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Education for Action

The International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) promotes economic localisation as a strategic way of protecting both biological and cultural diversity. Our emphasis is on education for action: highlighting the inextricable link between human and ecological wellbeing. For three decades ISEC has called for a systemic shift towards renewing local economies, globally. We have worked in more than a dozen countries in both the North and South; our materials have been translated into more than 50 languages and are used by hundreds of groups worldwide.  We offer a range of programmes that give people the necessary knowledge to make positive change in their communities and around the world. 

Deep Ecology, Deep Culture: Lessons in Globalisation on the Tibetan Plateau

Across the world, non-Western ways of living are under threat from the consumer monoculture. Centuries-old skills and knowledge systems are disappearing and rural communities are collapsing.  But you can make a difference.

The Learning from Ladakh programme offers you the chance to live with a family in Ladakh (or ‘Little Tibet’) for one month (July or August). You will have the rare opportunity to understand the pressures facing a traditional land-based culture as it confronts the global economy. Your presence can also help to raise the status of rural life, thereby strengthening the Ladakhis’ sense of cultural identity. The programme includes ISEC workshops on alternatives to globalisation, giving you the tools to engage in effective activism when you return home.

“The big picture you provide as well as life on a farm have changed my life. I now feel motivated and strong. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” -2008 LFL Participant

Learning for a Change

To address the myriad environmental, social and economic crises we are facing today, we need to move beyond single issues to look at the more fundamental influences that shape our lives. Our Roots of Change study circle programme promotes broad analysis and deep discussion to stimulate strategic local action. ISEC will help you set up small study circles and provides a series of readings to generate discussion.  There are no 'teachers’—using the materials and your own insights you teach each other.  The study curriculum consists of writings from the world’s leading ‘new paradigm’ thinkers, including Vandana Shiva, Wendell Berry, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Joanna Macy, Bill McKibben, David Korten, Howard Zinn and many others.  The emphasis is on resistance and renewal; both on problems and solutions.

“The readings challenge me to reconsider things I ignore or take for granted, and help to counteract the mesmerizing effect of everyday life in urban America.” -Diana Young, Berkeley, CA

Pioneering the Global to Local Movement

Our wide-ranging educational programme informs the public about the need for policy shifts and local initiatives to protect cultural and ecological diversity from the impact of economic globalization.  It includes lectures, seminars and events, as well as ISEC-produced books, articles, films, and online materials.  The book Ancient Futures, by Director Helena Norberg-Hodge, is now in its third edition and, along with a film of the same title, has been translated into more than fifty languages.  It is an essential tool for anyone looking to understand the impact of development on cultures and the environment.

As part of this work, we also promote the rebuilding of local food economies worldwide.  Our local food toolkit is an education-for-action package that anyone can use to raise awareness and to encourage concrete responses.  It includes a narrated slideshow, an exhibition of eighteen colour posters, and resource and action packets.

Our latest Global to Local initiative is a feature-length documentary, The Economics of Happiness, which offers not only a big-picture analysis of globalization, but a powerful message of hope for the future. The Economics of Happiness connects the dots between climate change, global economic instability and our own personal suffering—stress, loneliness, depression.

The voices featured in the film come from every continent. They argue that a systemic shift – away from globalising towards localising economic activity – is a powerful solution multiplier that allows us to reduce our ecological footprint while increasing human wellbeing.
Bringing the economy closer to home can not only save us from environmental and economic catastrophe, it can help us re-discover those essential relationships―both with the living world and with one another―that ultimately give our lives meaning and joy. The Economics of Happiness provides critical insight, hope, and above all, inspiration to join the growing movement for localisation. Check our website in April 2010 for more information about the film or send an email to: economicsofhappiness@isec.org.uk

“Touching, teaching, hopeful...a film that deserves to be shown as widely as possible.” -Audience member in France

Visit us online to learn how you can participate in our programmes: www.isec.org.uk  Or send us an email at:  or infous@isec.org.uk
infouk@isec.org.uk