From economist Mike Nickerson:

A Better Path for Progress

The surest way out of difficulty is to set sight
on a goal beyond the trouble, and to move in that
direction.

As many wonder about the present financial
crisis, the time is ripe to suggest a new goal that will
serve us better than the one that caused the
problems. The election doubles the opportunity.

Steps you can take to help pave the way for a
Canadian Genuine Progress Index (GPI) are posted
at: http://www.superaje.com/~sustain5

The short story is that we want to find out
which candidates in the present election would
support a GPI if they are elected.

Please help to get GPI into the thoughts of our
would be Members of Parliament. We will contact
the winners when Parliament convenes, to see about
legislating a Genuine Progress Indicator for Canada.

http://www.superaje.com/~sustain5 contains:
background material to introduce GPI to candidates,
a question to ask them and material for the Media.

You can find contact information for most candidates at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/ridings/
(Look for “Candidates Profiles.”)
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Our present measure of progress is misleading.

In the years before the east coast Cod fishery
collapsed, the “health” of that fishery, as defined by
its contribution to GDP, had been growing steadily.
The economic and social disaster that followed could
have been avoided if there had been a GPI. A GPI
would have indicated the decline of fish stocks
thereby tempering the message derived from the
increasing money flow. Rather than assuming that
fishing is a good investment and continuing to
expand the fishing fleet, the limits of the resource
would have been recognized and investment directed
toward other things. The fishery could have
continued at a sustainable level.

If we had had a GPI drawing attention to other
aspects of life, while the, recently burst, financial
bubble was inflating, we would have seen that there
were more important things to invest in than
financial speculation.

It is telling that the point that burst the
bubble was a natural resource limitation. The
market was unable to supply oil in the quantity
demanded, so the price went up. This caused
inflation, and interests rates were raised to control
it. That was when many holders of sub-prime
mortgages discovered that they could not afford their
payments. Pop !

Indeed, health issues, faith in the system,
infrastructure, pollution, and depleting natural
resources are all crying out for attention, only to be
assigned little value because they scarcely show up in
the money ledgers by which we presently measure
progress. By giving legitimacy to environmental and
social matters, with a GPI, the appearance of the
bottom line would change to reflect the value of the
opportunities being lost and found in the full
spectrum of our well-being. Ways that a GPI
measures well-being are detailed at:
http://www.SustainWellBeing.net/LMI/GPI.html

This link, and much more for moving this
issue forward, is available at: http://www.superaje.com/~sustain5

Take a look and find out whether or not
your candidates would support a GPI and get their
replies back to me here.

Many thanks and best wishes for a better world.

Yours, Mike Nickerson

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“Indicators are powerful. What we count and
measure reflects our values as a society and literally
determines what makes it onto the policy agenda of
governments. As we proceed into the new millennium,
these indicators tell us whether we are making progress,
whether we are leaving the world a better place for our
children, and what we need to change.”
Ron Colman. Director
GPI Atlantic www.gpiatlantic.org

Is it proper, now that our biggest problems
result from our size, to hold growth as a goal? Would
aiming for sustainability make more sense?
It’s aQuestion of Direction: http://www.SustainWellBeing.net/challengeandgoal.html

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Air, Water, Soil and Energy are essential to all life.

“To call these things sacred is to say that they have a value beyond their usefulness for human ends, that they themselves become the standards by which our acts, our economics, our laws, and our purpose must be judged. No one has the right to appropriate them or profit from them at the expense of others. Any government that fails to protect them forfeits its legitimacy.”

Starhawk; from “The Fifth Sacred Thing.”

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http://www.SustainWellBeing.net

Sustainability Project - 7th Generation Initiative
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