International Society for Ecology and Culture
Encyclopedia
The International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to raise awareness about what it identifies as the root causes of contemporary social, environmental and economic crises.
The group claims that focusing on single issues – saving whales, blocking nuclear power plants, feeding the hungry, etc. – only overwhelms people and ultimately fails as a strategy. Instead, ISEC argues that societies must focus on the fundamental forces that create or exacerbate all these problems. Among those forces are economic globalization
, corporate power, and conventional notions of technological and economic "progress". As a solution, ISEC promotes economic localization and other locally based alternatives to the global consumer culture, which protect both biological and cultural diversity.
ISEC is the parent organization of a program in Ladakh, or "Little Tibet", begun in 1975. The Ladakh Project includes a wide range of hands-on activities, including a renewable-energy program, and has won international recognition for countering the negative effects of conventional development in that region. ISEC’s founder and Director, Helena Norberg-Hodge
, shared the 1986 Right Livelihood Award
. The group is also associated with Counter-development
.
ISEC has established a network to bring together groups and individuals from different parts of the world that are struggling to maintain their cultural integrity in the face of economic globalization
. One measure of the international reach of this small organization is that ISEC’s many publications and videos have been translated into over 40 different languages.
ISEC’s directors also form the editorial board of The Ecologist
magazine.
The group claims that focusing on single issues – saving whales, blocking nuclear power plants, feeding the hungry, etc. – only overwhelms people and ultimately fails as a strategy. Instead, ISEC argues that societies must focus on the fundamental forces that create or exacerbate all these problems. Among those forces are economic globalization
Economic globalization
Economic globalization refers to increasing economic interdependence of national economies across the world through a rapid increase in cross-border movement of goods, service, technology and capital...
, corporate power, and conventional notions of technological and economic "progress". As a solution, ISEC promotes economic localization and other locally based alternatives to the global consumer culture, which protect both biological and cultural diversity.
ISEC is the parent organization of a program in Ladakh, or "Little Tibet", begun in 1975. The Ladakh Project includes a wide range of hands-on activities, including a renewable-energy program, and has won international recognition for countering the negative effects of conventional development in that region. ISEC’s founder and Director, Helena Norberg-Hodge
Helena Norberg-Hodge
Helena Norberg-Hodge is an analyst of the impact of the global economy on cultures and agriculture worldwide, a pioneer of the localisation movement, and the articulator of the core ideas of Counter-development...
, shared the 1986 Right Livelihood Award
Right Livelihood Award
The Right Livelihood Award, also referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize", is a prestigious international award to honour those "working on practical and exemplary solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the world today". The prize was established in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, and is...
. The group is also associated with Counter-development
Counter-development
Counter-development is a strategy and world-view advocated by Helena Norberg-Hodge and the Indian organization Ladakh Ecological Development Group. In her book, Ancient Futures, Helena Norberg-Hodge entails "traditional" ways of life employed by the Ladakh people in the Punjab region of India and...
.
ISEC has established a network to bring together groups and individuals from different parts of the world that are struggling to maintain their cultural integrity in the face of economic globalization
Economic globalization
Economic globalization refers to increasing economic interdependence of national economies across the world through a rapid increase in cross-border movement of goods, service, technology and capital...
. One measure of the international reach of this small organization is that ISEC’s many publications and videos have been translated into over 40 different languages.
ISEC’s directors also form the editorial board of The Ecologist
The Ecologist
The Ecologist is a British environmental publication founded in 1970 by Edward Goldsmith. It addresses a wide range of environmental subjects and promotes an ecological systems thinking approach through its news stories, investigations and opinion articles. The Ecologist encourages its readers to...
magazine.