HELENA NORBERG-HODGE REVITALISES THE COMMONS
Someone should make a movie about the life of Helena Norberg-Hodge. Born in Sweden, educated in America, working in Paris, Helena specialised in linguistics and loved adventures. When, in 1975, she was invited to join a film crew heading into Ladakh on the Tibetan Plateau, she had no idea her life was about to change forever. Immersed in their agrarian world at the exact moment tourists were allowed in for the first time, Helena witnessed the startling transformation of an ancient culture as Western influences brought movies, status anxiety and Coca-Cola. A once stable, culturally-rich community, working harmoniously with nature and bound by traditional frameworks which held their sense of themselves and connection to one another together, the Ladakhis were no match for the geo-political and economic mandates of the global financial markets.
What Helena observed during her many years living in Ladakh became a bestselling and hugely influential book, Ancient Futures. My copy is heavily thumbed with copious notes in the margins. It is a deeply moving account of how unconscious global forces entered a delicate eco-system of people, tradition and the natural world, and made it kneel at the demands of a consumer economy.
Helena has been an activist ever since her encounter with the Ladakhis. She produced and co-directed the award-winning documentary film The Economics of Happiness, which lays out her arguments against economic globalisation and for localisation, and was founder and director of Local Futures, a non-profit “dedicated to the revitalisation of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide.” Now based in Byron Bay, she still travels, teaching all over the world, running conferences and imploring everyone she meets—from princes to farmers—to embrace a more compassionate economic system which can support our deep need for love and belonging.
“One of my insights in Ladakh was that the community structures provided the deep emotional security for genuine individualism. It showed me that it’s possible to raise children in a way where they can feel truly okay with who they are as an individual.”
Her vision of empowered, thriving local economies comes from the strength, beauty and wisdom she experienced in the early years in Ladakh, when their traditional ways were still intact. When people had enough for everyone’s need but not everyone’s greed. Helena challenges us to reclaim the value in our ancient traditions. What does the future need us to restore from ancient wisdom? She witnessed the transition from an old world into a fast encroaching, unconscious new world. It is a powerful, cautionary tale as we enter conversations about Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality—how do we maintain our humanity when we seem so determined to eradicate any chance for it to flourish? Maybe the answers can be found in what we have lost and continue to try to destroy.
BERRY LIBERMAN: So I’d love to get some context about life before Ladakh, your personal journey. And then I have an arc of questions but I think we can go off into tangents so let’s see where this takes us. I mean I’m just super thrilled to listen and learn and deep dive with you.
HELENA NORBERG-HODGE: Thrilled that you are and great to be doing this with you, because as you know it’s rare that people are in a position to think about the state of the world and really try to figure out what’s the best thing we
