The Happiness Roundtable Convenes Grassroots Happiness Movement Leadership
We point the way for activism in the happiness movement through deed and word. We ensure integrity and provide direction through our voices and actions.
Happiness + Wellbeing + Quality of Life + Sustainability + Resilience + Flourishing
A Select Few
ConveneLeaders in the happiness movement are selected to take a seat at a Happiness Roundtable based on their impact. inspiration for action and vision in the Happiness Movement. |
Intimate & Visionary
ConversationHappiness Movement Leaders meet in an intense, intimate and participatory workshop. Each Leader shares a big idea, dream and inspiration followed by conversations & collaborations. |
Publication
Awareness RaisingHappiness Roundtable Leadership Inspirations and Visionary Concepts are shared and disseminated in beautiful reports & recorded clips, through social media and continued awareness raising. |
Who's Who in the Grassroots Happiness Movement
About the Happiness Roundtable
Inspiration for the Happiness Roundtable
The genesis of the Happiness Roundtable is the 2012 United Nations High Level Meeting Well-being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm. Members Saamdu Chetri, Merle Lefkoff, John de Graaf, Laura Musikanski and Paul Rogers were leaders and members of working groups at that eventful meeting. Other members have guided and advanced the Happiness Movement. At the High Level Meeting, twelve recommendations were considered and consecrated. (See below and on page 157 of the official report). Happiness Roundtable members have made meaningful contributions to transforming our systems to set the conditions for these and other transformations for just, resilient, sustainable and happy societies, governments, ecosystems, and economies.
Annex XI: Policy Recommendations emerging from the high-Level Meeting for consideration by governments
There was broad agreement at the 2nd April meeting at the United Nations that governments worldwide can immediately take practical steps towards adoption of the new wellbeing and sustainability-based economic paradigm. To that end, examples of the kinds of policies that are in line with the principles of the new economy, and which governments might consider for voluntary adoption, are suggested here.
Any effective policy must be compatible with ecological sustainability, fair distribution and efficient use of resources, and should contribute to the wellbeing of all life and to human happiness. Some policies will contribute to all these goals simultaneously. all these policies are proposed in the spirit of “adaptive management,” and recognise that we must learn from outcomes and adapt to the changing conditions and local circumstances. The following 12 policies are by no means a comprehensive list, but provide examples of initial steps in the right direction. Many are consistent with United Nations Environmental Programme’s “green economy” proposals, but also go considerably further in accord with the goals outlined in the 2nd of april High-level Meeting at the United Nations.
1. In order to move towards sustainable production methods, governments should first remove perverse subsidies for fossil fuels, chemical inputs in agriculture, and other activities that are harmful to the economy and environment. They should reinvest those subsidies in activities that promote sustainable wellbeing and happiness, such as green technologies and poverty alleviation.
2. In order to promote the widespread dissemination of technologies that protect the environment and alleviate poverty, and to enable lower-income nations to shift rapidly to sustainable production methods without loss of competitive advantage, high-income countries must share and transfer technology and information. To maximise the public benefits of these technologies, countries should pool their technological resources and treat the resulting information as part of the global social commons. To that end nations should also increase public investments in research and development for such technologies with the resulting information freely available to all. Nations should undertake to freely share and publish information on such technologies, including all subsequent improvements.
3. Public investment should heretofore be prioritised. Investments in sustainable infrastructure, such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, public transit, watershed protection measures, green public spaces, clean technology, support for green businesses, and measures to ‘green’ tourism. Health promotion and disease prevention, addressing the socio-economic, behavioural, spiritual, and environmental determinants of health; and supporting holistic life-long learning that includes vital literacies required for wellbeing, such as ecological, civic, cultural, health, nutrition, science, financial, and other literacies; incorporate traditional and indigenous knowledge; empower women; and ensure equality of opportunity.
4. In order to move rapidly towards sustainable agriculture, support small-scale local production and consumption; eliminate unsustainable subsidies; ensure public procurement from sustainable local sources; invest in rural sector public goods including farmer education in organic methods; incorporate traditional knowledge into agriculture research and development.
