Local Futures Podcast

Welcome to the Bristol Conversations, a new podcast and video series by Local Futures featuring Helena Norberg-Hodge in conversation with some of the great minds who joined us in Bristol for the Planet Local Summit. Today, we hear from perhaps the world's leading expert on local finance and local business, Michael Shuman. With roots in the peace movement and social justice struggles, Michael is a Harvard-trained lawyer and economist who has spent his career going against conventional economic dogmas to champion the local. Local economies, he maintains, can deliver greater justice and wellbeing in society, and greater prosperity and political power to people. He shares his wisdom across the world in talks, workshops and his publication The Main Street Journal. In this highly informative episode, Helena and Michael deliver critical but creative takes on buzzwords like ethical investment and impact investing. Drawing on demonstrative examples, they explore how place-based institutions, economies and the policies that support them can revolutionize not only our local communities but global geopolitics, and ultimately give rise to an 'economics of happiness'.

Welcome to the Bristol Conversations, a new podcast and video series by Local Futures. In these longer-format, meandering episodes, our founder Helena Norberg-Hodge speaks with some of the great minds who joined us in Bristol for the Planet Local Summit. We kick the series off with Darcia Narvaez. Darcia is professor emerita of psychology at the University of Notre Dame. She studies morality, child development and human flourishing, and she does so by integrating disciplines like anthropology, neuroscience, developmental psychology and evolutionary biology. Helena, in turn, holds a very compatible perspective on human development thanks to her learnings from many years spent in the indigenous culture of Ladakh. Their conversation explores who we really are as human beings and the kind of supports we need to develop healthily. They show how so-called 'human nature' itself is molded by the economy and culture, and give anecdotes that illuminate some fundamental differences between modern Western (i.e. globalized) culture and more land-based communal cultures. How deep does the damage of disconnection go in the modern world? And how might we begin to reverse that damage through care, touch, play and vulnerability?  

The final episode in the World Localization Extravaganza counters the “bigger, more complex and more violent” logic of the dominant system with a bottom-up approach built on peoplepower, local sovereignty and small-scale economies. The episode stresses how, even and especially in the face of global crises, localization simply makes sense.  VISIT OUR CAMPAIGN PAGE: www.worldlocalizationday.org to get active, and follow @localfutures_  This third and final episode visits six leaders practicing on-the-ground work as well as building coalitions for systemic change in Europe, Africa and Australia: Ruby van der Wekken – Finland – Food systems activist and social solidarity economy networker with Oma Maa and Ripess Europe  Anisa Rogers – Australia – Campaigner and practitioner, Degrowth Network Australia and New Economy Network Australia  Million Belay – Uganda – General Coordinator, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa  Laura Kaesteele – UK/Germany – Network weaver, ECOLISE  Juan del Rio – Spain – Network weaver and filmmaker, ECOLISE  Margarita Barcena – Mexico/Ethiopia – Food systems activist and storyteller, A Growing Culture  Join our mailing list: https://www.localfutures.org/sign-up-to-our-newsletter/

On World Localization Day, 2025, we celebrate a planet-sized paradox – a GLOBAL movement for LOCALization.  VISIT OUR CAMPAIGN PAGE: www.worldlocalizationday.org to get active, and follow @localfutures_ This second episode in the trio offers shining examples of localization-in-action in the USA, Brazil, Bangladesh and Nepal, while also stressing efforts to build up broad-based, international coalitions for strategic policy change. You will hear from:  Debra Efroymson – USA/Bangladesh – campaigner, public health advocate with Institute of Wellbeing https://instituteofwellbeingbd.org/  Thais Mantovani – Brazil – educator, reformer, campaigner with EcoUniversidade @ecouniversidade Michael Shuman – USA – economist, lawyer, leading expert on local finance https://michaelhshuman.com/ Shail Shrestha – Nepal – Public policy advocate and cofounder, Digo Bikas Institute https://digobikas.org/  Rutendo Ngara – South Africa – indigenous knowledge keeper  Join our mailing list: https://www.localfutures.org/sign-up-to-our-newsletter/

