Blog posts on progress - March 2011

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Blogs on progress

An annual Head-of-State sponsored Global Peace Convention is to be established locally to measure the progress on peace and development initiatives and advance new partnerships.


You can't encourage volunteering by cutting the professionals who the volunteers depend on.


“Earth hour” took place this past Saturday at 8:30 p.m., when individuals turned off their lights for one hour to support the mission “to stop the degradation of the Earth’s natural environment and build a future where people live in harmony with nature.”


Colorado is the fifth healthiest state in the nation, according to the 2010 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index Survey. That's in the top five in country, with only Hawaii, Wyoming, North Dakota and Arkansas ranking higher. In 2009 Colorado only ranked 9th in the nation.


She is married, self-employed, former tennis champion and has scored an ace in the happiness stakes.


My print column this week examines happiness, and how to measure it. The U.K. is among several countries to contemplate collecting happiness measures, a primary pursuit of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, which continues its project to construct a Gross National Happiness measure.


Life satisfaction — commonly known as happiness — is what it’s all about. What makes us happy is another matter altogether. The adage that money can’t buy happiness, it turns out, is mostly wrong.

The quadruple whammy that devastated Japan: the earthquake, followed by the tsunami, followed by the nuclear crisis and shortages of food, water and fuel oil, bumped a lot of other important but less tragic news off the front pages of the newspapers.


At China’s recent National People’s Congress, the focus was less on raising the GDP than it was on promoting the happiness of Chinese citizens. Could that be because economic growth for the next five years has been forecast at a lower rate than the last five?


The Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan is the only nation that puts happiness at the core of public policy.


The Office of National Statistics has an interactive site for people to contribute to concepts of what should count as ‘national well-being’. The ONS is currently developing a new index for well being and is inviting people to take part. Measuring National Well Being


The answer is no, Nepal cannot sustain unbalanced growth policy within the short-term period. In practice, Nepal has followed this but without any sign of sustainability.


Late last year, The Guardian reported that the British government would be conducting national happiness surveys in order to gauge the general wellbeing of the country and producing national statistics on the issue, much like statistics of unemployment or GDP.


In a recent column, I wrote about how some nations are looking at alternative measures to gross domestic product to assess their citizens' well-being.


The newly released 2010 Census data for Tennessee is a treasure trove of information about the state of the state and the state of East Tennessee - a snapshot of who we are as a people, more than simply how the population has grown since 2000.


A $45,000 phone poll of 800 residents details residential satisfaction with city services, recreation and cultural offerings—with misgivings about crime and traffic.


When our Founding Fathers crafted that magnificent document we know as the Declaration of Independence, incorporating those seven words defining true freedom as, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” they had something more important in mind than how well-rested one feels or how many fruits and vegetables one consumes weekly.


On 17th March 2011, The Economist produced an article discussing one of China’s new mantra’s, ‘Don’t worry, be happy’.


The idea of a decent standard of living without economic growth runs counter to much of what we've been taught about economics, development and even human nature.


Local leaders say Rutherford County's quality of life sparked 44.3 percent growth over the past 10 years, pushing the county's population to 262,604 in the 2010 Census.


Children's wellbeing has taken a significant blow as a direct result of the financial crisis, according to the latest report by The Children's Society.


Charles Seaford, Head of the Centre for Well-being, discusses why there is more to measuring well-being than simply economic factors


“What will make me happy?” Since everyone wants happiness, it would make sense to give this question some serious attention. But my impression is that most people don’t really think about it much, probably because most of us assume that we already know the answer. Most people seem to take it for granted that getting whatever we happen to want is what will make us happy: in other words, that happiness means fulfilling our desires.


Boulder has the highest level of “well-being” among 185 metro areas nationwide, and Colorado ranks No. 7 among states, a new report says.


Amidst the heartbreaking devastation in Japan, many have noticed how much social solidarity — and little stealing — there has been.


Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and contributing writer to Foreign Policy magazine, has just written a superb book titled Getting Better: Why Global Development is Succeeding – And How We Can Improve the World Even More


All of that walking, running and cycling around Austin’s Lady Bird Lake must be paying off.


Boulder, Colo., scored the best for well-being in 2010 among 188 U.S. metropolitan areas, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index indicates.


The narrow focus on growth of gross domestic product, measured with few indicators and with shrinking trickle down effect, is fast losing its social validity in the wake of Great Recession and political turmoil in the Arab countries challenging the long-entrenched status quo.


