This session will begin with a 35 minute screening of the film “Planet Local: A Quiet Revolution” which features grassroots activists from every continent alongside internationally known figures like Noam Chomsky, Jane Goodall, Pat McCabe and Gabor Mate. The film challenges the mainstream media narrative that “bigger is better” that has dominated economic thinking for centuries, and showcases initiatives that are already underway to protect and restore human-scale local economies, communities and the natural world, demonstrating that human beings need not be the problem but the solution.

The film will be followed by a discussion of how governments use taxes, subsidies and regulations to support global corporations rather than real farmers. This is why in most parts of the world fresh, organic food is considerably more expensive than chemical-laden, processed food from far away. The panelists will show why it is vital that we shorten the distances between the farm and the table to create markets that encourage diversified production. The proliferation of local food initiatives worldwide is leading to greater productivity, deep ecological healing, and a restoration of human wellbeing that comes from reconnection to community and nature.