When It Comes To Thinking About Sustainability, Vermonters Aren’t Like the Rest of Us

A friend and I were talking about one of the key progenitors of the sustainability movement, Donella Meadows (pictured here), and the legacy she left us, perhaps the most tangible is the Donella Meadows Institute.  Here a radio show on which Linda Wheatly, Director of the Vermont Leadership Institute, and contributor to the Institute, discusses the imperative to identify what matters most to us, and to create a world in which the amount of that – whatever it is – is maximized.

The point, obviously, is that we tend to measure GDP and implement whatever public policies will grow that figure.  We’re told that we’re failing if our economy isn’t cranking out more stuff — even if it’s more F-22s and Hellfire Missiles.  We do all this even though it’s clear that more stuff – even benign stuff like corn chips and cell phones – doesn’t make us more happy.

Vermont is the only state in the union that has legislated the use of an expanded set of measures in policy-making. The Genuine Progress indicator, or GPI, focuses on aspects of distribution, well-being, and sustainability, which are critical for the state’s prosperity but poorly reflected in conventional measures of growth.

My hat’s off to the people of Vermont.  They think differently – and that’s more than OK with me.