Our Story

In November 2008, 66 international guests attended the fourth International Gross National Happiness Conference in Thimphu, Bhutan. Six attendees were from Vermont. We decided the time was ripe to import GNH concepts to the U.S., starting with our small but progressive New England home state.

attendeesIn the spring of 2009, the Gross National Happiness American Project was born. The concept of Gross National Happiness dates back to the birth of the United States when the framers of the Declaration of Independence guaranteed the American people a government that protects our “inalienable Rights,” among which are “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Very recently, the new government of the world’s youngest Democracy, Bhutan, adopted its first constitution. This enlightened document echoes our own Declaration of Independence by pledging to “secure the blessings of liberty, to ensure justice and tranquility and to enhance the unity, happiness and well being of the people for all time…”

Bhutan has taken it a step further. In 1972, the fourth King of Bhutan, HM Jigme Singye Wangchuck declared, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product.” Since then, Bhutan has been developing the practice of using well-being indicators to guide national development. In 2008, the current King proclaimed that fulfilling the vision of GNH will be one of the four main responsibilities of his reign. Bhutan also held their first elections. At the request of the King, the Centre for Bhutan Studies developed the Gross National Happiness index to reflect Bhutanese values, set benchmarks, and track development policies and performance of the country. (www.grossnationalhappiness.com)

How do we finally move toward the Founding Father’s vision of everyone’s right to “the pursuit of happiness?” We believe the time is ripe to adopt American versions of GNH as the paradigm for defining, tracking and supporting those policies which truly support our national well-being. That is the step we need to take in the United States.

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Where we are today and where we are going

12/17/09

Because GNH is a fairly new concept in the west, our work will focus initially on raising awareness, gathering information and connecting people who are interested in the movement.

We are preparing for “GNH 2010: Changing What We Measure from Wealth to Well-Being,” a Vermont conference that will kick off a national GNH movement. The conference will be held June 1-4, 2010, in Burlington, Vermont on Lake Champlain. We have invited a team of international GNH experts from Bhutan, Brazil, Thailand, U.K. and Canada to guide our work. We have invited speakers, from Vermont and nationally, whose work has been aligned with GNH principles. While our guests will bring experience and expertise, conference participants will provide the local context and a sense of place to the implementation of GNH here in Vermont.

While the GNH 2010 Conference is a big part of what we are building, we are also developing a “GNH Crash Course,” a ten-minute video and curriculm about GNH that can be used in classrooms, board rooms, town meetings and just about anywhere. In addition, we are hosting informational sessions about GNH around Vermont, and Day 4 of the June conference will be a “GNH Ambassador Training,” designed to develop the cadre of knowledgeable and enthusiastic people who can share the wisdom and value of changing our goals to better reflect our wider interests.

GNHUSA is investigating how to involve Vermonters in adapting surveys of well-being and developing a set of indicators, based on best practices that can be used to guide our transition to a healthy, happy and sustainable future. With partners such as the Vermont Peace Academy, the Vermont Peace & Justice Center and The Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, other academic institutions, non-governmental organizations and government at all levels, we will collaboratively develop statewide surveys and assist in incorporating GNH in curricula. We will widen the discussion on goals, and how measuring goal attainment can help us to increase our personal and social happiness and better manage our environment and our economy for sustainability.

As a planet we face leadership challenges unlike any previously experienced. Our excessive focus on wealth, measured by GDP is leading all of us and indeed our planet straight over a cliff. Failure to confront the environmental challenges for water, energy and climate change risks ending life as we have known it. However, Americans are optimistic and scrappy. We are entrepreneurial and inspired to solve problems. Reflection and discussion about values, true happiness and sustainability is already occurring at all levels of society. It is time for us to move together toward shared and lofty goals –to roll up our sleeves and get to work together to define and achieve a future rich with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We invite you to join us on the journey. There is much work to be done and we invite your participation. Sign up to receive monthly updates on GNHUSA activities. Keep checking this website and our Facebook group for opportunities to help develop GNH practices and policy and to see what is happening in Vermont, across the nation and around the planet.

The Gross National Happiness America Project, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed in spring 2009.