Image above: Image promoting course on "The Economics of Happiness" From (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/economics-of-happiness-course-schumacher-college.php).
What if GDP stood for Great Domestic Pleasantness? How about an economy whose success is not determined by growth for growth’s sake? A new documentary, The Economics of Happiness, explores this rich territory.
The film makes a connection between the economic crisis, the environment, and a “crisis of the human spirit”—the reality that even as our material wealth has increased, we have not gotten happier. According to a study cited by author and 350.org activist (and Grist Board member) Bill McKibben, people in the United States have actually become less happy since the 1950s.
Economics of Happiness makes a well-reasoned case that the “consumer culture” we’re living in has broken down community and our connection to nature. The film also takes a look at the negative impacts of corporate globalization, arguing that the process focuses on profits rather than people.
Ladakh, a region in northern India known as “Little Tibet,” serves as a case study in the ways globalization and industrialization are damaging cultures, livelihoods, and human connections. Once a place with zero unemployment, ample leisure time, natural resources, and a sense of general well-being, Ladakh has changed. The introduction of Western culture and values has created a sense of relative impoverishment. The introduction of subsidized food, fuel, and roads have all undermined the local economy.
So what’s the solution? The filmmakers, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick, and John Page, focus on systemic economic transformation. They show examples of initiatives around the globe where people are “rebuilding more democratic, human scale, ecological and local economies—the foundation of an ‘economics of happiness’.”
Interviews with Bill McKibben, Vandana Shiva, Juliet Schor, and Samdhong Rinpoche—the prime minister of Tibet’s government in exile—make for a thought-provoking re-contextualization of globalization and the potential that lies in supporting local local banking, food production, and commerce. It’s a comfort to watch a film that presents the sentiment that a future with less oil is preferable to a future with lots of oil.
Video above: Trailer for "The Economics of Happiness". Fro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VkdnFYDbiBE).
See also: Ea O Ka Aina: Bhutan's Wealth of Happiness 9/7/10
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