Catherine Weetman talks to Helena Norberg-Hodge, a pioneer of the new economy movement and recipient of Right Livelihood Award (aka the “Alternative Nobel Prize”), the Arthur Morgan Award and the Goi Peace Prize for contributing to “the revitalization of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide.”

Helena Norberg-Hodge is also an author, and her most recent book is Local is Our Future. This book connects the dots between our social, economic, ecological and spiritual crises, revealing how a systemic shift from global to local can address all of these seemingly disparate problems at the same time.

Helena is also the author of the inspirational classic Ancient Futures, and producer of the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness. 

Helena explains why local, small-scale, ‘traditional’ farming is better for farmers, for animal and human health, and for our planet, and how it helps strengthen local communities.

We talk about why local food is one of the simple solutions to our interconnected, systemic problems, and why connection with soil, with nature, with the process of growing food, is essential for our health and wellbeing.

Helena highlights how the centralised, highly integrated, top-down global food economy, which is subsidised by our governments through subsidies for research and development at universities to infrastructure, and through imposition of regulations at local and national levels.

Helena explains why we need to be doing everything we can to support local food systems worldwide, with shorter distances and supporting smaller diversified farms. The agricultural biodiversity also helps increase wild biodiversity. Local food reduces the plastic, it reduces the emissions, it reduces the need for refrigeration. We’re talking about massive, multiple benefits.