Earlier this month, the White House released a report called "Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being."


The bus driver asked me outright, “Why are we so happy in Vanuatu?”


The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has been conducting its monthly survey of manufacturers in the region since 1968.


California's "well-being index" is just about average in a new nationwide survey measuring levels of healthy and happy living by the Gallup polling organization - but residents of the San Francisco Peninsula score the highest of any region in the nation.


Despite increasing levels of discontent felt within the nationwide workforce, people in Utah seem to have it better than those in 42 other states.


The Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee has poured cold water on the idea that provinces will be able to double their GDPs within the next five years.


Hawaii No. 1 in U.S. for Wellbeing, and West Virginia Last
Some very cold-cold states beat out sunny California in a quality of life and well being survey. KABC's Jo Kwon has details

Despite increasing levels of discontent felt within the nationwide work force, people in Utah seem to have it better than those in 42 other states.


Life is good on the Peninsula. For a third year in a row, the 14th Congressional District -- which includes Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View and Los Altos, and is represented by U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo -- has been named the happiest district in the country.


In Pennsylvania, we are the top dog, beating out Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, York, Harrisburg and — probably to no one's surprise — Scrant


Economists deny that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was ever intended as a metric of overall country progress or well-being. However, that’s how it is being used.


Frequently criticised, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country is not the only measure of its population's quality of life, according to Luxembourg's economic and social council.


Well, at least we’re ahead of Ohio. A 2010 Gallup well-being index shows Michigan is 41st among the 50 states.


Twenty-nine years after women legally became able to practice their natural right to participate in democracy, and four years after World War II, where women went to work in the factories and other American businesses and returned home, this romantic dramedy appeared on the screen in 1949 as Adam's Rib


The regime changes in Egypt and Tunisia have been hailed as victories for democracy, as proof of the liberalizing power of social networking media, as testimony to the power of nonviolent political action.


So you're in a happy state... but are you in a happy State? The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is designed to tell you just that.


Even though happiness is difficult to measure, the happiness index can be used as a gauge for public satisfaction. Now, my colleague Wang Mangmang joins us in the studio. Hello, Mangmang. Can you start us off by sharing your definition for happiness?


Roughly two in every five New Yorkers thinks life here has gotten worse over the past 10 years, and more than a third expect quality of life in the Empire State to continue downhill over the next 10 years.


In China's big cities nowadays, both middle- and low-income earners feel they are blocked from buying an apartment, either by restrictions for non-local residents or by high prices


Analyzing Facebook and Twitter updates to gauge happiness is all the rage these days, but Gallup has been doing it old school for the past three years.


The New York Times has one of those interactive features today, a nationwide look — broken down by congressional district — on ongoing Gallup polling of a fixed panel on their well-being.


In China's big cities nowadays, both middle- and low-income earners feel they are blocked from buying an apartment, either by restrictions for non-local residents or by high prices.


The Nordic nations have the happiest people in the world, according to the findings of a Gallup poll reported in the Hindustan Times, demolishing a long-held view of the countries as a gloomy Wallender-esque landscape.


A study published this week found a potential link between government transparency and the well-being of residents.


Every five years, the Ventura County Civic Alliance, in partnership with California Lutheran University, releases the State of the Region Report, a document which examines "12 quality of life indicators" in Ventura County.


There are some interesting signs that the Chinese government is ready to move its economic policies “beyond GDP”. Recent comments by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and Environment Minister Zhou Shengxian indicate that the Chinese leaders are starting to understand the inescapable link between high economic growth, resource overconsumption and environmental chaos.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao recently revealed the numbers behind China’s twelfth five year plan. In its most recent incantation, the plan shifts from a target of 8% annual growth to a more reasonable 7%.


Heading into China's National People's Congress (NPC) this week, which is something akin to the start of a new congress in the U.S., the chatter has been noticeably less on GDP growth and more on happiness


One of the arguments against environmental conservation is that there is an apparent paradox between environmental degradation and human well-being. In short, when viewed through certain lenses (such as the UN's human development index), human well-being is increasing even as environmental health declines.


Bhutan gives well-being a key role in national policy. In the tiny Kingdom, “happiness” rhetoric is the political norm. The idea of “Gross National Happiness” (GNH) is enshrined in official documents, and also used to justify Bhutan’s ambitious environmental policies, China Dialogue has reported.


The former Australian National Party Leader Tim Fischer no doubt will be applauding the efforts of the Conservative UK Government to find an alternative measure of progress to gross domestic product.

References

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