“Beyond Economic Survival – 97 Ways Small Communities Can Thrive – A Guide to Community Vitality” Released

More Needed to Survive in a Post-Recession Economy - Economist

ALSO ATTACHED – MINI COMMUNITY VITALITY INDEX – How Does Your Community Rate?

Nelson, BC - Does your community believe in itself? Do women consider it safe to walk alone downtown at night? Do young adults 25-34 consider your community a desirable place to live?

“If you’re not asking yourself these things you are not likely to have a viable community in the long run” says economist Mike Stolte, co-author of a just-published free guide to community vitality.

“Beyond Economic Survival – 97 Ways Small Communities Can Thrive – A Guide to Community Vitality” was released on the web this week by the Centre for Innovative & Entrepreneurial Leadership (CIEL – pronounced ‘see – elle’ meaning sky in French –www.theCIEL.com), a Nelson, BC-based organization that has worked with communities in Canada, the US, Australia & New Zealand.

The guide comes about after four years of development. “We looked at more than 60 studies from around the world, had a blue ribbon national advisory committee, and have now worked closely with 50 communities in four countries to produce this guide,” says Bill Metcalfe, the report’s other co-author.

Stolte, CIEL’s Executive Director, says that most of the 97 indicators rely on perceptions - things like newcomers being welcome in the community or the community having a festival that generates a feeling of magic and excitement. “These important perceptions are often ignored in communities because they are hard to measure,” states Stolte.

To read full article click here.

Why Jamiaca isn't happy with being 3rd in Happiness

'The Happiness Index'
Excerpt from the Jamaican Gleaner article by John Rapley

Not everyone greeted the news with snickers. Some guffawed. Jamaica the third happiest country in the world? As much as we'd like to take pride in that, it's a bit hard to believe that happy, smiling folk would also top the league tables for killing each other.

The thing is, it is not a happiness index; it is the happy planet index. Put out by London's New Economics Foundation - a quirky think tank which, nonetheless, has its heart in the right place - the index is principally concerned with sustainability. The logic is that countries which are developing, without leaving too large an ecological footprint, create a happier planet.....


To read full article click this link

Disagreeing with Canada's National Newspaper - Should happiness be measured by economists? Can it?

Q: Should happiness be measured by economists? Can it?

A: Yes. Yes.

In response to the Globe & Mail's July 4th editorial ‘Comparing incomparables – forget the elusive ‘gross domestic happiness – economists should stick to facts and figures’, I strongly disagree. Fundamentally, we need to find better ways of measuring individual and societal well-being (NOTE: not to be confused with momentary hedonistic pleasure). Economists originally struck out to measure and maximize well-being in society. Gross domestic product (GDP) became a proxy for measuring this. It worked for a while as a world growing richer (at least in the West) lifted many beyond the chronic illness, premature death and subsistence living that plagued the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Unfortunately, GDP has not served us well for the last 50 years with self-reported measures of happiness declining slightly and rates of suicide, depression, stress, anxiety, all increasing. If our best indicator of well-being is broken, should we not endeavour to find other(s) as the French government is doing?

Can we actually measure happiness or well-being? Many countries, communities and individuals are already trying to do this. There have been great strides in recent years to find alternative indicators – Genuine Progress Indicators (GPI), CIEL’s Community Vitality Initiative (CVI) for small Canadian communities, Happy Planet Index (HPI) in the UK, the Atkinson Foundation’s Canadian Index of Well-Being, Gross National Happiness (GNH) in Bhutan and the New Economics Foundation’s National Accounts of Well-being where you can compare your relative happiness to those like you in many European countries.

Like the stockmarkets, however, be prepared for a rollercoaster ride.

Mike Stolte - The Happy Economist

http://happy-economist.blogspot.com/

Executive Director, Centre for Innovative & Entrepreneurial Leadership (CIEL – www.theCIEL.com), co-developer of CVI

Can You Resist a Marshmallow? Your Happiness Might Depend On It!

By Mike Stolte

Can you resist a marshmallow? Psychologist Philip Zimbardo, author of The Lucifer Effect and creator of many renowned experiments, looks at the relationship between happiness and time, in a video mini-lecture at TED (Technology, Education, Design), a leading disseminator of 'ideas worth spreading.' If you can resist the marshmallow (as a third of 4-year-olds were able to do) for 2 more marshmallows later, your success in life is much more likely. Higher scores on the SATs (250 points!), more confidence, less trouble, more success.

In all societies we have a different 'time perspective', putting a different value on the past, present & the future.

Some people live in the past (positive to negative), others are more oriented to the present (hedonist to fatalist). In our Western society we place a premium on the future (life-goal-oriented to transcendental). Many of us suffer from the incorrect balance of these competing time perspectives. Those who solely value the future will sacrifice fun, friends, family, personal indulgences, hobbies, and sleep. They live for work, achievement and control.

Zimbardo admits he escaped his old neighbourhood that was fixated on old ethnic battles (past negative) and present fatalism by valuing the future. The ideal mix can be achieved with a mental shift in our orientation to:

• high - past positive (roots/groundedness around family and identity)
• moderate - future hedonism (giving energy to explore people, places, self, sensuality)
• moderately high - future life-goal-oriented (wings to soar to destinations and challenges)
  

It's worth checking out this relatively simple concept.

Watch the six minute video http://tinyurl.com/lb4vk3