Thank you for the wonderful encouragement for my foray into making little films. I have been overwhelmed by the positive support for my first short film for many years – My Permaculture Garden – that I posted yesterday. I intend to make a little film each week to share more about our permaculture life and garden here in the ecovillage.

About 8 years ago I made a short film called Think Global: Eat Local – a diet for a sustainable society that wove together projects and ideas from research I’d done over 15 years in 15 countries in a 15 minute film.  The focus was local food systems, and I shared examples from around the world and particularly my local region.

You can tell the filming was finished in Queensland summer with the cicadas in the background of some interviews, but despite that, I think the content is still just as relevant today.  I am working on getting a full quality version onto my new Youtube Channel: Our Permaculture Life, but in the meantime, here is the film in 2 parts (apparently easier to upload that way back in 2008).

Think Global Eat Local: A Diet for a Sustainable Society – part 1
Think Global Eat Local: A Diet for a Sustainable Society – part 2

Much of the inspiration for my work in local food, simple living, sustainable communities and relocalisation has been inspired by the many months I lived in Ladakh in 1992 and 1995. I volunteered with the Ladakh Project and for Helena Norberg-Hodge – who was in my early 20s and continues to be a major inspiration to me. (Her films are: Ancient Futures and The Economics of Happiness).

This is an old slide image of me with Amale (my Ladakhi host mother) 21 years ago – taking a break from harvesting. I helped to trial the farmstay program in Ladakh in 1995 which continues today. The Learning From Ladakh 2016 program is open for August intake. The lessons I learnt in Ladakh have shaped the work I do, the way I think and the way I live.

Me threshing grain in Ladakh in 1995 as part of the Farmstay trial program of the Ladakh Project.