"People were so so at ease with themselves and with the world, and so full of vitality and joy... I saw step-by-step how the outside consumer culture was destroying local businesses and jobs, particularly farming. Everything about the local culture became under-valued or – more than that – seen as primitive and backward. I saw how destructive that was for people."

“Multinationals using the Internet are basically impossible to tax. Look at Apple, at Google. And these technologies are linked to massive manipulation, not just in terms of manufacturing needs, but even the voting behavior in different countries. Ideally, the change toward democratizing the Internet would be in incremental ways.”

“But we do have an opportunity to say in a loud voice, “Let’s push the pause button on this juggernaut that’s pulling people away from real livelihoods, and then start a journey back to the land.” Not everyone has to live on the land, but we need cities that have a relationship with the land around them and that have some breathing space within them so that we regain that contact with nature and with the real source of our livelihoods — with the real economy.”

“We can begin this process without national governments on our side. Indeed, it is unlikely that they will jump on this bandwagon before it has already become unstoppable. Instead, we should look to local governments for solidarity. Mayors and local councils are already realizing what higher levels of government have not: that economic and political self-determination go hand in hand.”

“The local food movement is demonstrating what can happen when you shorten distances: you encourage a shift from monoculture to diversification on the land; you reduce the energy consumption, the packaging, the refrigeration, and the waste; you provide healthier food at a reasonable price; and you have healthier, more prosperous farming communities.”

“Ever since Helena Norberg-Hodge, a Swedish linguist, set up the Ladakh Project in 1978, winters in far-flung villages like Kubet, 150 km from Siachen, Stokna in south Ladakh... are more tolerable because of improved housing. In these villages, vegetables are grown throughout the year in greenhouses and water is available through pumps. In 1983, the Ladakh Project was expanded to form the Ladakh Ecological Development Group . LEDeG, with 80 full-time employees, works in 50 locations in the district. It is funded by the Swedish Nature Fund and Danish Church Aid. In 1986, Norberg-Hodge received the... Right Livelihood Award for her work.”

“Changes in education also had a huge impact. In the past, Ladakhi children learned the skills needed to survive, even to prosper, in their difficult environment: they learned to grow food, tend for animals, build houses from local materials. But in the new Westernized schools, children were instead provided with skills appropriate for a fossil fuel-based, urban life within a globalized economy – a way of life in which almost every need is imported.”