Comments on: The Happy Planet Index http://broceanography.com/2006/07/19/the-happy-planet-index/ Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:55:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Eduardo Esquenazi http://broceanography.com/2006/07/19/the-happy-planet-index/#comment-6 Eduardo Esquenazi Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:49:46 +0000 http://broceanography.com/?p=44#comment-6 Clearly Stephen has been eating drunken pelicans. My personal opinion is that I doubt the international recognition of the US is anything to be joyous about. While I do think those are important considerations that you point out, if they are to be included, then a country's foreign policy (ie reasons to engage in war) and domestic policy (ie environmental) must also be considered. I think the meat here is that the joy of day to day life of the average citizen is related to emphasis placed on consumerism and social status as core values. Clearly Stephen has been eating drunken pelicans. My personal opinion is that I doubt the international recognition of the US is anything to be joyous about. While I do think those are important considerations that you point out, if they are to be included, then a country’s foreign policy (ie reasons to engage in war) and domestic policy (ie environmental) must also be considered.

I think the meat here is that the joy of day to day life of the average citizen is related to emphasis placed on consumerism and social status as core values.

]]> By: Stephen Douglass http://broceanography.com/2006/07/19/the-happy-planet-index/#comment-5 Stephen Douglass Thu, 20 Jul 2006 00:51:28 +0000 http://broceanography.com/?p=44#comment-5 Hmmm.... US ranked below Sri Lanka and Palestine? I know we're far from perfect here in America, but this HPI doesn't seem to concern itself with minor details like international recognition of your state and the effect of living in a war zone. Sounds to me like it's more of a measurement of how happy the planet is than how happy the people are. I'm sure the planet would just as soon prefer that the human race was wiped out, but until then, I'll stick with the real economists and the HDI. <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/indices/about_hdi.cfm" rel="nofollow">http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/indices/about_hdi.cfm</a> Hmmm…. US ranked below Sri Lanka and Palestine? I know we’re far from perfect here in America, but this HPI doesn’t seem to concern itself with minor details like international recognition of your state and the effect of living in a war zone. Sounds to me like it’s more of a measurement of how happy the planet is than how happy the people are. I’m sure the planet would just as soon prefer that the human race was wiped out, but until then, I’ll stick with the real economists and the HDI.

http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/indices/about_hdi.cfm

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