The Second Annual Conference on Gross National Happiness The Second International Conference on Gross National Happiness
RETHINKING DEVELOPMENT
Local Pathways to Global Wellbeing
St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
June 20 to June 24, 2005
  Overview :: Presenters :: Proceedings :: Papers :: Outcomes :: Home
  Conference Presenters

 
Ray Anderson Ray Anderson is the founder and Chairman of Interface Inc, one of the world's largest commercial interior furnishings companies, with sales in 110 countries and manufacturing facilities on four continents. He is author of Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise. Recently featured in the film "The Corporation," Ray Anderson has vowed to eliminate waste at Interface and make his company completely sustainable. Fortune magazine named Interface one of America's "100 Best Companies to Work For." Keynote:
On Responsibility in the Private Sector
Wednesday, 10:30 am

Powerpoint (622K)
 
  Richard V. Anthony has spent more than 30 years in resource recovery and management and is the principal for Richard Anthony Associates, a firm that helps businesses and communities plan for zero waste. He is also a director of the California Resource Recovery Association, Keep California Beautiful, and the Grassroots Recycling Network and is a founder of the Zero Waste International Alliance. Seminar:
Towards Zero Waste
Monday, 3:30 pm

PowerPoint (3.6MB):
Zero Waste Communities
 
Suhasini Ayer-Guigan Suhasini Ayer-Guigan manages the architecture department at the award-winning Auroville Building Centre in South India, where she works with alternative building materials and renewable energy. Auroville is an international community and "eco-village" that focuses on sustainable rural development, including afforestation, land reclamation, watershed management, education, health services, organic agriculture, housing, handicrafts, and culture. Workshop:
Sustainable Energy Use: Living off the Grid
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
Godfrey Baldacchino Godfrey Baldacchino, Ph.D, Canada Research Chair in Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, and professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Malta, is author of Lessons from the Political Economy of Small Islands (2000) and five other books. He specializes in governance patterns in small jurisdictions and in worker empowerment and the development of cooperatives, and was chair of the Malta Board of Cooperatives. Workshop:
Self-Government and Prosperity: The Icelandic Model
Tuesday, 1:30 pm

Plenary:
Report back from groups
Tuesday, 4:00 pm
 
Elizabeth Beale Elizabeth Beale is President and CEO of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council. Ms. Beale serves as an advisor to senior levels of government on regional development in Atlantic Canada and as a Governor of Dalhousie University. Workshop:
Governance Issues in Disadvantaged Economic Regions
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
Ela Bhatt Ela Bhatt is founder and first General-Secretary of the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in India. Based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, SEWA is the largest single trade union in the country with a membership of 687,000 women. Among SEWA's achievements is the SEWA Bank whose capital is made up entirely of members' own contributions. The View:
Our View of Development
Monday, 7:00 pm

Workshop:
Women in Development
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
Cindy Blackstock is a member of the Gitksan First Nation and Executive Director, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada (FNCFCS), Ms. Blackstock is one of Canada's leading and most eloquent spokespersons for the promotion and strengthening of First Nations cultures and knowledge. She has devoted her life to using reconciliation to address structural risks for First Nations children that are often exacerbated by conventional "development" strategies.

Caring for the Generation we will never know and always love (2.9MB PDF presentation)

Caring for our Children (700K PDF presentation))
Plenary: Pursuing Gross National Happiness Cultural promotion
Tuesday, 10:30 am

Plenary:
Report back from groups
Tuesday, 4:00 pm

Workshop:
Honouring our Children
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
Frank Bracho Frank Bracho, Venezuela, is a Stanford-trained economist, devoted Gandhian, former Venezuelan Ambassador to India, and author of several books on sustainable development, health and culture.

Paper:
Happiness and Indigenous Wisdom
In the History of the Americas
(156K PDF)
 
Rev. Bliss Browne Rev. Bliss Browne is founder and President of Imagine Chicago, a remarkable and innovative civic project founded in 1992 that has inspired a global movement on six continents. An ordained Episcopal priest (the first female priest ever to preach at Westminster Abbey), Rev. Browne was formerly a corporate banking Vice President and Division Head at the First National Bank of Chicago (1975-1991); and author of Ten Years of Imagination in Action and Women Alive: A Legacy of Social Justice. Youth Day Workshop:
Imagine Your Community

