Measurement
Measurement is about having a road map for success. It is not enough to want to change to a sustainable society. We have to know where we are going. We have to know the things that are good and the things we want changed. A lot of work has been done on measuring our society. Currently the government uses and indicator called the GDP or Gross Domestic Product. The way this indicator works is that it totals up all the money spent in society and if the amount goes up we say that it is good and if the amount goes down we say that is bad.
So if we spend a lot of money on pollution clean up then the GDP goes up and the conservative government says they are doing a good job. In Alberta we have a lot of money passing through the province but it is not going into the hands of the people. GDP is up but our quality of life is not. The GDP represents profit over people.
There are other indicators like the GPI or Genuine Progress Indicator. The GPI measures the economic, social and environmental factors in society. Good things like money in your pocket and untouched wilderness are considered positive and poverty or pollution clean-up are considered negative. The Pembina institute has done a GPI indicator that can be found at Sustainability Trends. If we look at this indicator we can see that Alberta has been getting progressively worse since about 1980.
The Conservative government has managed to pay off the economic debt at the expense of increased social and environmental costs. We have eliminated one debt and created 2 more. This is not real progress.
We need to turn this around. The Green party would put into place a GPI indicator. This would allow us to determine if things are actually getting better. The GPI represents people over profit.
Measurement is about having a road map for success. It is not enough to want to change to a sustainable society. We have to know where we are going. We have to know the things that are good and the things we want changed. A lot of work has been done on measuring our society. Currently the government uses and indicator called the GDP or Gross Domestic Product. The way this indicator works is that it totals up all the money spent in society and if the amount goes up we say that it is good and if the amount goes down we say that is bad.
So if we spend a lot of money on pollution clean up then the GDP goes up and the conservative government says they are doing a good job. In Alberta we have a lot of money passing through the province but it is not going into the hands of the people. GDP is up but our quality of life is not. The GDP represents profit over people.
There are other indicators like the GPI or Genuine Progress Indicator. The GPI measures the economic, social and environmental factors in society. Good things like money in your pocket and untouched wilderness are considered positive and poverty or pollution clean-up are considered negative. The Pembina institute has done a GPI indicator that can be found at Sustainability Trends. If we look at this indicator we can see that Alberta has been getting progressively worse since about 1980.
The Conservative government has managed to pay off the economic debt at the expense of increased social and environmental costs. We have eliminated one debt and created 2 more. This is not real progress.
We need to turn this around. The Green party would put into place a GPI indicator. This would allow us to determine if things are actually getting better. The GPI represents people over profit.
posted by George Read @ 7:49 PM
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