GNH: Gross National Happiness

For anyone who reads this blog regularly, it quickly becomes obvious that the world is in a pretty depressive state.  Writing the blog, I certainly feel that there are so many problems, issues, obstacles, that it may well be hopeless.  For every post I write, there is another one that I don't.  I often feel flooded by a torrent of bad news - the loss of important policy battles, willful ignorance prevailing, human beings (or the environment) trampled for profit.  I rarely see something which gives rise to a little optimism.  This article did that.  It gave me hope that there are people who recognize the downward trend, and who have an idea what to do about it.

Happiness may seem like a fluffy, silly, immeasurable, pussy thing to worry about in our hard-hitting, innovative, data analytics and technology oriented, bottom line culture.  But! a movement is growing - spearheaded by The Happiness Initiative - to measure the immeasurable, to analyze the 'happiness' data, innovate policy guidelines, and create some concrete bottom line results.  First adopted by King Jigmi Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan, as a counter-balance to GNP, GNH (Gross National Happiness) is a quantifiable number, characterized by 9 major categories (from material well-being, to environmental quality and access to nature, to time balance), and analyzed according to 72 objective matrices.  It has guided the policy decisions of Bhutan so far as to prevent the building of a hydroelectric dam in a Himalayan valley so as to preserve the ecosystems at risk.

To quote the article:

• Americans are more likely to report experiencing stress than are people of 144 other nations. Rich and poor Americans aremore likely to be anxious or worried than people in 88 other nations. The United States ranks 11th in "life satisfaction" according to the Gallup-Healthways poll, but well below Denmark, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands.
• Americans consume nearly two-thirds of the world's anti-depressants.
• More than a third of Americans over 45 report being chronically lonely, up from 20 percent in 2000.
• US life expectancy is 50th in the world according to the CIA World Factbook, shorter than in any other rich country, despite the fact that Americans spend twice as much on health care per capita than other countries do.
• Rates of poverty and child poverty in the US are the highest among wealthy countries, and more than double the average in Europe.

Despite the fact that the US has one of the highest GDPs in the world, our overall quality of life is fairly pitiful.  If the above facts aren't enough to get you thinking, just look at my recent blog post on obesity in the US or education or environmental degradation.  Not only are we endangering our planet with unsustainable practices of over-consumption, we are unhappy.  Frankly, politicians and business men are not so willing to listen to a bunch of namby-pamby complaining about being unhappy.  But put those emotions into a spreadsheet, and maybe there will finally be a change.