers had several caretakers for their children. We used to be closer to the living world on which we depended, we used to know the people we depended on, and the nature we depended on. The question is how can we come back to a way of life that is more in tune with human nature and nature. 

Now with Covid, many people want to move out of the cities to live in smaller villages, closer to the land. We are beginning to create economies where there is a closer connection with the soil and the seeds that are the foundation of our food, with the animals, or the people who grow the food. That’s what localization encourages, and helps to make possible. It’s very much about shortening the distances between production and consumption. We start having those connections, and that starts building a collaborative relationship between producers and consumers, which is beneficial on both sides.

Another benefit when shortening the distances is that we reduce CO2 emissions and plastic for packaging. Consumer goods do not need to be packaged and shipped, as they are for local use. We stimulate and create a market that demands diversity and thus encourages the ecological production of food, fibre, and building materials.

Nina: What do you think it will take for people to consume more locally again? Especially when it comes to clothes?

Helena: So much is about Big Picture Activism. First of all, people need to recognize that right now, many of these handmade, beautiful things from natural materials are more expensive because of an artificial economy that supports fossil fuels, which are more energy-intensive and destroy our environment. This artificial economy simultaneously makes toxic man-made products cheaper and more affordable. People who can afford it need to be encouraged to choose the more beautiful products that are more kind to their own body’s health and the health of nature. It’s worth spending a bit more money on that.

There is a trend towards people wanting a better relationship with nature, and understanding the importance of natural fibres. I see people wanting to move away from importing their fibres and starting to choose local materials too. 

In terms of fashion, in cultures where there is still some remnant of traditional culture, like Japan and Korea, people are starting to find a hybrid style that shows their heritage. It’s encouraging that people are starting to look for a style that shows their desire to be closer to nature, and that shows something of their historical background.

There are many signs of a growing desire to look like we are connected to the land. That will also mean more diversity in fashion – in our clothes. We need to move away from global brands and encourage companies not to become too big or too global. That’s of course not an easy thing to do in the current competitive climate.

Nina: Are there indications that the world is heading towards a turning point in terms of trade, production and consumption? Have you possibly witnessed increased interest or engagement within the last two years

Helena: I have definitively witnessed an overall change of mindset in the past two years due to Covid. People became aware that the dependence on global trade makes us vulnerable. It was especially clear how crazy it was that many countries could not even make their own protective masks. 

There is definitely increased interest in rethinking economic progress. And at the grassroots level worldwide, there are very inspiring community initiatives, usually led by women. A turning towards nature, towards healthy food, simply a slower, gentler, nurturing way of doing things. 

However, top-down pressures are encouraging an ever more destructive direction, with more energy and resource use, more technology, more competition – replacing human beings with AI systems. This path is not created by us. The vast majority of humanity is not taking us in this direction. Most people are longing for deeper connections to each other, to nature, to meaningful work, and they are moving in a different direction. Even though the globalized economic system is likely to create even more social and environmental problems in the next 10 or 20 years, I do not doubt that in the long run nature and people will win – ultimately, that’s where the real power lies.  

Visit Local Futures at www.localfutures.org or follow them on Instagram.