Introduction:
An Overview of Conference Structure and Purpose
Tuesday, 8:30 am

Carrying The Spirit Forward: Next Steps for Action
Thursday, 11:00 am
 
Devorah Brous Devorah Brous is founder and director of BUSTAN, a Jewish-Arab partnership promoting social and environmental justice across all ethnic divides in Israel/Palestine. For the past 12 years Devorah has catalyzed sustainable and proactive programs in the region. Devorah holds masters degrees in Israel Studies and Peace/Conflict Studies. Workshop:
Human Rights and Cultural Sustainability
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
David Bruce and staff David Bruce is Director of the Rural and Small Town Programme, Mount Allison University, New Brunswick. He is a co-investigator of a large national rural research project examining approaches to Building Capacity in Rural Canada in the New Rural Economy. Workshop:
Sustainable Rural Development
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
Raffi Cavoukian Raffi Cavoukian, C.M., D.Mus, serves as Chair of the Troubadour Foundation and is CEO of Troubadour Music. Raffi is one of North America's most popular and beloved children's singer/songwriters and family entertainers. He has become a global troubadour, and is now founder of Child Honoring and author of the Child Honoring Convenant and Principles. Presentation:
Honouring our Children
World premiere:
"Count with Me"
Tuesday, 7:30 pm
 
  Tashi Chhozom is Judge of Zhemgang district in Bhutan, and is Bhutan's only serving female judge. Workshop:
Restorative Justice and Good Governance
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
Dr. Ronald Colman Ronald Colman, Ph.D, Executive Director, GPI Atlantic

Video Clip: “The onus is on us”
Video Clip: “Depletion is counted as economic gain”
Plenary:
Counting so it Counts
Wednesday, 1:30 pm
 
Image from the film Forbidden Forest Jean Guy Comeau is an Acadian woodlot owner from New Brunswick who fought his way out of poverty and worked for nearly 40 years in a pulp mill, and Francis Wishart is an environmentalist, painter and winemaker with homes in France and New Brunswick. Together they have challenged the highly capital-intensive, mechanized forestry methods in common use today and worked for a new community-based, environmentally sustainable forest policy. Their efforts are captured in the recent National Film Board film Forbidden Forest. Film Festival Q&A:
Forbidden Forest
Tuesday, 9:00 am
 
  Katherine Covell is Executive Director of the Cape Breton University Children’s Rights Centre, a professor of developmental psychology, and a leading researcher on children’s rights. She recently presented a report on Canada’s Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to the Canadian Senate Workshop:
Honouring our Children (86K PDF)
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
John de Graaf John de Graaf has been writing and producing award-winning television programs for several decades, including the popular PBS specials Affluenza, and Running Out of Time. He is co-author of Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic, and National Coordinator of the "Take Back Your Time" campaign. He has just finished a new film on world hunger, and is now completing a film on sustainable certification programs like fair trade coffee and FSC-certified wood.

Film Festival Q&A:
Affluenza
Escape from Affluenza
Tuesday, 10:00 pm
Silent Killer: The Unfinished Campaign Against Hunger Wednesday, 7:30 pm
Youth Day Workshop:
SURVIVOR: The Consumer Culture

Workshop:
Balancing Work and Life
Tuesday, 1:30 pm

Plenary:
Report back from groups
Tuesday, 4:00 pm

Workshop:
The Media in Development
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
Tshewang Dendup Tshewang Dendup is one of Bhutan's most talented filmmakers and actors and is Head of Radio and Senior Producer for the Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS), for whom he will be filming this conference. His film Switch on Bhutan has been shown on the Public Broadcasting Service network in the USA. Tshewang is the lead actor in the recent award-winning Bhutanese movie Travellers and Magicians. He also covered the First International Conference on Gross National Happiness for the BBS in Bhutan in 2004. Film Festival Q&A:
Switch on Bhutan
Wednesday, 9:00 pm
Travellers and Magicians
Thursday, 7:00 pm
 
  Oumar Diene is Secretary General of the National Network of Ecovillages, Senegal
 
  Dr. Serigne Mbaye DiËne worked with the Senegal Ministry of Health in Dakar for nearly 20 years, serving as Deputy Director for the National Service of Food and Applied Nutrition, managing nutrition and oral rehydration therapy (ORT) programs. He is the Nutrition Team Leader at BASICS, providing leadership for community-based nutrition interventions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and is founder of the Senegal Ecovillages Network and EcoYoff Living & Learning Center, which is turning his home village of Yoff, Senegal, into an eco-village with close ties to the Ithaca eco-village in New York.
 
  Dr. Wilhelmina Donkoh is a lecturer in African history in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Kwame Nkrumah University, Kumasi, Ghana, specialising in Ashanti history, and co-author of The Just King: The Story of Osei Tutu Kwame Asibe Bonsu. Dr. Donkoh has chronicled the importance of traditional governance structures in dealing with modern challenges like HIV-AIDS in Africa.