5. In order to promote the effective and equitable governance and management of the natural and social commons, governments should declare groundwater and open water, atmosphere, oceans, biodiversity, mineral resources, beaches, forests, cultural and sacred sites, etc., as common assets, and create common asset trusts at the appropriate scale. Such trusts must be legally obliged to manage these assets sustainably for the equitable benefit of current and future generations.
6. In order to dismantle incentives to excessive consumption, begin by banning advertising to children and eliminating perverse tax deductions by businesses for advertising.
7. In order to move towards local economies and fair trade systems that promote sustainable production methods and fair returns to producers, begin by government procurement from local, organic, and fair trade sources.
8. In order to reduce systemic inequalities: tax systems should capture unearned income such as earnings on land and currency speculation; reinvest that revenue in public goods; and take other measures to increase the progressivity of taxation. Governments should introduce work sharing policies that reduce overwork, increase leisure time, and prevent layoffs;
9. iIn order to value non-market assets and services, to measure progress more accurately and comprehensively, to internalise externalities, and to ensure that prices reflect actual social and environmental costs of production: a. Create Sustainable National Wellbeing accounts, which account for the value of natural, social/cultural, human, and built capital, stocks, flows and dynamics. [Recognising that such accounts constitute the essential foundation for the new economy, the Kingdom of Bhutan has begun to construct such accounts, and released the first valuations of natural, social and human capital in february this year.] b. Create comprehensive Wellbeing Measures of Progress. [The Kingdom of Bhutan has developed a Gross National Happiness (GNH) index consisting of nine domains — ecology, living standards, health, education, culture, community vitality, time use, good governance, and psychological wellbeing.] c. Work with other countries to build global consensus around these measures of value and progress in the medium term (1-3 years), towards a consensus building convention in 2014. d. Confine Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to its original purpose as a measure of marketed economic activity, and as a measure of what we pay for those activities. Therefore governments must cease using GDP as the core measure of national wellbeing, progress and prosperity —a purpose for which it was never intended. e. Explicitly acknowledge on the record and educate the public on the flaws of GDP-based measures when mistakenly used as wellbeing measures, and work with other governments to achieve short-term global consensus on the limitations of GDP-based measures as the EU, OECD, Sarkozy-Stiglitz Commission, and others have already done. Explicitly acknowledge the concomitant importance of valuing national, social/ cultural, and human capital.
10. In order to reward sustainable and wellbeing-enhancing actions and penalise unsustainable behaviours that diminish collective wellbeing, institute: (a) systems of “payments for ecosystem services” and cooperative investment in stewardship wherein the beneficiaries of ecosystem services shoulder the costs of stewardship or share them with the providers; (b) ecological tax reforms that tax pollution and the depletion of natural capital, with compensating mechanisms that avoid additional burdens on low-income groups.
11. In order to increase financial and fiscal prudence, implement measures to reduce speculation, ensure equitable access to and responsible use of credit, and require that financial instruments and practices contribute to the public good.
12. Work actively and in good faith, in collaboration with governments and civil society partners, towards an international consensus conference that will formally begin adopting the new economic paradigm by 2015.
Annex XI: Policy Recommendations emerging from the high-Level Meeting for consideration by governments
There was broad agreement at the 2nd April meeting at the United Nations that governments worldwide can immediately take practical steps towards adoption of the new wellbeing and sustainability-based economic paradigm. To that end, examples of the kinds of policies that are in line with the principles of the new economy, and which governments might consider for voluntary adoption, are suggested here.
Any effective policy must be compatible with ecological sustainability, fair distribution and efficient use of resources, and should contribute to the wellbeing of all life and to human happiness. Some policies will contribute to all these goals simultaneously. all these policies are proposed in the spirit of “adaptive management,” and recognise that we must learn from outcomes and adapt to the changing conditions and local circumstances. The following 12 policies are by no means a comprehensive list, but provide examples of initial steps in the right direction. Many are consistent with United Nations Environmental Programme’s “green economy” proposals, but also go considerably further in accord with the goals outlined in the 2nd of april High-level Meeting at the United Nations.
