The Economics of Happiness

The Economics of Happiness

Local Futures believes that modern societies have taken a fundamentally wrong turn: policymakers, mainstream economists, and business leaders have consistently pushed us in the direction of ever more growth, while ignoring the ecological destruction and spiritual poverty that have been the price of rampant consumerism, massive scale, and escalating speed. We believe that a radically different paradigm is needed. Rather than attempting to solve every problem by ‘growing the economy’, we need to focus instead on meeting real human and ecological needs through awakening to our spiritual ties to community and nature – through an ‘economics of happiness’.

Subsidized Affects

After the Western Himalayas' began having subsidizes products, vehicles running on subsidized gas and exposure to advertising in the 1970's, it affected the economy tremendously. Local producers and workers were losing money and became poor after having lack of trade and localization among their remote populations. With such change, it affected globalizing activity which can make of break economics in remote and smaller sized populations. People depend on working, making a life for themselves and being successful among local markets, not concentrating on big money companies. We strive for more local markets because it makes both local consumers and producers happy in which gives positive feedback in the economics of happiness. 

 Going Forward

I thought the video was very eye opening as to how much work we still have to do. I especially enjoyed the beginning when the government was mentioned and how they were thinking ahead by 4 years. I think they should be advancing and thinking 7 years ahead and planning prior, in which I believe this is our biggest problem. None of the officials want to deal with these issues because they wont be in office to get rewards about helping others and the economy. Our society needs to think differently if we want any change to happen.

Happiness Among Us

The two points in the video The Economics of Happiness that I thought were the most relative to this course were the ideas that globalization waste natural resources and accelerates climate change.  Globalization promotes the construction of large buildings and massive road systems that destroy the nature that keeps our planet and climate stable.  With all the economic trading or goods across the world, the amount of transportation increases exponentially and with transportation by planes, large trucks, and fuel guzzling ships comes an enormous amount of emissions along with nonrenewable resources consumption.  Globalization creates levels of competition and comparison that are toxic to humans.  Production has changed to have its focus on producing the highest quantities with no regard for the quality of the product.  Food products now have chemicals pumped into them to produce the largest crops/animals in the least amount of time possible.  With all these products being mass produced with no regard for the emissions and other harmful side effects, it is very evident that this globalization is the cause for the accelerated climate change we have been noticing.  To mass produce products resources are needed to build the buildings the products are made in, run the machines used to construct the products, and the materials the products are made from.  Unfortunately many of these materials are nonrenewable resources that once they run out our whole way of life will be a risk to end.  One main point that the video kept referring back to was that the human life has now become so focused on obtaining as much materialistic items as quickly in life as you can because our society compares what each person has to other people and it leads to no one ever being satisfied.  Our lives are spent rushing around to earn money just to spend it to impress or out do other people.  With such busy schedules people are becoming more and more lonely.  Depression is at an all-time high because there is so much pressure on individuals to gain as many possessions as possible that there is only a small percentage of people who really enjoy life.

Future Economy

In class we watched a documentary titled "The Economics of Happiness". The documentary explains the impact globalization has on the world at the human level. The material and money based "western" system of living in the long run ends up producing more famine, depression, and general bad situations than the communities and people that lived off the land. The short term gain is creature comforts, but in the long run it drives people against each other and has proven to be not all it's cracked up to be for certain areas (especially when they realize what they now DO NOT have). 

Globalization almost always ends up with a country being exploited and stripped of their resources. This documentary proves that material things and money are not necessarily important to lead a happy life, as long as they were never present to begin with.