Economics of happiness : how human scale is essential for solving our social and ecological problems = 幸福經濟學 : 全球視野下的在地行動

Policymakers, mainstream economists, and business leaders in the world have consistently pushed us in the direction of ever more growth, while ignoring the ecological destruction and spiritual poverty that have been the price of rampant consumerism. Helena Norberg-Hodge shared with the participants an alternative paradigm she called the \u27economics of happiness\u27. Rather than attempting to solve every problem by \u27growing the economy\u27, we needed to focus instead on meeting real human and ecological needs through awakening to our spiritual ties to community and nature. 嶺南彩園與全球大學合作，邀請了Helena Norberg-Hodge教授從全球視野出發，為大家帶來關於幸福經濟學的另類實踐經驗

Connecting over soil

All over the Western world, increasing numbers of people are leaving their desk-bound lives to rediscover the joys of getting their hands dirty. Things are very different in the global South - while nearly half the population is still connected to the soil, farmers are being encouraged to leave the land by the millions. They are being made to feel ashamed of their farming traditions, ashamed of having their hands in the soil. Around the world, soil is common currency. It binds us to each other and to the earth. This currency lies at the heart of a movement towards rebuilding local economies. Norberg-Hodge calls it \u27the economics of happiness\u27, because at the deepest level localization reweaves our spiritual connection to others and to nature, something that is essential for our wellbeing. On 28 October 2016, Lingnan Garden again invited Professor Helena Norberg-Hodge to give a speech that integrated traditional agricultural culture and the economy of happiness, telling us the importance of farming life and how modernization had damaged traditional agricultural civilization. 2016年10月28日，彩園再次邀請Helena Norberg-Hodge教授來到彩園，從經濟全球化的視角，將傳統農業文化與快樂經濟學相結合，與嶺南師生分享農耕生活的重要及現代化對傳統農業文明的破壞

Towards an Economics of Happiness

The authors have studied the effects of global economic development on individuals and cultures for the last three decades and have concluded that the most strategic and effective way of building a more positive future is through economic localisation. Fundamentally, localisation is about decentralising economic activity – producing for people's needs in a way that can been adapted to the ecological, cultural and political structures and needs of each locale. The paper is focused mainly on the disastrous impacts of the global economy on food and agriculture around the world. Adequate, wholesome food is vital to human well-being. There is nothing else that human beings produce that is needed by every person on the planet every day, yet that very activity has been relegated to a marginal position in political governance. Most businesses and governments consider agriculture little more than a stumbling block to success in their international trade negotiations. In fact, it is large-scale monocultural farms producing food for export that are inefficient. This industrial model of production is responsible for dramatic increases in environmental pollution, species extinction and even many human degenerative diseases, and only seems 'efficient' because so many of the costly subsidies that support it are hidden from view. Before examining the consequences of the global food system, the authors look at another subject equally worthy of attention: the social costs of globalisation, and the consumer monoculture it promotes. Social cohesion or a sense of community is fundamental to human well-being, indeed to human happiness. As we shall see, globalisation has done much to fragment community and erode people’s sense of self-esteem. Rebuilding or maintaining community is inextricably connected to a process of localisation. Many people around the world have looked to the King's aspiration to foster Gross National Happiness in Bhutan for hope and inspiration. In terms of shifting direction towards a more positive future, Bhutan is in an ideal position. Neither farming nor the fabric of community has been destroyed in Bhutan as it has in other parts of the world. There is a vital opportunity to strengthen the structures that support community and local economies in the country, thus averting the social, ecological and economic collapse globalisation has brought about elsewhere

Understanding Different Types of Subsistence Economies

The Batwa of Buhoma, Uganda, a remote hunter-gatherer community were evicted from their forest in 1992 in order to provide a sanctuary for the mountain gorillas. Based on individual and group interviews, this commentary provides a case study that describes how the Batwa now address their basic needs, and how they participate in the formation of subsistence markets and microenterprises. In positioning this study, four types of subsistence economies are identified: nature-based, nonprofit-based, market-based, and hybrid. In addition, different types of subsistence markets are identified, namely, within community and cross community markets. This then raises several questions for future research and for subsistence communities like the Batwa’s regarding how to achieve sustainability

La conversione dell'abitare. Comunit\ue0, fertilit\ue0, sapienza

Il volume \ue8 dedicato ai temi della conversione ecologica dell'habitat umano alla scala architettonica, urbana e territoriale. Policentrismo, autonomia dei piccoli comuni, rinascita delle campagne, tutela delle citt\ue0 storiche, competenze fabbrili, ripopolamento contadino, sapienza tradizionale, economia bioregionale, sono i fondamenti su cui basare il progetto degli ambienti di vita ricevuti in eredit\ue0 dalle generazioni passate, e da trasmettere perci\uf2 integri e fertili a quelle future. Il libro raccoglie saggi inediti o tradotti per la prima volta in italiano. Scritti di: Franco Arminio; James S. Curl; Mohandas K. Gandhi; Jean-Pierre Garnier; Edward Goldsmith; Ivan Illich; L\ue9on Krier; Helena Norberg Hodge; Thierrry Paquot; Paolo Portoghesi; Kirkpatrick Sale; Enzo Scandurra; Vandana Shiva