We are excited to announce a very special guest in our Ondernemers van Nu series! Local Futures & Economics of Happiness founder Helena Norberg-Hodge will be joining us as a keynote speaker at our first online event, called Local is the Future.

In our ‘Now What?!’ series, Helena is following up on the events we had with Kate Raworth, Nora Bateson, Charles Eisenstein, and Anand Giridharadas. All of them looking at today’s wicked issues from different angles, but coming from the same inquisitive and positively provocative mindset.

For decades Helena Norberg-Hodge has been advocating for building resilient local economies, as an answer to the ongoing globalisation of the world. She spent years among ancient cultures in the Himalayas and has both seen the wisdom and happiness in living a simple life as well as the rapid disappearance of those cultures, in the name of progress. The importance of creating healthy local economies, less dependent on the global ‘free market’ system, is what she has stressed time and time again. During our event Helena will be having a dialogue with social and sustainable entrepreneurs, exploring their role in the post-globalized, post-growth, post-Corona world.

The ‘Now What?!‘ series is based on the question: we made a mess of our economies and ecosystems, so now what?! With Ondernemers van Nu we explore alternatives, we offer a critical look at our personal conditioning, at our culture, and at society at large.

“Localizing is the path that can allow us to structurally live in a way where we’re all connected, where we feel that connection, because it takes us closer to the living earth, and to the water and to the trees, on which we depend. It also creates a greater sense of responsibility and accountability. It’s a prerequisite for genuine democracy.”

Program:

13.00 : Welcome & Introduction

13.15 : Keynote presentation Helena Norberg-Hodge

14.00 : Interaction with audience including Q&A 

14.25 : Spoken word act, de Droominee Rik Zutphen

14.30 : Closing

In the meantime, here’s Russell Brand interviewing Helena last month in his podcast

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This event is supported by Squarewise, Frisse Blikken, Triodos Foundation, Patagonia Europe & Friends of the Earth Netherlands.