Post on 10-Apr-2017
Does Economic Exploitation Of Nature Compromise The
Community’s Happiness and Well-being?
Samyak ShamiBillabong High International School,
Bhopal, IndiaSubject code: 9766
Candidate Number: 0005Centre Number: IN902
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Happiness and GDP
The Economist, Feb 24th 2012
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Life Expectancy 2012: (years)
US Germany Switzerland World China Brazil India Bhutan0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
81.283.3 84.9
72.976.5 77.3
68.0 68.2
76.478.6
80.6
68.7
73.969.1
64.567.6
FemaleMale
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Mortality under 5 years age: 2013 (per 1,000 births)
US Germany Switzerland World China Brazil India Bhutan0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
7.14.0 4.3
47.2
13.6 14.5
55.0
38.0
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Happiness and economic growth
“Large, fast-growing emerging markets do not share rich industrialised countries' pessimism.”
“A tenet of political science is that happiness levels rise with wealth and then plateau, usually when a country's national income per head reaches around $25,000 a year. “The richer a country gets,” argued Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in “The Spirit Level”, an influential book of 2009, “the less getting still richer adds to the population's happiness.” ”
The Economist, Measures of well-being Chilled out, Feb 25th 2012
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Document 6 ‘Taking happiness seriously’
“Happiness seems far too subjective, too vague, to serve as a touchstone for a nation’s goals, much less its policy content……the evidence is changing this view rapidly.”
……. Jeffrey Sachs, The World Happiness Report, 2012
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Level and Decomposition of Happiness by Regions: 2010-12
World Happiness Report: 2013
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Sustainable Equilibrium
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Question
Does Economic Exploitation Of Nature Compromise The Community’s Happiness and
Well-being?
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Biodiversity and Wilderness
“We need to invest much more in raising awareness of the inherent value of forests, and biodiversity in general, particularly through its contribution to our cultural and psychological well being.”
Jaboury Ghazoul, Mongabay, 8th Sept 2009
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Electric Power Consumption: 2011 (kWh per capita)
US Germany Switzerland World China Brazil India0.0
2,000.0
4,000.0
6,000.0
8,000.0
10,000.0
12,000.0
14,000.013,246.3
7,081.07,928.3
3,045.0 3,298.0
2,438.0
684.1
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CO2 Emissions: 2010 (metric tons per capita)
US Germany Switzerland World China Brazil India Bhutan0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
20.0
17.6
9.1
5.0 4.9
6.2
2.21.7
0.7
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Carbon markets
Source: The Economist, Carbon Markets: Complete Disaster in the Making, Sept 5th 2012
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What should we strive for
“If (resources) can be extracted without reducing the services those wildernesses provide,…. there is no further reason not to do so. Being untouched is not, in itself, an attribute worth valuing above all others.”
Oliver Morton, The Economist, October 2011
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Conclusion Richer countries are happier. Resources should be extracted in a responsible
and sustainable manner.
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Thank YouSamyak Shami
Billabong High International School,Bhopal, India