Posted on 07/04/2009 1:47:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Costa Rica tops the "Happy Planet Index," a ranking of ecological efficiency among the world's nations, survey officials say.
Costa Ricans reported the highest life satisfaction and have an average life expectancy second only to Canada, said a release from the New Economics Foundation, a British think tank that promotes ecology and sustainable economics.
Nine of the 10 highest-scoring nations were in Latin America, with the United States reportedly "greener and happier" 20 years ago than it is today.
Of the 143 nations surveyed for the Happy Planet Index, the United States ranked 114.
While ecological progress is being made, residents in most countries are far from achieving healthy lives within the Earth's finite resources, said Nic Marks, a foundation spokesman.
"Following the siren's song of economic growth has delivered only marginal benefits to the world's poorest while undermining the basis of their livelihoods," Marks said. "What's more, it hasn't notably improved the well-being of those who were already rich, or even provided economic stability."
This survey, of course, operates under the assumption that living like a third worlder in squalor, disease, and filth with no running water, electricity, or other signs of industry and energy usage is “happier.”
I would beg to differ.
Sounds like the Happy Planet pollsters were smoking some Happy Herbs :)
It’s Left Wing run enclaves in the US such as NYC, LA, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and DC that are dragging the US down in the ‘Happy Planet Index’.
Wait until we invade Honduras to install an autocrat into power, anyone remember Haiti??
This happy planet index sounds like such liberal clap trap.
The US is ranked 114 out of 143 countries. I wonder what all the criteria are. We have among the highest standards of living in the world, combined with a very clean environment, compared to some countries. Our citizens have clean running water and a clean environment. Exactly what are the criteria? This sounds like clap trap.
Economic growth hasn’t filtered down to the poorest countries? That’s what has this guy’s panties in a twist? Then does he concede that economic growth has led to better healthier lives for most people in the world?????
Eating dirt and wiping your butt with leaves... What happens when the river is clogged up with used leaves? There is no ‘natural’ earth state. It is constantly changing. Any attempt to make it remain static will fail. I love the earth and nature more than any hippie I’ve ever met. We are part of it IMO. We humans should be promoted, not inanimate rocks, varoius toads, and fungi.
I was just in Costa Rica.
It is a colossal “turd world” dump. The infrastructure is astonishingly nightmarish. The crime rate (Nicaraguans) is off the scale. Ever little rat hole shanty has iron gates over ever window $ door. The wretched capital city of San Jose smells of feces. etc. etc. etc.
If I was a Costa Rican, I would be so out of there ASAP. I would be HAPPY to stand in the cold in front of Home Depot looking for work.
I have to say that it was amusing sitting in the airport as I was waiting to leave Costa Rica last summer: the hippie American tourists pouring in just stuck out like, well, like hippie American tourists. Many had on their matching t-shirts from whatever eco-organization they were representing, and seemed to have this air about them that they were just gracing the country with their presence. They were going to be do-gooders, dang it, and tell those dumb, indigent natives how they were supposed to take care of their own rainforests, whether the people wanted to hear it or not. It tickled me to think that so many of the Costa Ricans apppeared not to give a crap about their environment. And why should they worry about it, after all; they know that the American leftie whackos will swoop in and clean up everything!
Costa Rica is a major league fishing destination and the fishing is excellent there. But, they are letting a few commercial interests basically rape what we sport fishermen pay millions every year to catch,it is a shame. They could set an example for all of Central America and stop the netting and over fishing of billfish, tuna and the rest but they don’t. A few greedy officials taking bribes are screwing everyone else.
“Dividing this by the world’s total population, we can calculate a global per capita figure on the basis that everyone is entitled to the same amount of the planet’s natural resources.” From the report. Should confirm your assessment that this is liberal clap trap.
Essentially, they asked if the people were happy. Then they calculated how much of the earth’s resources were used to buy this happiness. In effect, you could be quite unhappy with your life but if you used few resources, you could rate higher than someone who was happier but at a greater cost.
FYI. The authors reject economic growth in the third world as the path to bettering their lives saying that using more resources to imitate the first world is unrealistic since there aren’t enough resources to do that.
America is much greener than it was 20 years ago, and produces less carbon dioxide, than it did eight years ago, gaining far more $ per CO2 than ever. All forms of pollution are way, way, way down, as we’ve gotten rid of lead in our gasoline, sulfur emissions, chloroflourocarbons, etc.
Bunk!
I will be in Costa Rica come late September, but will not be in the big cities. Taking a coffee and river tour.
Are you trying to make me jealous?! It’s working! :) You will have a great time. Whenever anyone in my family goes (my brother leads a mission trip there every year), he or she is REQUIRED to bring the rest of us bags and bags of coffee, practically enough to last us until the next person’s visit. There is a really good variety.
I haven’t been to the coast yet, but am aiming to get there one of these days. I hope you love your trip!!
We had wet feet & shoes for most of a week. Just no way to get them dry.
Our leisurely river float trip turned out to be a rain swollen river with class 3 rapids. Nothing leisurely about it.
The roads are a nightmare. Seemingly well paved roads have the occasional board sticking out of them, marking a huge pothole. Most rural bridges are single lane, forcing a queue of vehicles at either end. It's a great opportunity for croc watching. We went to a restaurant down a 2 mile unpaved road. It was so bumpy the small car seemed to bounce around like a basketball.
The CR countryside is certainly beautiful - a garden show wherever you look. But the poverty is obvious.
The downside of the national parks, which are beautiful and preserving some excellent habitat (and attracting tourists!), is that they took the land from local farmers and paid them no compensation (they promised it, but Costa Rica hasn't got the money to pay them).
My daughter is very fluent in Spanish, so she was one of the students assigned to interview the locals. Needless to say many of them were VERY unhappy. She nodded and said whatever the Spanish equivalent of "uh-huh" is a lot.
EVERY day. Around 3 p.m. to be precise.
And daughter was in one of the DRIER regions.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.