Explore advaya's faculty of teachers, scientists, practitioners, philosophers and storytellers, who share multidimensional, local and diverse narratives from across the world.
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.
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Demystify the complex systems controlling wealth and power and reclaim agency. Led by pioneering activists, this journey explores how finance, big tech, and more intersect to deprive communities of sovereignty. Together we'll map leverage points to build capacities and rewrite stories towards collective flourishing.
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A unique learning journey with leading hearts and minds of our time. Learn new and adaptive ways of being that allow us to navigate these times of transition with resilience and creativity.
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"We evolved, connected to the land, connected to each other. And that's where we feel at home. That's what we long for. It's a little light that we can call spirituality. Spirituality is about awakening to the connection of all of life, and that we are a part of it. It's the joy we feel when we look at the stars moving, when we really feel ourselves as tiny little entities in this vast, vast, mysterious universe."
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Talk given by Helena Norberg-Hodge at the advaya event Economics of Happiness: Post-Growth, Localisation & Wellbeing. Helena Norberg-Hodge describes the emerging localisation movement - the greatest sign of hope today. In city and country, people are demonstrating a path to reweave the community fabric, restore secure livelihoods, biodiversity and genuine productivity, while reducing pollution. Helena highlights the steps needed to turn this grassroots movement into policy.
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With decades of experience in the ancient culture of Ladakh or Little Tibet, Helena will share learning from indigenous culture as the “economics of happiness”.