1. In order to move towards sustainable production methods, governments should first remove perverse subsidies for fossil fuels, chemical inputs in agriculture, and other activities that are harmful to the economy and environment. They should reinvest those subsidies in activities that promote sustainable wellbeing and happiness, such as green technologies and poverty alleviation.
2. In order to promote the widespread dissemination of technologies that protect the environment and alleviate poverty, and to enable lower-income nations to shift rapidly to sustainable production methods without loss of competitive advantage, high-income countries must share and transfer technology and information. To maximise the public benefits of these technologies, countries should pool their technological resources and treat the resulting information as part of the global social commons. To that end nations should also increase public investments in research and development for such technologies with the resulting information freely available to all. Nations should undertake to freely share and publish information on such technologies, including all subsequent improvements.
3. Public investment should heretofore be prioritised. Investments in sustainable infrastructure, such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, public transit, watershed protection measures, green public spaces, clean technology, support for green businesses, and measures to ‘green’ tourism. Health promotion and disease prevention, addressing the socio-economic, behavioural, spiritual, and environmental determinants of health; and supporting holistic life-long learning that includes vital literacies required for wellbeing, such as ecological, civic, cultural, health, nutrition, science, financial, and other literacies; incorporate traditional and indigenous knowledge; empower women; and ensure equality of opportunity.
4. In order to move rapidly towards sustainable agriculture, support small-scale local production and consumption; eliminate unsustainable subsidies; ensure public procurement from sustainable local sources; invest in rural sector public goods including farmer education in organic methods; incorporate traditional knowledge into agriculture research and development.
5. In order to promote the effective and equitable governance and management of the natural and social commons, governments should declare groundwater and open water, atmosphere, oceans, biodiversity, mineral resources, beaches, forests, cultural and sacred sites, etc., as common assets, and create common asset trusts at the appropriate scale. Such trusts must be legally obliged to manage these assets sustainably for the equitable benefit of current and future generations.
6. In order to dismantle incentives to excessive consumption, begin by banning advertising to children and eliminating perverse tax deductions by businesses for advertising.
7. In order to move towards local economies and fair trade systems that promote sustainable production methods and fair returns to producers, begin by government procurement from local, organic, and fair trade sources.
8. In order to reduce systemic inequalities: tax systems should capture unearned income such as earnings on land and currency speculation; reinvest that revenue in public goods; and take other measures to increase the progressivity of taxation. Governments should introduce work sharing policies that reduce overwork, increase leisure time, and prevent layoffs;
9. iIn order to value non-market assets and services, to measure progress more accurately and comprehensively, to internalise externalities, and to ensure that prices reflect actual social and environmental costs of production: a. Create Sustainable National Wellbeing accounts, which account for the value of natural, social/cultural, human, and built capital, stocks, flows and dynamics. [Recognising that such accounts constitute the essential foundation for the new economy, the Kingdom of Bhutan has begun to construct such accounts, and released the first valuations of natural, social and human capital in february this year.] b. Create comprehensive Wellbeing Measures of Progress. [The Kingdom of Bhutan has developed a Gross National Happiness (GNH) index consisting of nine domains — ecology, living standards, health, education, culture, community vitality, time use, good governance, and psychological wellbeing.] c. Work with other countries to build global consensus around these measures of value and progress in the medium term (1-3 years), towards a consensus building convention in 2014. d. Confine Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to its original purpose as a measure of marketed economic activity, and as a measure of what we pay for those activities. Therefore governments must cease using GDP as the core measure of national wellbeing, progress and prosperity —a purpose for which it was never intended. e. Explicitly acknowledge on the record and educate the public on the flaws of GDP-based measures when mistakenly used as wellbeing measures, and work with other governments to achieve short-term global consensus on the limitations of GDP-based measures as the EU, OECD, Sarkozy-Stiglitz Commission, and others have already done. Explicitly acknowledge the concomitant importance of valuing national, social/ cultural, and human capital.
