Ancient Futures, 3rd Edition Paperback – April 27, 2016
by Helena Norberg-Hodge (Author), H.H. The Dalai Lama (Foreword)
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A moving portrait of tradition and change in Ladakh, or “Little Tibet,” Ancient Futures is also a scathing critique of the global economy and a rallying call for economic localization.
When Helena Norberg-Hodge first visited Ladakh in 1975, she found a pristine environment, a self-reliant economy and a people who exhibited a remarkable joie de vivre. But then came a tidal wave of economic growth and development. Over the last four decades, this remote Himalayan land has been transformed by outside markets and Western notions of “progress.” As a direct result, a whole range of problems―from polluted air and water to unemployment, religious conflict, eating disorders and youth suicide―have appeared for the first time.
Yet this is far from a story of despair. Social and environmental breakdown, Norberg-Hodge argues, are neither inevitable nor evolutionary, but the products of political and economic decisions―and those decisions can be changed. In a new Preface, she presents a kaleidoscope of projects around the world that are pointing the way for both human and ecological well-being. These initiatives are the manifestation of a rapidly growing localization movement, which works to rebuild place-based cultures―strengthening community and our connection with nature.
Ancient Futures challenges us to redefine what a healthy economy means, and to find ways to carry centuries-old wisdom into our future. The book and a related film by the same title have, between them, been translated into more than 40 languages.
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Ancient Futures is one of the most important books of our time. As corporate powers threaten to destroy diverse cultures all over the world, Norberg-Hodge portrays an ancient way of life practiced by a people who live in greater harmony with each other and nature. Indeed in these pages one encounters a living example of a future that could save us all."--Susan Griffin, author of Woman and Nature and A Chorus of Stones
"An indispensible book for people who are trying to protect rural life."--Wendell Berry, author of The Unsettling of America and The Way of Ignorance
"Some books provide insights into our problems, others offer guidelines for a different future. Ancient Futures does both, brilliantly. A true classic."--Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and The End of Nature
"What the noble and intrepid Helena Norberg-Hodge beheld in Ladakh becomes a lesson for all the world. Lucid and poignant, Ancient Futures ranks with Mutual Aidas a classic of human ecology and unyielding hope."--Stephanie Mills, author of In Service of the Wild
"Though full of stories and photographs of the Ladakhi way of life, [Ancient Futures] is much more than a travelogue; it is… an ecologue…. The Western industrial ‘monoculture’ that has infected and endangers the rich ancient culture of Ladakh is the one that is endangering us, its progenitors, as well. A book that must be heeded."--Kirkpatrick Sale, The Nation
"When I first read Ancient Futures in 1992, it changed my life, and it has colored my thinking in all the years since. Today, after nearly a quarter of a century of globalization — and the expansion of economic inequality and the decline of ecosystems that come with it — this book's insights are more current, and more needed, than ever."--Richard Heinberg, author of The End of Growth
"Now more than ever we need to read and heed the lessons Helena Norberg Hodge offered us 25 years ago. We can wish we had changed course since Ancient Futures was first published, but now is the time to turn regret into strong determination to be change-makers, each one of us, in our spheres of influence."--Vicki Robin, co-author of Your Money or Your Life
"This passionate book is a gift to us all… an experience-based manifesto for change."--Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse
"Ancient Futures shows us a world that once was, that might inform the world to be. Its grief is tempered with hope, its radicalism with compassion. It was a formative influence on my worldview. That it is still so relevant today, 25 years later, shows how far ahead of its time it was."--Charles Eisenstein, author of Sacred Economics
"Helena Norberg-Hodge’s telling of the story of Ladakh carries insights that will be increasingly vital for us all."--Wes Jackson, founder of the Land Institute
About the Author
A pioneer of the ‘new economy’ movement, Helena Norberg-Hodge has been promoting an economics of personal, social and ecological well-being for four decades. She is the Director of the non-profit Local Futures, producer and co-director of the award-winning documentary “The Economics of Happiness,” and the author of the inspirational classic, Ancient Futures. She was honored with the Right Livelihood Award (or ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) for her groundbreaking work in Ladakh, India, and received the 2012 Goi Peace Prize for contributing to “the revitalization of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide.”
Product details
Paperback: 244 pages
Publisher: Local Futures; Updated edition (April 27, 2016)
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4.7 out of 5 stars
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Robert F.
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2016
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Blows a hole in what we think a good life is supposed to be.
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G. Mindock
5.0 out of 5 stars Why Nationism Should Be Protected
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2019
These people has it all. Community, family, education, security, structure, health and faith in the divine. They lived in peace for eons until the Chinese decided that all independent civilizations needed to live according to their world view and beliefs. And that is when this once close-knit, harmonious, perfect civilization shattered into many irrecoverable pieces as witnessed by the author of this book.
This book changed me on many levels. I was allowed to see a culture so unlike my own survive and thrive in the harshest of environments without any of the dependence of the west like electricity, machinery, engineering, architecture, mathematics, medicine, oil and gas, plumbing, etc. They had everything. It proved that humans have an amazing capabilities to create wonderful environments without the things we are so program to believe we need. It is a true survivalist story. And what you also witness in devastating details is the end of this beautiful culture when they were FORCED to assimilate....you learn of the drug use, family breakdown, crime, disease, etc... And you are left with this feeling of sadness for these once proud, independent, kind, resourceful and ingenious civilization.
This book I think will leave you with many unanswered questions. However these questions need to be asked not only of yourself; to challenge your beliefs, but also profound questions about life in general. These questions need to be asked, even if they do not get answered in our lifetime.
I highly recommend this book to those who are on the quest for the truth. It is not for those who need stories to have a happy ending as none will be found here. It is a cautionary story but one that we are helpless to effect directly, but if we can gain a deeper understanding of these things maybe we can offer wisdom and a fuller understanding of humanity
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Tremor Walkin
5.0 out of 5 stars there was a magic of real community and honest joy in the area that shocked my system
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2016
I first visited Ladakh myself in 1992, and tourism has drastically affected the main city since. Still, there was a magic of real community and honest joy in the area that shocked my system. This book does a wonderful job at showing the foundations of what real community and support is. It's something to model our societies after - a system that truly supplies basic human psychic needs. You'll learn something about your own needs reading how this society works.
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Gerry ASO
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful vision of how a new local focus can re-create a whole new global
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2019
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Helena Norberg-Hodge, lays it out for us beautifully. So inspired by the culture she found in, the then untouched by "modernism". village of Ladakh up in the Western Himalayas over 35 years ago, she has since been on a lifelong quest to share the advanced community collaborative wisdom of this increasingly rare community, with the so-call "civilized" world. The book is great and the film "Economics of Happiness" also a must see!
