Localisation from an international big picture perspective Anja Lyngbaek, Associate Director, Local Futures - Denmark

For decades, we have been tackling our multiple crises – global warming, pollution, inequality etc. - from a single-issue perspective. This approach left us firefighting in all directions and led to ineffective down-stream solutions, in combination with the universal “economic growth” band-aid prescription.

It is high time to drop the single-issue approach and focus on system change. More and more people are realizing that our current global economy model is at the root of our crisis. Changing the economy should be our highest priority.

Rather than attempting to solve every problem by ‘growing the economy’, we must focus on meeting real human and ecological needs and regenerating healthy ecosystems and communities. This requires a systemic shift away from a global speculative economy to local economies operating for the benefit of people and within planetary limits.

Local economies rebuild our connections to one another and to the natural world – connections that are essential not only for our wellbeing, but for our survival.

This talk will explore what it takes to shift from global to local. It will include inspiring localisation-in-action stories and talk about the emerging worldwide localisation movement.

This event is organised as part of OPW2022. Find out more via the One Planet Week page on the University website. This year's theme is Equity and Local Economy, which you can read more about on the UoY Sustainability blog. #OPW22