10. In order to reward sustainable and wellbeing-enhancing actions and penalise unsustainable behaviours that diminish collective wellbeing, institute: (a) systems of “payments for ecosystem services” and cooperative investment in stewardship wherein the beneficiaries of ecosystem services shoulder the costs of stewardship or share them with the providers; (b) ecological tax reforms that tax pollution and the depletion of natural capital, with compensating mechanisms that avoid additional burdens on low-income groups.
11. In order to increase financial and fiscal prudence, implement measures to reduce speculation, ensure equitable access to and responsible use of credit, and require that financial instruments and practices contribute to the public good.
12. Work actively and in good faith, in collaboration with governments and civil society partners, towards an international consensus conference that will formally begin adopting the new economic paradigm by 2015.
Full Text of the Happiness Roundtable Recommendations for the Happiness Movement
We align with a growing body of evidence that recognizes the planet’s climate and natural capital are gravely and irreversibly threatened by economic policies that prioritise wealth accumulation over natural and social systems. We believe Bhutan’s concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and the knowledge of indigenous peoples around the world offer solutions to global and local problems. In this belief we know that generosity, compassion and kindness are as much born to us as competitiveness, greed and hierarchy, and that what we practice directly relates to who we are and the future of life on our planet.
To chart a more sustainable future we call for a short, accessible definition of happiness for the happiness movement. We offer a definition of happiness as “life satisfaction founded in the balanced development of all facets of life that are essential and inextricably connected to the health and flourishing of each other, other species and mother nature”.
We call for a Common Agenda and we pledge to continue working together to further define and advance this Common Agenda. We offer as a working concept a framework for a Common Agenda that connects individual happiness and systems change in our social, economic, environmental, and personal environments, with the goals of (1) reconnecting to nature and inclusion of accounting and caring for natural systems within which every other system operates including every individual life, and (2) mending and fostering a social fabric that creates the life conditions for happiness and wellbeing through sharing and caring, and (3) the courageous pro-offering of actionable items that individual people and policy makers can provide to mend our planet’s ecosystems and our social fabric to reconnect us to our mother nature. Through individual and collective action, we propose these action items include (a) a fundamental and absolute emphasis in schooling systems to teach emotional intelligence, (b) radical redesign of common space at local levels to reconnect to each other and to nature, (c) multifaceted national and local media campaigns to encourage and reward prosocial, generous and compassionate behaviors to shift our cultures from greed and wealth accumulation to care, (d) a transformation of workplaces to provide incentives centred around intrinsic motivations, and (e) a revolution in healthcare founded in relationships and synergies connecting mental and physical health with life circumstances.
We call for a massive global awareness of the GNH and Beyond GDP agenda through a suite of short videos that link with wider interventions that capture inspirational stories and models for participation and leadership. We see value in promoting viral online petitions to bring about change. We call for a grassroots uprising and non-violent resistance to challenge and reverse economic and political systems that concentrate wealth and power among the few. We offer to work together and invite others to join towards this end.
We call for a diversity of transformation with immediate short-term, here and now individual actions that aim for systems change. Through the Happiness Roundtable we offer the work we are doing as individuals and organisations to provide models and resources to stimulate change and empower others to provide leadership for GNH inspired change. We offer the Happiness Agoras as an opportunity for learning as well as taking leadership in communities and cities around the planet. We offer the Happiness Alliance’s Happiness Index and resources for its use in order to measure happiness and facilitate an experiential understanding of what really matters in life. We offer Action for Happiness courses as a way to learn about happiness habits. We offer the master classes and other courses at the GNH Centers in Bhutan, France, Thailand, Germany and a growing number of countries. We offer the GNHUSA model for spreading the concept of GNH among all neighbourhoods and communities. We offer the Happiness Roundtable as a forum for bringing other thought leaders, innovators and activists together for open conversation, debate, collective effort and action.
We call for a grassroots upwelling of transformation at a personal level with conscientiousness to produce systems change. We offer the concept of reconnecting the self with the self through spiritual traditions, reconnecting to each other with the realization we are at once separate individuals and all one, and that by reconnecting to nature we will realise that we are not superior or better than nature, but we are nature.
