A zillion years ago, I attended a workshop on conservation biology here in the USA. There were three colleagues from Bhutan in attendance. With great humbleness, they discussed an idea that, if I understoods correctly, was common in their academic circles: *gross national happiness*.
Peace and wellness, Jorge On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 6:46 PM, Me <gwpatt...@yahoo.com> wrote: > The focus could be national happiness. See > http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_happiness#section_5. > > So far as sustainability is concerned, we should start with preserving as > much of the remaining natural functioning of ecosystems that evolved over > millions of millennia. For their own sake. What we will be left with > following the current "experiment" likely will be far more fragile. > > Geoff Patton > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Jul 18, 2012, at 1:24 PM, Rob Dietz <rob_di...@steadystate.org> wrote: > > > Interesting question, David. The most important part of the curriculum, > > especially for a nation (and university) thinking hard about the future, > is > > steady-state economics. We need a new curriculum that addresses how to > > build an economy that can meet people's needs without undermining the > > life-support systems of the planet. This means accepting the ecological > and > > social limits to growth. And we need a new generation of economics > > professors and students who can help develop the most effective policies > and > > institutions. It looks like an auspicious time for such an educational > > overhaul. Brian Czech's latest essay in the Daly News describes the > > positive reactions of Rio+20 delegates to steady-state concepts: > > http://steadystate.org/positive-vision-international-affairs/ > > > > We can make a good start on the required economic changes by pushing to > add > > ecological economics as a critical part of what universities offer. > > > > Thanks, > > Rob Dietz > > Editor, Daly News > -- Jorge A. Santiago-Blay, PhD
