Monday, April 02, 2012
Bhutan: a tiny oasis of sanity in an increasingly insane world
“Economic growth is mistakenly seen as synonymous with wellbeing. The faster we cut down forests and haul in fish stocks to extinction, the more GDP grows. Even crime, war, sickness, and natural disasters make GDP grow, simply because these ills cause money to be spent.”
by Larry Geller
"The [global] economic system is in rapid meltdown. It is based on the premise of limitless growth on a finite planet. It has produced ever-widening inequalities with 20% of the world now consuming 86% of its goods, while the poorest 20% consume 1% or less and emit 2% of the worlds greenhouse gases."
[The Guardian (UK), Bhutan rails against world's 'suicidal path', 4/1/2012]
The speaker is Bhutan's Prime Minister, Jigmi Thinley, who is scheduled to speak at the UN today, according to the article.
Of course, no head of state will take him seriously.
And so we will proceed along the path of economic exploitation and climate disaster, as though the 1% ruled the world. Of course, they do rule the world.
And there’s no remedy in sight.
Except maybe moving to Bhutan, they seem to have figured it out.
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