We call on each of us as individuals to model the changes we call for, with continual openness to learning from each other and without judgement. We offer continued connection to each other and to all our brothers and sisters as well as to the nature and natural systems of this beautiful planet.
This Statement is a collective expression of the First and Second Happiness Roundtable.
It does not represent any one individual or organization.
To chart a more sustainable future we call for a short, accessible definition of happiness for the happiness movement. We offer a definition of happiness as “life satisfaction founded in the balanced development of all facets of life that are essential and inextricably connected to the health and flourishing of each other, other species and mother nature”.
We call for a Common Agenda and we pledge to continue working together to further define and advance this Common Agenda. We offer as a working concept a framework for a Common Agenda that connects individual happiness and systems change in our social, economic, environmental, and personal environments, with the goals of (1) reconnecting to nature and inclusion of accounting and caring for natural systems within which every other system operates including every individual life, and (2) mending and fostering a social fabric that creates the life conditions for happiness and wellbeing through sharing and caring, and (3) the courageous pro-offering of actionable items that individual people and policy makers can provide to mend our planet’s ecosystems and our social fabric to reconnect us to our mother nature. Through individual and collective action, we propose these action items include (a) a fundamental and absolute emphasis in schooling systems to teach emotional intelligence, (b) radical redesign of common space at local levels to reconnect to each other and to nature, (c) multifaceted national and local media campaigns to encourage and reward prosocial, generous and compassionate behaviors to shift our cultures from greed and wealth accumulation to care, (d) a transformation of workplaces to provide incentives centred around intrinsic motivations, and (e) a revolution in healthcare founded in relationships and synergies connecting mental and physical health with life circumstances.
We call for a massive global awareness of the GNH and Beyond GDP agenda through a suite of short videos that link with wider interventions that capture inspirational stories and models for participation and leadership. We see value in promoting viral online petitions to bring about change. We call for a grassroots uprising and non-violent resistance to challenge and reverse economic and political systems that concentrate wealth and power among the few. We offer to work together and invite others to join towards this end.
We call for a diversity of transformation with immediate short-term, here and now individual actions that aim for systems change. Through the Happiness Roundtable we offer the work we are doing as individuals and organisations to provide models and resources to stimulate change and empower others to provide leadership for GNH inspired change. We offer the Happiness Agoras as an opportunity for learning as well as taking leadership in communities and cities around the planet. We offer the Happiness Alliance’s Happiness Index and resources for its use in order to measure happiness and facilitate an experiential understanding of what really matters in life. We offer Action for Happiness courses as a way to learn about happiness habits. We offer the master classes and other courses at the GNH Centers in Bhutan, France, Thailand, Germany and a growing number of countries. We offer the GNHUSA model for spreading the concept of GNH among all neighbourhoods and communities. We offer the Happiness Roundtable as a forum for bringing other thought leaders, innovators and activists together for open conversation, debate, collective effort and action.
We call for a grassroots upwelling of transformation at a personal level with conscientiousness to produce systems change. We offer the concept of reconnecting the self with the self through spiritual traditions, reconnecting to each other with the realization we are at once separate individuals and all one, and that by reconnecting to nature we will realise that we are not superior or better than nature, but we are nature.
We call on each of us as individuals to model the changes we call for, with continual openness to learning from each other and without judgement. We offer continued connection to each other and to all our brothers and sisters as well as to the nature and natural systems of this beautiful planet.
This Statement is a collective expression of the First and Second Happiness Roundtable.
It does not represent any one individual or organization.
Full TExt of the Happiness Roundtable Recommendations for the nexus between Tourism, Wildlife & Wellbeing
We align with a growing body of evidence that recognizes the planet’s climate and natural capital are gravely and irreversibly threatened by economic policies that prioritise wealth accumulation over natural and social systems. We believe Bhutan’s concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and the knowledge of indigenous peoples around the world offer solutions to global and local problems. In this belief we know that generosity, compassion and kindness are as much born to us as competitiveness, greed and hierarchy, and that what we practice directly relates to who we are and the future of life on our planet.
