- Email: [email protected]
What is wealth on a happy planet?
SPECIAL REPORT / future planet Measures Measures of of success success
What is wealth on a happy planet?
GDP is the classic GDP is is the the classic classic GDP measurement of measurement of of measurement a nation’s nation’s wealth wealth a a nation’s wealth GDP PER PER CAPITA GDP GDP PER CAPITA CAPITA Top 20% 20% of countries countries Top Top 20% of of countries Bottom 20% 20% Bottom Bottom 20% No data data No No data
HPI HPI (PER (PER CAPITA) CAPITA) HPI (PER CAPITA) Top 20% 20% of of countries countries Top Top 20% of countries Bottom 20% 20% Bottom Bottom No data data 20% No No data
Areas Areas are are proportional proportional to to each each country’s country’s total total GDP/HPI GDP/HPI Areas are proportional to each country’s total GDP/HPI
B
U A
Uses and Abuses of Biology
B
UEssay Competition A The Uses and Abuses of Biology Programme U is inviting students and recent graduates A aged 30 or younger to enter its 2012 essay U competition. AB
B
“Explore the ways in which contemporary genetics both challenges and underpins notions of human freedom, value and identity”
1st prize = £1000 2nd prize = £500
3rd prize = £250
www.uabgrants.org [email protected]
10 | NewScientist | 16 June 2012
SOURCE: SOURCE: SOURCE: WORLD WORLD WORLD BANK/NEF BANK/NEF BANK/NEF
As an alternative, the Happy Planet Index (HPI) combines life satisfaction, As an an alternative, alternative, the the Happy Happy Planet Planet Index Index (HPI) (HPI) combines combines life life satisfaction, satisfaction, As life expectancy and ecological footprint to rank nations life expectancy and ecological footprint to rank nations life expectancy and ecological footprint to rank nations
IT’S easy not to trash the planet – if you’re dirt poor and die young. But is it possible for all of us to live long and satisfying lives without costing the Earth? That’s the question behind a measure of national well-being called the Happy Planet Index (HPI). Its latest update, released this week ahead of the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development, names Costa Rica as the world’s most “developed” nation and puts the US on the sick list. To show how different the world looks when viewed according to the HPI, rather than conventional wealth, New Scientist applied distorting lenses. In the top map, countries are sized according to their GDP, and shaded by GDP per capita. As sub-Saharan Africa almost shrinks from view, western Europe, the US and Japan swell and flush a deep red. But this wealth has fuelled massively unsustainable use of natural resources (see page 38). Nic Marks of the New Economics Foundation in London developed HPI as an alternative measure, “to capture the tension between good lives now and good lives in the future”. HPI measures nations’ success in delivering long and contented lives, the latter determined by a survey question. These scores are then diminished according to each nation’s ecological footprint: the total area needed to provide the average citizen’s food and other materials, and to absorb their carbon dioxide emissions. In the larger map, countries are shaded according to HPI scores, with deeper greens showing countries that are most efficient at converting natural resources into long and satisfying lives for their citizens. Nations are sized according to HPI multiplied by population, giving a “gross” HPI comparable to GDP. This helps reveal countries whose sustainability will most influence the planet’s overall health.
There are various ways to achieve a good HPI score. Latin American nations tend to do well on life satisfaction, but Costa Rica stands out for pushing life expectancy beyond the US average and adopting strong environmental policies. Other surprising “winners” include Bangladesh, where 150 million people, crowded into an area smaller than Florida, have made impressive gains in human development despite meagre consumption. The US provides a strong contrast. Its people live long, reasonably contented lives, but their profligate consumption explains the nation’s pale and emaciated appearance on our HPI map. The big question is whether China and India can limit their footprints and turn their already large and rapidly growing economies a deeper green. The best hope, says Saamah Abdallah, lead author of the new HPI report, is that “enlightened selfinterest” will send them down a more
“Costa Rica is the most ‘developed’ nation on the Happy Planet Index – the US is on the sick list” sustainable path (see page 8). “They’re not going to enjoy what we have in the west ,” he says, because available resources won’t allow it. Everyone else, and especially the US and other high-consuming nations, will also have to pull their weight. Even Costa Rica’s footprint is too large to be sustainable in the long run, says Mathis Wackernagel of the Global Footprint Network in Oakland, California. And if China’s development continues to depend on satisfying the US’s insatiable demand for consumer goods, it will be hard to chart a sustainable course. Given the Earth’s limited resources, a change of direction is badly needed for everyone’s good, says Marks: “There’s no Planet B.” Peter Aldhous n
What is wealth on a happy planet?
