“We are swimming in a sea shaped by corporate desires. They are not thinking beings they are structures shaped by blind reductionist thinking and ever larger scale and greater speed. Money generating machines inside which are human beings who generally have a very limited understanding of what they are doing and the damage they inflict.” ~ Helena Norberg-Hodge
EPISODE 22 – HELENA NORBERG-HODGE ON CORPORATE CONTROL, SYSTEMIC CHANGE AND LOCALISM
ESCAPING THE JAWS OF HUNGRY GIANTS
Listen to the conversation:
If you love the show, you can subscribe through iTunes, stitcher or spotify and listen offline on your favourite device (podcasts are great for long drives and commuting!)
About this interview:
How do we free ourselves from the controlling influence of multi-national corporations?
In this episode Amisha meets author, filmmaker and big-picture activist Helena Norberg-Hodge as they sit in conversation at Schumacher College. Together they discuss the influence of multinational corporations in all areas of our lives, and how a shift to localism can recover what we have lost.
Helena’s experience living in the Tibetan community of Ladakh gave her a deep grounding in community life and nature connection. At the same time she witnessed the negative impact of the dominant economic system, causing declining mental health and environmental pollution.
Helena’s big-picture activism reveals the interdependent systems of corporate control and urbanisation that are behind our greatest challenges. She explains how the current epidemics of anxiety and depression, climate change and plastic pollution are caused directly by the actions of multinational corporations. She unveils the dark secrets hidden in the small print of international trade treaties, allowing multinational corporations to hold our governments to ransom.
So what can we do? Helena explains why systemic change is needed and how understanding the bigger picture can help us to be more gentle with ourselves and stop pointing the finger at individuals. She explains how we can still support localism, even if we are unable to step out of our corporate work.
“The movement we need for a fundamental shift away from corporate rule and towards democracy really is something that benefits everybody. So we have a potential to build a movement that is more powerful than ever before.”~ Helena Norberg-Hodge
Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of Local Futures. A pioneer of the ‘new economy’ movement, she has been promoting an economics of personal, social and ecological well-being for more than thirty years. She is the producer and co-director of the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness, and is the author of Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh, described as “an inspirational classic”. She was honored with the Right Livelihood Award (or ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) for her groundbreaking work in Ladakh, and received the 2012 Goi Peace Prize for contributing to “the revitalization of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide.”
To find out more about Helena, visit www.localfutures.org
To connect or work with Amisha Ghadiali, visit www.amisha.co.uk
Links from this episode:
Amisha’s Presence Mentoring Programme
Support this podcast:
You can be part of the community that make this happen by supporting our show through Patreon in $, or direct through donorbox in £.
(this podcast is about people not products, we are disrupting the current model and are an advertising free zone, powered by you). You can donate anything from $2 a month or make a one off donation. Thank you.
Yes I want to be a Patron of The Future Is Beautiful
You must be logged in to post a comment.