To chart a more sustainable future we call for a short, accessible definition of happiness for the happiness movement. We offer a definition of happiness as “life satisfaction founded in the balanced development of all facets of life that are essential and inextricably connected to the health and flourishing of each other, other species and mother nature”.
We call for a Common Agenda and we pledge to continue working together to further define and advance this Common Agenda. We offer as a working concept a framework for a Common Agenda that connects individual happiness and systems change in our social, economic, environmental, and personal environments, with the goals of (1) reconnecting to nature and inclusion of accounting and caring for natural systems within which every other system operates including every individual life, and (2) mending and fostering a social fabric that creates the life conditions for happiness and wellbeing through sharing and caring, and (3) the courageous pro-offering of actionable items that individual people and policy makers can provide to mend our planet’s ecosystems and our social fabric to reconnect us to our mother nature. Through individual and collective action, we propose these action items include (a) a fundamental and absolute emphasis in schooling systems to teach emotional intelligence, (b) radical redesign of common space at local levels to reconnect to each other and to nature, (c) multifaceted national and local media campaigns to encourage and reward prosocial, generous and compassionate behaviors to shift our cultures from greed and wealth accumulation to care, (d) a transformation of workplaces to provide incentives centred around intrinsic motivations, and (e) a revolution in healthcare founded in relationships and synergies connecting mental and physical health with life circumstances.
We call for a massive global awareness of the GNH and Beyond GDP agenda through a suite of short videos that link with wider interventions that capture inspirational stories and models for participation and leadership. We see value in promoting viral online petitions to bring about change. We call for a grassroots uprising and non-violent resistance to challenge and reverse economic and political systems that concentrate wealth and power among the few. We offer to work together and invite others to join towards this end.
We call for a diversity of transformation with immediate short-term, here and now individual actions that aim for systems change. Through the Happiness Roundtable we offer the work we are doing as individuals and organisations to provide models and resources to stimulate change and empower others to provide leadership for GNH inspired change. We offer the Happiness Agoras as an opportunity for learning as well as taking leadership in communities and cities around the planet. We offer the Happiness Alliance’s Happiness Index and resources for its use in order to measure happiness and facilitate an experiential understanding of what really matters in life. We offer Action for Happiness courses as a way to learn about happiness habits. We offer the master classes and other courses at the GNH Centers in Bhutan, France, Thailand, Germany and a growing number of countries. We offer the GNHUSA model for spreading the concept of GNH among all neighbourhoods and communities. We offer the Happiness Roundtable as a forum for bringing other thought leaders, innovators and activists together for open conversation, debate, collective effort and action.
We call for a grassroots upwelling of transformation at a personal level with conscientiousness to produce systems change. We offer the concept of reconnecting the self with the self through spiritual traditions, reconnecting to each other with the realization we are at once separate individuals and all one, and that by reconnecting to nature we will realise that we are not superior or better than nature, but we are nature.
We call on each of us as individuals to model the changes we call for, with continual openness to learning from each other and without judgement. We offer continued connection to each other and to all our brothers and sisters as well as to the nature and natural systems of this beautiful planet.
This Statement is a collective expression of the First and Second Happiness Roundtable.
It does not represent any one individual or organization.
To chart a more sustainable future we call for a short, accessible definition of happiness for the happiness movement. We offer a definition of happiness as “life satisfaction founded in the balanced development of all facets of life that are essential and inextricably connected to the health and flourishing of each other, other species and mother nature”.
We call for a Common Agenda and we pledge to continue working together to further define and advance this Common Agenda. We offer as a working concept a framework for a Common Agenda that connects individual happiness and systems change in our social, economic, environmental, and personal environments, with the goals of (1) reconnecting to nature and inclusion of accounting and caring for natural systems within which every other system operates including every individual life, and (2) mending and fostering a social fabric that creates the life conditions for happiness and wellbeing through sharing and caring, and (3) the courageous pro-offering of actionable items that individual people and policy makers can provide to mend our planet’s ecosystems and our social fabric to reconnect us to our mother nature. Through individual and collective action, we propose these action items include (a) a fundamental and absolute emphasis in schooling systems to teach emotional intelligence, (b) radical redesign of common space at local levels to reconnect to each other and to nature, (c) multifaceted national and local media campaigns to encourage and reward prosocial, generous and compassionate behaviors to shift our cultures from greed and wealth accumulation to care, (d) a transformation of workplaces to provide incentives centred around intrinsic motivations, and (e) a revolution in healthcare founded in relationships and synergies connecting mental and physical health with life circumstances.
