Ancient Futures, Helena NorbergHodge
Ancient Futures, Helena NorbergHodge
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Ancient Futures

Author: Helena Norberg-Hodge

Narrator: Roxi Davis, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Tsewang Namgyal

Unabridged: 7 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Local Futures

Published: 07/11/2022


Synopsis

Let yourself be swept away to Ladakh, a region nestled high in the Himalayan plateau. It is a place like no other. The brightest sky makes snow-covered mountain peaks sparkle for miles. Below, scree tumbles down the mountain sides, infinite shades of ocher, into winding glacier-fed streams. The streams support a surrounding tapestry of vibrant green fields interspersed with stone houses, while on a nearby outcropping, a whitewashed monastery sits, overseeing the village, linking together land, people, mountains, and sky.Ancient Futures is a lyrical and moving portrait of tradition and change in Ladakh, or “Little Tibet", as it was once known. The book is also an engaging critique of the global economy and a call for economic localization. When author, Helena Norberg-Hodge, first arrived in Ladakh in the 1970s, she found a pristine environment and a people who exhibited remarkable vitality and joy. Not long after, came economic growth and development and Norberg-Hodge watched how a whole range of problems—from polluted air and water to unemployment, religious conflict, eating disorders and youth suicide—began to appear for the first time.Yet this is far from a story of despair. Social and environmental breakdown, Norberg-Hodge argues, is neither inevitable nor evolutionary, but the product of political and economic decisions—and those decisions can be changed. In a new Afterword for this audiobook, she contextualizes the current big-picture crises we face and the solutions each of us can be a part of. Norberg-Hodge also introduces us to a multitude of grassroots initiatives—a manifestation of a rapidly growing localization movement. She shows it is possible to reweave the local, the human-scale, and the place-based back into our lives, without terrible sacrifice, but rather to the benefit of all humans and nature. The story of Ladakh continues to serve as a source of inspiration to anyone interested in creating a better future.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Anastasia on December 20, 2014

I fell in love with the Ladakhi way of life in the first part of this book. It was so elating to read about a place where "there is neither waste nor pollution, a society in which crime is virtually nonexistent, communities are healthy and strong, and a teenage boy is never embarrassed to be gentle......more

Goodreads review by Lee on April 07, 2009

One of the most incredible surveys of this culture i have read. One of the best cultural surveys i have ever read period. She discusses the lives of these people, and also interprets development issues in a very insightful way. I go back to it and read bits over and over again.......more

Goodreads review by Kristin on March 20, 2008

This is a great book, would recommend to anyone interested in changing cultures. Beautifully written.......more

Goodreads review by G Christina on January 13, 2009

The Ladakh people, due to their harsh, remote location in Northern India, preserved their traditional sustenance economy well into the 1970s. This book is a amazing view of what life is like untouched by Western "civilization", and its made me look at so many things differently: family relationships......more

Goodreads review by Donna on April 21, 2013

Great book. This just shows that there might be other ways of living. The question is whether the subsistence "happy" lifestyle is really what these people want. Is it condescending to say that we can see they were happier before? Worth reading, and even more worth discussing. How can we embrace tec......more