Thirty years ago, the fourth king of Bhutan famously proclaimed
that “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross
National Product,” setting the country on a development path
that seeks to integrate sustainable and equitable socioeconomic
development with environmental conservation, cultural promotion,
and good governance. This “happiness” has nothing to do with the
common use of that word to denote an ephemeral, passing
mood—happy today or unhappy tomorrow due to some temporary
external condition like praise or blame, gain or loss. Rather,
it refers to the deep, abiding happiness that comes from living
life in full harmony with the natural world, with our
communities and fellow beings, and with our culture and
spiritual heritage—in short, from feeling totally connected with
our world. And yet our modern world, and particularly its
economic system, promotes precisely the reverse—a profound sense
of alienation from the natural world and from each other.
Cherishing self-interest and material gain, we