Over the last few decades, humanity has globalized everything – from food production and supply chains to communication and information systems – making countries, businesses, and individuals more connected and reliant on each other than ever before. Yet, with this increased interconnectedness comes more complexity and fragility. What have we lost through the globalization process, and how might we fortify our communities by investing in local economies?
In this episode, Nate is joined by Helena Norberg-Hodge – a leading voice in the localization movement – to explore the deep systemic challenges posed by economic globalization. Together, they examine how the global growth model has fueled environmental degradation, social fragmentation, and cultural erosion, and why shifting toward localized economies might be one of the most effective (and overlooked) responses to our predicament. Drawing on decades of firsthand experience, Helena invites us to question the assumptions underpinning our globalized lives and imagine a future rooted in local reconnection.
How might we rekindle a sense of enough in a world that constantly tells us we need more? As globalization begins to retreat, what small but meaningful steps can we take to relocalize our lives and reconnect with each other? And what kind of futures might be possible if we centered our communities around systems that regenerate the very places we call home?
About Helena Norberg-Hodge
Linguist, author and filmmaker, Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of the international non-profit organisation, Local Futures. She is also a pioneer of the new economy movement, the convenor of World Localization Day, and an expert in understanding the ecological, social, and psychological effects of the global economy on diverse cultures.
Additionally, Helena is the author of several books, including ‘Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh’, an eye-opening tale of tradition and change in Ladakh, or “Little Tibet”. Together with a film of the same title, Ancient Futures has been translated into more than 40 languages, and sold half a million copies. Helena has continued to produce several other short films, including the award-winning documentary ‘The Economics of Happiness’.
Helena specialized in linguistics, including studies at the University of London and with Noam Chomsky at MIT. Her work, spanning almost half a century, has received the support of a wide range of international figures, including Jane Goodall, HH the Dalai Lama, HRH Prince Charles and Indira Gandhi.
Recorded on:
May 7, 2025
Show Notes & Links to Learn More
00:00 – Helena Norberg-Hodge, Works, Local Futures, World Localization Day, The Economics of Happiness, Global Ecovillage Network
Featured Local Futures Short Films: Trade Gone Mad, Raise Our Children, Closer to Home – Voices of Hope in Times of Crisis
00:49 – Local Economy, Economic Globalization
01:15 – Noam Chomsky
01:59 – Ladakhis
03:30 – Neoclassical Economics
03:40 – Diametrically opposed Definition
04:45 – Neoliberalism
04:55 – Principle of Comparative Advantage
06:10 – Being connected to land is a spiritual foundation of many indigenous cultures
06:25 – Tibetan Plateau
06:55 – Christianity
08:10 – Romanticism, Age of Enlightenment
08:49 – Embodiment, Quantum Entanglement
09:00 – Belonging as a fundamental human need
10:10 – The Race to Mars
11:10 – The elites are less than 1%
12:11 – The Agricultural Revolution (Neolithic Revolution), Colonialism, Economic Superorganism
12:50 – Monoculture, Enclosure, Slavery
13:19 – Industrial Revolution and Industrialization,
14:20 – Subsistence definition
14:44 – History of Farming: in Australia, in Asia
15:49 – Dickensian London
16:56 – Fossil Fuel, Digital Currency, Artificial Intelligence
17:31 – Financialization and its harm
18:20 – Indigeneity
18:38 – Our economy is exponentially bigger than in the year 1500 (based on GDP per capita)
19:59 – Juggernaut definition
21:30 – Iain McGilchrist, TGS Episode 1 + 2, Right vs. Left Brain Hemispheres
22:59 – Zeitgeist definition
23:35 – Left-Wing Politics, Buddhism, Ecology
23:41 – University of California Berkeley Energy and Resources Group
26:32 – Maurice Strong, Al Gore
27:11 – Rachel Carson, The Silent Spring
28:07 – Decentralization, Small is Beautiful by E. F. Schunmacher, Herman Daly (TGS Episode)
29:15 – Amory Lovins
29:50 – Monsanto, Agent Orange
30:20 – Earth Summit Rio 1992
30:25 – Reductionism
31:17 – Antibodies
33:00 – Trade treaties handing over power from nation-state to corporations
33:44 – Plant species with no predators, Pesticides, Glyphosate
36:09 – Corporate Propaganda, Urbanization, 5-Minute City
37:10 – Overshoot: Ecological, Social, Financial
37:38 – Credit, 6-Continent Supply Chain
38:45 – Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down
43:38 – Sungmisan Village
47:37 – Social Capital
47:48 – Calorie intake per capita vs. Energy usage per capita, Endosomatic vs. Exosomatic
51:09 – Helena’s Films
55:47 – Natural Building
55:55 – Grassroots movements, Permaculture, Ecovillages, Ecoversity
58:35 – History of Technology
58:53 – Intergenerational Relationships
59:53 – Waldorf Education, Impact of technology on children’s education (Zak Stein TGS Episode on this topic)
1:02:17 – Hand-Eye Coordination
1:03:30 – The Great Simplification, Climate Change
1:03:54 – Mental health crisis of global youth
1:04:27 – Corporate Empire
1:06:29 – Laissez-Faire Government, Countries swinging to the right
1:10:43 – Sigmund Freud
1:11:12 – Alcoholic Anonymous and its success, Connection of 12-step program to spirituality
1:12:00 – Vision Quest, Time Poverty
1:13:20 – Psychopathy
1:14:40 – The Polycrisis
1:14:46 – Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), Uranium mining company suing Greenland
1:16:15 – Economics of Happiness Conferences, Localization Action Guide