On World Localization Day, 2025, we come to you with a very big story. It’s a story played out across every continent, told by 15 different voices, over three upbeat super inspiring podcast episodes. It’s the story of a global turning towards all things local and life-affirming. VISIT OUR CAMPAIGN PAGE: www.worldlocalizationday.org to get active, and follow @localfutures_   This first episode defines and depicts localization as it manifests in parts of Asia, Africa and Australia. It features five awe-inspiring activists, storytellers and thinkers: Aimee Wallin – Ghana – food systems activist and leader, Ghana Food Movement @aimee.wav @ghanafoodmovement / https://www.ghanafoodmovement.com/ Keibo Oiwa – Japan – renowned teacher, author, activist, networker @theslothclub_japan Vu Truong – Vietnam – youth leader, education reformer with VCIL https://www.vcil.community/ Rutendo Ngara – South Africa – indigenous knowledge keeper Morag Gamble – Australia – Permaculture leader and educator with Permaculture Education Institute https://permacultureeducationinstitute.org Join our mailing list: https://www.localfutures.org/sign-up-to-our-newsletter/

Described as "one of the greatest thinkers of our age," Jeremy Lent is an impassioned researcher and speaker who investigates the underlying causes of our civilizational metacrisis, and explores pathways toward an ecological civilisation. He is the author of The Patterning Instinct and The Web of Meaning, and the founder of the Deep Transformation Network – an online global community where people can engage in facilitating a deep transformation toward a life-affirming future on a regenerated Earth.   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.

Christian Jochnick, founder of Juntos Farm in Ibiza, brings a unique blend of experience from social projects, finance, and plant medicine. He dives into the importance of local food economies for social and ecological regeneration. Christian discusses innovative strategies for creating sustainable food systems and the critical role of community cooperation. He shares insights on the entire value chain, from soil health to distribution, and emphasizes the need for strategic subsidies to ensure affordable food for all.

Nathalie Kelley is a Peruvian-Australian actress of Quechua descent who has starred in Hollywood films like ‘The Fast and the Furious’ and Netflix’s ‘Dynasty’. Over the last five years, however, she has switched from acting to activism, speaking out for indigenous peoples, regenerative agriculture and localization. She is a graduate of Kiss The Ground's Soil Advocacy program, is on the board of the Fungí Foundation, and has narrated Local Futures' films ‘Closer to Home’ and ‘Trade Gone Mad’. In this episode, Nathalie recounts how she walked away from her “success” in the dominant system in favor of using her platform to tell stories that might inspire activism, reconnection, and a radical worldview shift. She draws learnings from her indigenous roots and speaks unapologetically about the need to re-sacralize our approach to economics and the wider world. Through sharing her own story, she invites all of us – indigenous and non-indigenous alike – to rediscover our rightful place in the web of life. 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.  

Peace-pilgrim, life-long activist, and former monk, Satish Kumar has been inspiring global change for over 60 years. In 1962 he undertook a pilgrimage for peace, walking for two years without money from India to America for the cause of nuclear disarmament. In 1991, he co-founded Schumacher College, a renowned center of ecological education, and is a Visiting Fellow of Schumacher Wild. Now in his 80s, Satish has devoted his life to campaigning for ecological regeneration and social justice. He is a world-renowned author and international speaker, founder of The Resurgence Trust and Editor Emeritus of Resurgence & Ecologist – a change-making magazine he edited for over 40 years. 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.

How can we make our local communities healthy and resilient, and make sure that the voices and concerns of local people are heard? In this episode of the Planet Local Voices Series, Kate Taylor-Smith, Patricia Patterson Vanegas and Ben Christie, share their experience from Forest Row - a small town of 5000 people in East Sussex in the UK. They talk about localization and the process of building direct democracy, with genuine community representation in local, county and state-level governments.  It all started with FROCAL - a grassroots project that explores what the Forest Row might be like if they all lived and acted more locally. What would it mean for the sourcing of food, water and energy, for the local economy and livelihoods? Overall, the aim is to care for the land and each other to improve collective wellbeing. 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.