CitiesGoGreen - December 2008 - (Page 30)

piness is being developed as an alternative to the GDP. In Canada, the Canadian Index of Well-being (CIW) is being developed by a number of researchers, including myself. In China I have been helping the national and municipal governments develop new indicators so they can measure progress towards their national goal of a “Xiaokang” society, a Confucian term meaning “a society of moderately well-off Chinese.” In communities like Santa Monica, Leduc and Innsbruck, Genuine Wealth flower diagrams are helping guide decision making toward sustainability and quality of life. Suncor Energy (one of the largest oilsands producers in Canada) and Ethical Funds of Canada (Canada’s largest ethical mutual fund company), are also experimenting with the idea of using this model to assess their overall sustainability and progress. Here in my home city of Edmonton (pop. 1,000,000), I am part of a group of citizens exploring the creation of community structures that could free people from some of the mechanisms which detract from Genuine Wealth. These in- clude interest-free banks on the model of Swedish JAK Members Bank, local currencies, person-to-person micro-loans, and locally-owned, citizen-financed mutual funds that could use Genuine Wealth accounts and assessment of a community’s human, social, natural and built capital assets (and liabilities) to determine how much money, credit and investment is required to maintain all five capital assets in healthy, sustainable conditions. Another group formed a Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), similar to those in Philadelphia, PA and Bellingham, WA, to encourage enduring relationships among small businesses and entrepreneurs, with the goal of a flourishing local economy. The City of Edmonton recently hired a team of economists to complete Edmonton’s first Genuine Wealth assessment. Individuals have used the Genuine Wealth model to reorient their own lives and work toward meaningful work and genuine happiness, and to assist them in finding the right balance between the pursuit of money and life. In ancient Greece, Aristotle argued that eudaimonia (happiness) is the goal of life, and that a person’s pursuit of eudaimonia, rightly conceived, will result in virtuous conduct. He said that friendship, which contributes to eudaimonia, is a virtue, and that ultimately, relationship in itself is good. This is the essence of my vision of an economy of well-being, one defined by flourishing relationships, or what some economists, like Professor Stefano Zamagni of the University of Bologna, Italy, are calling ‘relational goods’. It’s time to establish a new set of virtues that will guide our lives and our decisions toward enduring happiness. Mark Anielski is an economist and the author of The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth. He and his wife co-own their corporation, specializing in well-being measurement. Mark teaches corporate social responsibility and business ethics and lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Email Mark at anielski@genuinewealth.net. More examples are at www.anielski.com. Add your comments and ideas at CitiesGoGreen.com WHAT’S WORKING IN YOUR COMMUNITY? WHAT’S SOMETHING INNOVATIVE YOUR COMMUNITY IS DOING TO BE MORE SUSTAINABLE? It could be a: • Project or program you’ve created • Legislative initiative • Vendor or consultant you’re using • Product or product line you’re using • Or something else WE’LL PUBLISH YOUR RESPONSES on the CitiesGoGreen.com website Please include: • Name and contact information for your recommendation • Your name and contact information • Your relationship to the recommendation • A description of what is outstanding about it or them By sharing what we know, we can all move ahead more quickly and e ectively. Email your response to: WhatWorks@CitiesGoGreen.com 30 December 2008 http://www.jak.se/ http://www.atkinsonfoundation.ca/ciw http://www.livingeconomies.org/ http://www.genuinewealth.net http://www.genuinewealth.net http://www.anielski.com http://citiesgogreen.com/issues/december-2008/features/the-economics-of-what-matters http://www.CitiesGoGreen.com http://www.CitiesGoGreen.com http://citiesgogreen.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CitiesGoGreen - December 2008

Citites Go Green Contents In Motion We’re Taking Steps 10,000 Rain Gardens in Kansas City Chicago Center for Green Technology Connecticut’s ‘One Thing’ Green Infrastructure for Stormwater Management Philadelphia The Economics of What Matters New Context: New Possibility

CitiesGoGreen - December 2008

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