How Are We Doing?
People, Communities and Ecosystems
At present public policy is based on the assumption that expanding economic
activity - growth - is the only road to well-being. This may have been accurate
at one time, but things have changed. Measuring the rate of a baby's growth
tells us a lot about how well a baby is doing. The same measure, however,
gives a very different message about the well-being of an adult. The "Canada
Well-Being Measurement Act" proposes a system of measures suitable
for assessing the well-being of a mature society.
The "Canada Well-Being Measurement Act" (CWBMA) was presented
to the House of Commons as the winter's darkness gave away to the promise
of spring. Introduced by Joe Jordan, the MP for Leeds-Grenville, this Act
calls for public input about the circumstances that we value in our lives
and how we can tell if they are getting better or worse. This input along
with the experience of people and organizations familiar with social and
environmental measurement will, if the Act becomes law, be worked into a
system of measures that can help guide our society through the changes ahead.
More and more people are recognizing the limitations of the customary
measure of progress. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is simply a total of all
the monetary exchanges made during a year. It makes no distinction between
money spent on education and money spent cleaning up after automobile accidents.
While GDP mixes good expenses with bad, it makes no account for the unpaid
work in homes and communities without which our well-being would fall dramatically.
GDP fails to recognize any changes in the availability of natural resources
and the only notice it takes of the impacts of pollution is to add the cost
of cleanup and medication to its tally.
Making decisions primarily on the information provided by GDP is like
driving a bus using only the speedometer. The GDP 'speedometer' has its
place, but it doesn't explain some matters of consequence. The Atlantic
Cod is a classic example. The fishery's contribution to GDP was rising steadily
until just before it disappeared. Another instrument on the dashboard, one
that measured changes in fish stocks, could have provided information which
would have stimulated action to steer clear of the disaster that followed.
The 'dashboard' of any modern society should be equipped with a broad
range of instruments to indicate changes in natural resource stocks, pollution
levels, biodiversity, the durability of goods, employment satisfaction,
the quality of education and health care, leisure time, unpaid work, crime
and other factors of consequence.
The public input called for in the CWBMA is equivalent to the windshield
on the bus. We have to keep our eyes on the road. Sixty million eyes are
looking out in Canada. Where problems exist, people notice. All across the
land there are individuals, organizations and networks that have recognized
problems and are making heroic efforts to have them acknowledged and addressed
by our governing system. Such people can tell us what to monitor to detect
changes in our well-being. Our system of measures has to be open to this
input and it has to remain open in case new circumstances arise which need
to be taken into account.
A very long time ago there were no eyes in the world. Some how cells
developed that were able to sense light. When such cells integrated with
the central nervous system of an organisms, it became easier for that organism
to find food, avoid predators and launch offspring into the world. Today
as individuals we can see the environmental impacts of humanity's rapid
expansion on our finite planet. We can see social circumstances in which
people thrive and others where disadvantage and stress leave people depressed
and ailing. Our governing institutions, to which we entrust our taxes to
deal with matters of common concern, has yet to refine and utilize sense
organs that can monitor social and environmental realities. By connecting
people who are familiar with these realities with the process to establish
new measures of well-being, the CWBMA can nurture a great improvement in
our governing process.
What we count and what we measure signifies what we value! When all
we count is money, talk about environment and social cohesion does not produce
action. When we legitimize other factors by measuring and reporting on them
in our core measure of progress, they become visible. Visibility enables
anyone to see how policies and actions affect the measures. Increased awareness
of causes and effects will naturally incline decision makers to consider
how their decisions might affect the measures and the management process
will evolve to seek well-being in the broader context.
Once we understand the possibilities that improved measures offer, we
will never again accept a system that relies on a narrow perspective.
You are invited to join the public discussion about how we measure well-being
and to help assure that the "Canada Well-Being Measurement Act"
gets passed into law. The government promise in its 2000 Budget "...
to develop a set of indicators to measure environmental performance in conjunction
with economic performance." is a step in the right direction, but it
lacks any commitment to include social factors in the indicators or to involve
the public in deciding what is important. You can help make sure that a
full range of indicators are developed and that they are reported independent
of political influence.
Contact us for a "Public Participation Kit". The kit provides
background information on Measuring Well-Being, materials to help inform
others about the issue, suggestions for stimulating discussion at meetings,
and feedback sheets to get your views to us so we can validate the creation
of measures which encompass citizens' concerns.
7th Generation Initiative at: sustain@web.ca
or
write to: RR #3 Lanark, ON, K0G 1K0
Much of the material is also available at the "Measuring Well-Being"
link at: http://www.SustainWellBeing.net
Questions and comments are welcome.
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Last Update: May October 29, 2004
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