We call for a massive global awareness of the GNH and Beyond GDP agenda through a suite of short videos that link with wider interventions that capture inspirational stories and models for participation and leadership. We see value in promoting viral online petitions to bring about change. We call for a grassroots uprising and non-violent resistance to challenge and reverse economic and political systems that concentrate wealth and power among the few. We offer to work together and invite others to join towards this end.
We call for a diversity of transformation with immediate short-term, here and now individual actions that aim for systems change. Through the Happiness Roundtable we offer the work we are doing as individuals and organisations to provide models and resources to stimulate change and empower others to provide leadership for GNH inspired change. We offer the Happiness Agoras as an opportunity for learning as well as taking leadership in communities and cities around the planet. We offer the Happiness Alliance’s Happiness Index and resources for its use in order to measure happiness and facilitate an experiential understanding of what really matters in life. We offer Action for Happiness courses as a way to learn about happiness habits. We offer the master classes and other courses at the GNH Centers in Bhutan, France, Thailand, Germany and a growing number of countries. We offer the GNHUSA model for spreading the concept of GNH among all neighbourhoods and communities. We offer the Happiness Roundtable as a forum for bringing other thought leaders, innovators and activists together for open conversation, debate, collective effort and action.
We call for a grassroots upwelling of transformation at a personal level with conscientiousness to produce systems change. We offer the concept of reconnecting the self with the self through spiritual traditions, reconnecting to each other with the realization we are at once separate individuals and all one, and that by reconnecting to nature we will realise that we are not superior or better than nature, but we are nature.
We call on each of us as individuals to model the changes we call for, with continual openness to learning from each other and without judgement. We offer continued connection to each other and to all our brothers and sisters as well as to the nature and natural systems of this beautiful planet.
This Statement is a collective expression of the First and Second Happiness Roundtable.
It does not represent any one individual or organization.
Full text of the Happiness Roundtable Recommendations for AI & The Happiness Movement
Grassroots leaders in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Happiness & Well-being movement convened for the Happiness Roundtable on December 28 of 2020. The following recommendations emerged from their visions and conversation.
We recognize that the fourth industrial revolution is underway today in which AI is playing a growing role fundamentally shaping our lives, communities, work, governments, nations and ecosystems - now and in the future. We recognize that owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, our reliance on technology and AI in work, families, community, government and so many aspects of our lives has broadened and deepened, and we expect this relationship to accelerate and become yet broader and deeper over time. We call for this fourth industrial revolution to be characterized by the prioritization of the well-being of all beings – humans, nonhumans and nature – in every aspect of AI, from ideation to implementation, for all uses and in all structures in which AI permeates.
We are deeply concerned that AI based on current dominant business, governance and societal values and metrics may result in ever deeper and more damaging social injustice, economic inequality and ecological decimation, culminating in the collapse of systems that support human civilization and all forms of life. We recognize the good sense of Einstein’s statement that “we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” We call for imagination, visioning, deep questioning, iterative examination and reflection for all aspects of AI by all - from AI industry practitioners to academics, researchers, artists, policy-makers, investigative journalists and the public. We call for all actors to embrace openness and transparency, with the aim of learning from AI successes and mistakes. We call for modeling and scenario planning to examine AI’s intended and unintended impacts on our well-being, and ensure data and information management is geared towards strengthening our well-being, inclusive of planetary well-being.
