Is Localization a Solution to the Crisis of Capitalism? with Helena Norberg Hodge
Upstream
Upstream
4.9 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 29 October 2019
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's often said that the economic system is rigged. The truth, however, is that the system is working exactly as it was designed to. Those in power, whether they hold public office or whether they sit in the boardroom of a multi-billion dollar international corporation, have taken great lengths to set up a system of rules that benefit them and maintain the status quo. Helena Norberg-Hodge, a pioneer of the New Economics movement, has spent many years studying the driving forces behind why our economies are failing us, and what we can do about it. Helena's perspectives are informed by a systems thinking and colored by the many years she spent in Ladakh, part of the larger region of Kashmir, where she watched global capital completely transform entire communities.
Helena Norberg Hodge is the Founder and Director of Local Futures, producer and co-director of the documentary films The Economics of Happiness and Ancient Futures: Lessons from Ladakh and Right Livelihood Award Laureate. We spoke with her in her home in Devon in the U.K.
This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support
If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship
For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky.
You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, You are listening to upstream upstream upstream I'm Della Duncan and I'm Robert |
| 0:28.2 | Raymond if you're wondering where we've been for the past year well life got a bit crazy and we had to take a little |
| 0:34.3 | break from this project, but we are back at it and ready to share more documentaries and |
| 0:39.5 | interviews. We're starting off with this one, an interview with Helena Norberg Hodge, |
| 0:45.0 | founder and director of local futures and co-director of the film's Ancient Futures |
| 0:50.0 | Lessons from the Doc and the economics of happiness. |
| 0:55.0 | Welcome, thank you for joining me. |
| 0:59.0 | Thank you, very happy to be here. |
| 1:01.0 | So you are the founder and director of local futures. |
| 1:06.4 | I wonder if you could talk a little bit about the organization and what you do. |
| 1:11.2 | Yeah, we essentially promoting localization globally and our work grew out of very |
| 1:19.5 | international experience starting in a place called Ladakh, which is actually culturally part of Tibet, but belongs politically to India. |
| 1:29.0 | And I arrived there as a linguist in 1975. I was going to be there for only a few weeks but I fell in love |
| 1:36.8 | with the people and the place and stayed on and discovered that the people there were among the happiest I'd ever encountered, |
| 1:46.0 | also among the healthiest by the way, and there was no poverty as we know it in the world today. |
| 1:52.0 | There was no hunger and generally in a real |
| 1:57.1 | sense a high material standard of living. None of the comforts we have in the |
| 2:01.4 | Western world and so. |
| 2:03.0 | But I saw that in the name of development, |
| 2:07.0 | because the area was just being opened to development. |
| 2:10.0 | When I arrived there, it had been sealed off for political reasons for I think |
| 2:16.0 | something like 40 years and now within the name of development what was being |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Upstream, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Upstream and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.