GDP is the classic GDP is is the the classic classic GDP measurement of measurement of of measurement a nation’s nation’s wealth wealth a a nation’s wealth GDP PER PER CAPITA GDP GDP PER CAPITA CAPITA Top 20% 20% of countries countries Top Top 20% of of countries Bottom 20% 20% Bottom Bottom 20% No data data No No data
HPI HPI (PER (PER CAPITA) CAPITA) HPI (PER CAPITA) Top 20% 20% of of countries countries Top Top 20% of countries Bottom 20% 20% Bottom Bottom No data data 20% No No data
Areas Areas are are proportional proportional to to each each country’s country’s total total GDP/HPI GDP/HPI Areas are proportional to each country’s total GDP/HPI
B
U A
Uses and Abuses of Biology
B
UEssay Competition A The Uses and Abuses of Biology Programme U is inviting students and recent graduates A aged 30 or younger to enter its 2012 essay U competition. AB
B
“Explore the ways in which contemporary genetics both challenges and underpins notions of human freedom, value and identity”
1st prize = £1000 2nd prize = £500
3rd prize = £250
www.uabgrants.org [email protected]
10 | NewScientist | 16 June 2012
SOURCE: SOURCE: SOURCE: WORLD WORLD WORLD BANK/NEF BANK/NEF BANK/NEF
As an alternative, the Happy Planet Index (HPI) combines life satisfaction, As an an alternative, alternative, the the Happy Happy Planet Planet Index Index (HPI) (HPI) combines combines life life satisfaction, satisfaction, As life expectancy and ecological footprint to rank nations life expectancy and ecological footprint to rank nations life expectancy and ecological footprint to rank nations
IT’S easy not to trash the planet – if you’re dirt poor and die young. But is it possible for all of us to live long and satisfying lives without costing the Earth? That’s the question behind a measure of national well-being called the Happy Planet Index (HPI). Its latest update, released this week ahead of the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development, names Costa Rica as the world’s most “developed” nation and puts the US on the sick list. To show how different the world looks when viewed according to the HPI, rather than conventional wealth, New Scientist applied distorting lenses. In the top map, countries are sized according to their GDP, and shaded by GDP per capita. As sub-Saharan Africa almost shrinks from view, western Europe, the US and Japan swell and flush a deep red. But this wealth has fuelled massively unsustainable use of natural resources (see page 38). Nic Marks of the New Economics Foundation in London developed HPI as an alternative measure, “to capture the tension between good lives now and good lives in the future”. HPI measures nations’ success in delivering long and contented lives, the latter determined by a survey question. These scores are then diminished according to each nation’s ecological footprint: the total area needed to provide the average citizen’s food and other materials, and to absorb their carbon dioxide emissions. In the larger map, countries are shaded according to HPI scores, with deeper greens showing countries that are most efficient at converting natural resources into long and satisfying lives for their citizens. Nations are sized according to HPI multiplied by population, giving a “gross” HPI comparable to GDP. This helps reveal countries whose sustainability will most influence the planet’s overall health.
There are various ways to achieve a good HPI score. Latin American nations tend to do well on life satisfaction, but Costa Rica stands out for pushing life expectancy beyond the US average and adopting strong environmental policies. Other surprising “winners” include Bangladesh, where 150 million people, crowded into an area smaller than Florida, have made impressive gains in human development despite meagre consumption. The US provides a strong contrast. Its people live long, reasonably contented lives, but their profligate consumption explains the nation’s pale and emaciated appearance on our HPI map. The big question is whether China and India can limit their footprints and turn their already large and rapidly growing economies a deeper green. The best hope, says Saamah Abdallah, lead author of the new HPI report, is that “enlightened selfinterest” will send them down a more
“Costa Rica is the most ‘developed’ nation on the Happy Planet Index – the US is on the sick list” sustainable path (see page 8). “They’re not going to enjoy what we have in the west ,” he says, because available resources won’t allow it. Everyone else, and especially the US and other high-consuming nations, will also have to pull their weight. Even Costa Rica’s footprint is too large to be sustainable in the long run, says Mathis Wackernagel of the Global Footprint Network in Oakland, California. And if China’s development continues to depend on satisfying the US’s insatiable demand for consumer goods, it will be hard to chart a sustainable course. Given the Earth’s limited resources, a change of direction is badly needed for everyone’s good, says Marks: “There’s no Planet B.” Peter Aldhous n