“ Economists do it. Accountants do it. The tax man does it. But when they do it, they all measure results in different ways. Most financial and economic measurements are concerned with indicators such as the Gross Domestic Product, farm cash receipts, net margins, capital assets and so on. They are vital tools for measuring the health of economies, farm operations and other financial activities. ¶ No matter how useful these tools, however, they fail to measure other critical assets which are vital to the sustainability of societies. What is measured is usually a sign of what is valued by a society. If critical social and ecological assets are not counted and valued in a measure of progress, they will not receive sufficient attention from policy makers and industry participants. ”
September 22, 2003, News@UNB, Saint John ~ Gina Wilkins
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Renowned sustainable development thinker Ron Colman will give a presentation at the University of New Brunswick Saint John next week that will address some of the other assets, besides money, that should be measured in order to get a real sense of progress in society. Mr. Colman is founder and executive officer of GPI Atlantic, a non-profit research group that is constructing an index of sustainable development and well-being for Nova Scotia as a pilot project for Canada.
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The Nova Scotia Ecological Footprint reveals that the area required to sustain Nova Scotia resource use and waste production is 8.1 hectares per person. This corresponds to the size of 20 football fields put together or three city blocks per person. In other words, Nova Scotians require 7.6 million hectares of land to support their consumption levels - almost one and a half times larger than the geographical area of the entire province. Nova Scotia's ecological footprint of 8.1 hectares/capita is 5% larger than the Canadian ecological footprint of 7.7 hectares/capita.
”
June 2003, Gage Learning Corporation
Canada's History: Voices and Visions
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A description of GPI Atlantic and the GPI, plus sections from the GPI Ecological Footprint and Forest reports, occupy two pages in this new high school textbook, Chapter 11: Future Issues and Challenges in the Canadian Economy (pages 136-137).
May 15, 2003, The New Zealand Herald ~ Simon Collins
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Nineteen years after bringing down the Muldoon Government, former MP Marilyn Waring has become a big name in Canada through her work on a new measure of wellbeing.
¶
Dr Waring, now an associate professor of public policy at Massey University, Albany, drew a crowd of 1800 last time she was in the Nova Scotia capital of Halifax, the base of an institute which promotes the "global progress index" (GPI).
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OTTAWA—A federal advisory panel wants Canada to become the first country to adopt a new way of measuring overall economic development and prosperity.
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The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) plans to release its proposal on Monday. CBC obtained a copy of the report on the weekend.
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Instead of relying solely on standard indicators, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the group is suggesting six new numbers be added to the mix.
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These include measurements of: forest cover; freshwater; greenhouse gas emissions; wetlands; and workforce education.
”
March 12, 2003, The Halifax Herald
Sick days cost N.S. $100 million
Feb. 11, 2003, The Halifax Herald
What are they smoking?
January. 28, 2003, The Halifax Herald
Keeping it simple; Choosing healthy foods easier with new labels
Monday, January 27, 2003, The Halifax Herald ~ Danny Graham
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Smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition cost the health care system $500 million per year. That's enough money to make university education completely free, pay for the health-care costs of seniors in nursing homes, twin 50 kilometres of highway, pay the salaries of 100 nurse practitioners, and still have enough left over for a 10 per cent personal tax cut.
”
Jan. 23, 2003, The Halifax Herald
Editorial: Sustainable Forestry
Wednesday, January 22, 2003, The Halifax Herald ~ Jane Farquharson
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Over the past few months, I have heard comments from government officials indicating that fundamentally, health is the responsibility of the individual. However, in my two-plus decades working in the field of health promotion in this province, I have never believed that Nova Scotians have among the highest rates of illness and disease in Canada because they do not feel responsible for their own health. While I acknowledge that everyone has a role to play in creating a healthy society, government has the primary responsibility and mandate to introduce and implement policy and legislation that supports and encourages the health of the population.
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GPI agriculture reports put a high value on diversity, both domestic and natural “ Nova Scotia needs greater integration of ruminant livestock production with row crop farming. That's the common thread linking two reports released this September by the non-profit research group GPI Atlantic. ”
GPIAtlantic
535 Indian Point Road
Glen Haven, NS
Canada B3Z 2T5
Phone: (902) 489-2524
Fax: (902) 826-7088 info@gpiatlantic.org
