Local Futures
Local Futures, once called the International Society for Ecology and Culture, is a non-profit that helps people see the big, underlying causes of social, environmental, and economic crises. It argues that chasing one issue at a time—like saving whales, stopping nuclear power, or feeding the hungry—can overwhelm people and fail as a solution. Instead, it says we should tackle the fundamental forces behind these problems, such as economic globalization, corporate power, and the idea that “progress” means endless growth.
The organization promotes economic localization and other locally based alternatives to global consumer culture to protect both biological and cultural diversity. It is associated with the idea of Counter-development and runs projects that emphasize local change rather than global uniformity.
Local Futures leads the Ladakh Project, begun in 1975 in Ladakh (often called “Little Tibet”). The project includes a wide range of practical activities, including renewable energy programs, and it has gained international recognition for countering the negative effects of conventional development in the region.
Its founder and director, Helena Norberg-Hodge, has received notable awards for her work, including the 1986 Right Livelihood Award and the 2012 Goi Peace Award for localization work.
Local Futures has produced many documentaries and short films about globalization’s impact on local economies, such as Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh (1993), The Economics of Happiness (2011), Planet Local: A Quiet Revolution (2022), Local Food Can Save the World (2022), Closer to Home: Voices of Hope in a Time of Crisis (2024), The Power of Local (2024), and Trade Gone Mad (2024). It also publishes books, reports, blog articles, and other resources to help localization activists. Notable books include Bringing the Food Economy Home (2002), Local Is Our Future (2019), Life After Progress (2022), and Ancient Futures (originally 1991, updated 2016).
A key resource is the Localization Action Guide, which is updated regularly. In 2020, Local Futures launched World Localization Day (WLD) to raise awareness of the localization movement. WLD is celebrated every June, with the main event on June 21, inviting communities worldwide to share their localization efforts through events, screenings, and discussions.
In 2023, Local Futures hosted its first Planet Local Summit in Bristol, UK, bringing together localization activists. A follow-up Planet Local Summit is planned for September 2025 in Ladakh to mark the 50th anniversary of Norberg-Hodge’s arrival there. The organization has hosted many Economics of Happiness conferences around the world, including in Berkeley, Byron Bay, Bangalore, Portland, Florence, Bristol, Ladakh, Tokyo, and Jeonju.
Local Futures formed the International Alliance to Localization (IAL) to connect groups protecting cultural integrity against globalization. Its publications and videos have been translated into more than 40 languages, and its directors serve on the editorial board of The Ecologist magazine.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:10 (CET).