Sponsors

              P.C. Morrell Family Foundation
National Life Insurance Company – Peace & Justice Center – Vermont Community Foundation
Winooski Hydro – VCAM – RETN - Channel 17/Town Meeting Television 

GNH 2010: Changing What We Measure from Wealth to Well-Being

                                  2010 GNH Conference in Burlington Vermont

                                       

Conference June 1 – 3, 2010  — GnH Ambassador Training June 4, 2010
Champlain College
Burlington, Vermont

As Einstein is famously quoted, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

We have just completed this exciting, ground breaking conference designed to kick-off the Gross National Happiness movement in the United States. The conference provided inspirational speakers, the latest in GNH research, introductions to GNH concepts, practical steps for implementation in Vermont, and action-oriented workshops. GNH 2010 brought together representatives from various academic, citizen, business, environmental and service organizations. The practice of GNH involves making explicit our shared visions of the future,  designing meaningful psychological, social and economic indicators that will tell us whether or not we are making real progress toward those goals and then to use these measures to frame our budgetary and social policy discussions. We believe that everyone has an inate interest in the pursuit of happiness and we will focus on how to use GNH tools to increase happiness and well-being for all.  This re-framing of our common purpose will help us make critical decisions about sustainability, maintaining what we love about our place in Vermont, and achieve increasing levels of well-being and happiness.

Acknowledging Vermont’s consistent leadership in progressive social change – GNH 2010 builds on our common values and  future visions, learning how best to measure these goals and progress toward them by applying GNH design to our Vermont setting.  Over the course of three days…we designed a Vermont-scale GNH laboratory;  learned from other countries that are already using or implementing GNH and listened to local Vermont efforts to develop progress indicators which will provide strong context for our efforts. The conference introduced us all to increased understanding of the use of economic and social indicators for well-being in Vermont and other places and creates the opportunity to take the first steps to implementation in our businesses, towns and state and local governments.  The conference was also the kick-off for GNHUSA, the national movement to spread the understanding of GNH and encourage utilization of GNH concepts across the USA and we had representatives from Seattle, WA; Santa Cruz, CA; Jackson Hole, WY; and New Mexico as well as attendees from South Africa, Bangladesh, Singapore, Brazil, Denmark, Bhutan, and Canada. Following our Conference, Karma Tshiteem, Secretary of the Gross National Happiness Commission in Bhutan presented GNH to an Environmental Fair, to the EPA and members of the Seattle City Council and then flew off for presentations in Santa Cruz. GNHUSA is launched!  Friday was a special focused training for GNH Ambassadors — those interested in learning to lead discussions and explain GNH to organizations had a fun day of intensive workshops on how to share and spread GNH concepts. The day was a mix of learning about basic GNH ideas and practice in speaking about and discussing these ideas with others.

As part of the lead-up to the Conference, short introductory courses on GNH have been offered around Vermont and will continue to be offered throughout 2010. Check this site or look on Facebook for the Gross National Happiness American Project for news and information and to partcipate.

One of the first projects for GNHUSA is a speakers bureau.  If you would like to organize a talk on GNH in your community please contact us and we can help.

We have put up many of the speaker’s presentations and the videos from the first day with Karma Tshiteem’s Keynote and the International Panel which are being shown on the Burlington, VT cable and are available on the web on our Conference Video Page.  Day 2 and Day 3 videos will be available soon. Keep checking the website for new information. The Conference organizing committee is looking at all the feedback we received and ideas for moving GNHUSA forward and we will report back to you on the best ideas and encourage deep participation in helping these ideas spread quickly throughout the land.

We enjoyed a variety of presentations from researchers: We thank them for their interesting contributions and we look forward to hearing more from them in the future. We will post papers or powerpoints as available. We had more requests to present than we could accommodate and had to select a few speakers for the available time.

Check back for more information on:
How you can help

Contact us to let us know of your interest. We are looking for volunteers to work on teams as we move forward with GNH ideas in Vermont, in education and around the country.