Let’s celebrate World Localization Day!
A conversation between Helene Norberg Hodge and Daniel Wahl
On May 26th I had the opportunity to reconnect with an old friend and teacher of mine, the Right Livelihood Award winner Helena Norberg-Hodge. In support of the up-coming World Localization Day that Helena’s organisation Local Futures is curating for June 21st Helena had asked me for a short video contribution to the day’s event.
We decided that by recording this conversation between the two of us short sections of it could be used on the day and this unedited recording could be published in the Voices of the ReGeneration Series and help promote the day.
The first 8:30 minutes are part of two friends catching up after six months in which COVID 19 changed the lives of billions. We speak shortly about our personal experiences of the lockdown and also some of the local resilience responses that we observed in our communities in Australia and here on Mallorca.
The ‘conversation’ then dives into exploring the pandemic as a “fork in the Road” and an opportunity to redesign the human impact on Earth in a much more place-sourced way that is carefully adapting how we meet our needs while contributing to the regeneration of local communities and local economies within a bioregional context.
We explore how the experience of rapid global changes in response to the pandemic has created embodied memories and real experiences for billions that transformative change is possible and can be rapid with we have the will and understand the reasons.
We address the need for a redesign of the political process of governance in ways that truly enable subsidiarity and see national and international levels of governance as coordinating enablers of local decision making that sets the conditions for active community participation.
Helena points out that this re-localisation of political power can only happen through a simultaneous re-localisation of economic power. We explore the need for a fundamental redesign of our economic and monetary systems in ways that address the current systemic dysfunctionality which driving degenerative practices.
00:17 some companies a too large not to fail and too large to be regenerative
00:20 … how technology is devaluing human labour and the double edged sword of technology use
00:25 … redesigning work in ways that people can balance human connection to people, place and community with working on-line behind a computer screen … ecovillages as experiments for such life style designs … community focussed and bioregional systems as enablers of such a life-style through more localised economies
00:34 New forms of business, not-for-profits, cooperatives, and locally embedded private companies …
00:36 how localisation and smaller scale production engenders a need for diversification and enables more vibrant and diverse regional economies
00:37 diversity as a risk management strategy in a world of disruptions and climate chaos
00:41 … the 3 Horizons framework as a map for the long term transition and the phasing out of degenerative and phasing in of regenerative patterns and practices
00:43 … what to preserve of the old as we build the new … what kind of technology to use when and to what extent … becoming literate of the impact of technologies .. transforming patterns of production and consumption … economic decentralisation as enabler of healthier life patterns for people …
00:49 … the link between education and community capacity building as enablers of a more participatory system of governance …
00:51 … the need for more intergenerational learning and connection that is enabled by localisation … getting closer to the land and the wider community of lifer … the growing networks of localisation hubs around the world
00:56 … the difficulties of building the new systems within the context of the rules and constraints of the current economic systems …
01:00 … local as a process of shortening distances and increasing diversity by scaling down and slowing down … not a clear cut definition in this time of transition
01:02 … The World Localisation Day … and how it quickly gained the support of Noam Chomsky and the Dalai Lama along with a wide alliance of thought and practice leaders around the world
01:04 … about not letting technology dehumanise us
01:05 … description of the format of the day …online teams that engage in questions and answers through chat
01:06 … Helena asked me to offer a short message in German for her to use in the international promotion of the day … I needed a few attempts as I think in English and have done for decades
01:07 … we chat about networks that should be linked into the initiative, including the Global Ecovillage Network, Ecosystems Restoration Camps, Commonland, … and others … also briefly talk about the recent One Earth Live event and Becca Dakini, Uplift and other possible collaborators …
01:12 … the need to get the arts, music, theatre, and many different cultural creatives engaged
Here is the video of the conversation (will try to publish transcript soon):
More:
—
If you like the post, please clap AND remember that you can clap up to 50 times if you like it a lot ;-)!
Daniel Christian Wahl — Catalyzing transformative innovation in the face of converging crises, advising on regenerative whole systems design, regenerative leadership, and education for regenerative development and bioregional regeneration.
Author of the internationally acclaimed book Designing Regenerative Cultures