We recognize that values – at the individual, organizational and societal levels - drive all decisions and actions. We recognize values are embedded in AI. We recognize that the metrics that are used to measure success have a direct impact not only on actions at all levels, but also on the values of people, business, government and other institutions. We call for the use of well-being metrics in the creation and use of AI – starting today with recommender systems as well as budgeting and other decision systems – as we learn, develop and integrate well-being metrics for AI into AI systems and the structures that deliver AI. We call upon these systems to expand their metrics beyond human concerns to those of entire ecosystems. We call for a dynamic learning and adaptive approach to our understanding of well-being and to the identification and use of well-being metrics for AI. We further call for deep questioning and contemplation about how values influence and are influenced by the structure of AI systems, and the structure of the socio-technical context within which AI is delivered.
We recognize the fundamental significance that data play in AI and society. We recognize that foundational to healthy, equitable and functioning societies and nations, is access to information and equal bargaining power. We call for level playing fields at the local, national and global levels whereby: (1) personal data is protected; (2) people have unassailable rights concerning the use or sale of their data; (3) explainability of AI systems and transparency in its use to be the norm; (4) people are able to make meaningful decisions about how AI impacts their lives and well-being; (5) environmental impacts are calculated and (6) personal data-protection is in place, and data and information are accessible and publicly available.
We recognize that the fourth industrial revolution is underway today in which AI is playing a growing role fundamentally shaping our lives, communities, work, governments, nations and ecosystems - now and in the future. We recognize that owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, our reliance on technology and AI in work, families, community, government and so many aspects of our lives has broadened and deepened, and we expect this relationship to accelerate and become yet broader and deeper over time. We call for this fourth industrial revolution to be characterized by the prioritization of the well-being of all beings – humans, nonhumans and nature – in every aspect of AI, from ideation to implementation, for all uses and in all structures in which AI permeates.
We are deeply concerned that AI based on current dominant business, governance and societal values and metrics may result in ever deeper and more damaging social injustice, economic inequality and ecological decimation, culminating in the collapse of systems that support human civilization and all forms of life. We recognize the good sense of Einstein’s statement that “we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” We call for imagination, visioning, deep questioning, iterative examination and reflection for all aspects of AI by all - from AI industry practitioners to academics, researchers, artists, policy-makers, investigative journalists and the public. We call for all actors to embrace openness and transparency, with the aim of learning from AI successes and mistakes. We call for modeling and scenario planning to examine AI’s intended and unintended impacts on our well-being, and ensure data and information management is geared towards strengthening our well-being, inclusive of planetary well-being.
We recognize that values – at the individual, organizational and societal levels - drive all decisions and actions. We recognize values are embedded in AI. We recognize that the metrics that are used to measure success have a direct impact not only on actions at all levels, but also on the values of people, business, government and other institutions. We call for the use of well-being metrics in the creation and use of AI – starting today with recommender systems as well as budgeting and other decision systems – as we learn, develop and integrate well-being metrics for AI into AI systems and the structures that deliver AI. We call upon these systems to expand their metrics beyond human concerns to those of entire ecosystems. We call for a dynamic learning and adaptive approach to our understanding of well-being and to the identification and use of well-being metrics for AI. We further call for deep questioning and contemplation about how values influence and are influenced by the structure of AI systems, and the structure of the socio-technical context within which AI is delivered.
We recognize the fundamental significance that data play in AI and society. We recognize that foundational to healthy, equitable and functioning societies and nations, is access to information and equal bargaining power. We call for level playing fields at the local, national and global levels whereby: (1) personal data is protected; (2) people have unassailable rights concerning the use or sale of their data; (3) explainability of AI systems and transparency in its use to be the norm; (4) people are able to make meaningful decisions about how AI impacts their lives and well-being; (5) environmental impacts are calculated and (6) personal data-protection is in place, and data and information are accessible and publicly available.
Happiness Roundtable Recommendations
Recommendations for the Happiness Movement
happinessroundtableroundonerecommendations.pdf | |
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Recommendations for the Nexus between Wellbeing, Tourism & Wildlife
happinessroundtablerecommendations2020.pdf | |
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Recommendations for Artificial Intelligence and Wellbeing
happiness_roundtable_2020_ai___wellbeing_recommendations.pdf | |
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