Media Clipping — June, 2002, Northern Sky News

Putting the economy in its place: Redefining progress in Atlantic Canada

By Sara Nics

When you think about your well-being, the national gross domestic product is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. But politicians, industry and the mainstream media regularly use the GDP, and other measures of economic activity, to indicate social progress. Ron Colman says we value what we measure. So in 1997 he founded Genuine Progress Index Atlantic, a non-profit research group in Nova Scotia, to develop a more holistic measure of progress. By next year, Colman hopes to be able to paint a picture of Nova Scotia's progress that places economic activity alongside the environmental and social factors that shape community and well-being. Last month, Colman and I met in a Buddhist community center in Tantallon, Nova Scotia. Sitting with his arm thrown over the back of the couch, glancing out at the spring woods beyond the open window, Colman's eyes grew wider when he talked about how the GPI can help create a better world.

Q: What's the basic principle behind the Genuine Progress Index?
A: The idea of all these indicators is to give us a better sense of how we are doing as a society. Our current measures of progress send the wrong message to everyone. If the economy is growing, we say we are better off. That's nonsense because anything can make the economy grow: crime, pollution, sickness, so long as you are spending money. The economic growth statistics just don't tell us the whole story.

We have 22 components in the Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index. We have natural resource accounts for fisheries, soils, forests, water, non-renewable resources. We've got some environmental quality components - greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable transportation, air quality, solid waste, ecological footprint. We've got some social indicators like measures of health, educational attainment, cost of crime and so on.

You can't necessarily measure these things directly, so we look at a whole series of indicators related to each. Some indicators might show an improvement or decline. There's not a bottom line, we just present all the information.

Q: In your work you're quantifying the value of natural resources. How is that possible?
A: A lot of this is common sense. We say, "What functions do these natural resources perform? What do they do?"

Well, a forest does a lot of things. It provides timber. Right now that's the only thing we measure. Forests do other things aside from provide timber. They protect watersheds. They regulate the climate. They sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Forests protect habitat and biodiversity for many species. Forests protect the quality of soil, which, in the long run, will affect timber productivity. In the long run. But our economic growth measures are very short term. Whenever we can we try to put a dollar value on the natural functions.

So how do you value a natural resource? You actually measure the capacity of the forest to perform its functions effectively.

Q: But we don't really understand how the biosphere works as a whole...
A: We have a lot of "indicators," right? Well, an indicator is exactly that. It's not the real thing. All an indicator does is point toward something which is ultimately not measurable.

Q: How do you see the GPI is going to affect public policy?
A: Well, if your teacher tells you this term paper is really important and it's worth one percent of your grade, no one's going to pay any attention. If they tell you it's worth 50 per cent of your grade, you'll pay a lot of attention.

You know, the GDP goes up a little, down a little, everyone is doing stuff, they have all these solutions. We should get the same adrenaline rush if our greenhouse gas emissions are up. If we're not counting these things then policy-makers won't pay attention and they won't have the kind of initiatives we need to create a better world.

It has to do with bringing out the values that people already have but that are kind of suppressed. They are kind of buried by materialism. People have to be encouraged to allow these values to take their proper place alongside "stuff."

I think it's tempting to blame government and blame industry, as if they are responsible for all of our problems. But we're equally responsible. Individuals and households are also completely confused by thinking "more is better."

Q: How did you start doing this work?
A: I was teaching at Saint Mary's University [in Halifax] and I used to assign projects around this indicator work. Then I realized, it doesn't have to be academic, I might as well just do it for real.

The term GPI was first used by three economists in California but that itself was based on an earlier index. This type of work started in the early 1970s but they couldn't construct an index then because they didn't have the numbers to do it. So those early pioneers started with the measurement and they gave us the data that now allows us to do this.

Q: What keeps you doing this work-makes you passionate for it?
A: The power of this particular tool is that it's a language everyone can understand. It makes sense to people. It's not ideological, it's not political. Of the many things around, I can see this really getting into the system, infiltrating it.

Another part of it is to do with the Maritimes. I have a lot of faith in this particular region. I think we could create a good, decent human society here which could be a beacon for a troubled world. We could actually show people, in practice, how to create a better life. That could be our export item.

Copyright © 2002, Northern Sky News

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