Paper:
Traditional Leadership, Human Rights and Development: The Asante Example (156K PDF)
Workshop:
Human Rights and Cultural Sustainability
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
Dr. Chencho Dorji is a consultant psychiatrist and technical advisor to the National Mental Health Program in Bhutan. He has written several articles on mental health in Bhutan, including "Achieving Gross National Happiness through Community-based Mental Health Services in Bhutan," presented at the First International Conference on Gross National Happiness in Thimphu in 2004. Paper:
The Myth Behind Alcohol Happiness
 
  Lam Dorji is Director of the Department of Planning in the Ministry of Finance of the Royal Government of Bhutan, and previously served as Director of the Department of Budget and Accounts in the Finance Ministry.
 
  Rinchen Dorji, an engineer by profession is Director of Department of Urban Development and Engineering Services, Ministry of Works and Human Settlement. Prior to assuming the present post, he was Director of Department of Roads.
 
Ivana Dragic Ivana Dragic, Peaceful Schools Initiative, Serbia

Human Rights and Cultural Sustainability
PowerPoint (9MB)
Workshop:
Human Rights and Cultural Sustainability
Wednesday, 3:30 pm

Film Festival Q&A:
Teaching Peace in a Time of War
Wednesday, 7:30 pm
 
James Drescher James Drescher is Director of The Maritime Ecoforestry School and the caretaker and forester for Windhorse Farm, a highly successful 160-year experiment in low-impact, sustainable forestry in Nova Scotia. His practice of 'enrichment forestry' is based on the principles of "nothing missing" and concern for the welfare of all living beings. He has lectured widely in North America. Workshop:
Sustainable Forest Management
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
Holly Dressel Holly Dressel is a journalist and co-author with David Suzuki of From Naked Ape to Superspecies and Good News for a Change: Hope for a Troubled Planet. The latter book profiles exemplary models of sustainable development and environmental protection throughout the world.

Plenary presentation:
What is Sustainable and What is Not

Print PDF of What is Sustainable and What is Not (76K)

Holly in her own words: Who Owns the Forests?
Print PDF of Who Owns the Forests? (60K)
Plenary:
Pursuing Gross National Happiness
Environmental Preservation

Tuesday, 10:30 am
Video Clip

Workshop:
Sustainable Forest Management
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
Dasho Zangley Dukpa Dasho Zangley Dukpa is Vice Chancellor of the Royal University of Bhutan, and was previously a District Governor, Principal of Sherubtse College, and Deputy Director in Department of Education in the Royal Government of Bhutan. He has been involved in curriculum development, national education assessment, establishment of educational standards, and drafting of legislation, and has published a number of articles on the education system in Bhutan. Workshop:
Education and Gross National Happiness
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
Heather Eaton Heather Eaton, Ph.D. is professor of theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, specializing in the areas of religion/spirituality, ecology and women's issues. She is founder of the Canadian Forum on Religion and Ecology, author of Introducing Ecofeminist Theologies (2005) and co-editor of Ecofeminism and Globalization: Exploring Religion, Culture and Context (2003). Her goal is to mobilize religions on key social and ecological issues. The View:
Rethinking Development
Monday, 7:00 pm
 
Dr. Constance Freeman Dr. Constance Freeman is Director of the International Development Research Centre's Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, and specialist in the New Partnership for Africa's Development. She was previously Director of African Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, and has spent 30 years working on African issues. Plenary:
Pursuing Gross National Happiness
Tuesday, 10:30 am
 
John Taylor Gatto John Taylor Gatto was recognised as New York State and New York City Teacher of the Year and is author of Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling (1992); The Exhausted School (1993); A Different Kind of Teacher (2000); and The Underground History of American Education (2001). Workshop:
Holistic Education Policies
Wednesday, 3:30 pm

Plenary:
Report back from Wednesday groups
Thursday, 8:30 am
 
Paul Gipe Paul Gipe is one of the world's leading experts on wind energy and focuses on the economic, environmental, community, and governance aspects of wind power. Mr. Gipe is the author of Wind Energy Comes of Age and Wind Energy Basics and is lead author of Wind Power in View. Recently, the American Wind Energy Association named him "Person of the Year." Workshop:
Sustainable Energy Use: Harnessing the Wind
Wednesday, 8:30 am
PowerPoint (6.9MB)
 
Yagya Ghale Yagya Ghale is Senior Program Officer at the Centre for Micro-Finance in Nepal, managing and developing savings and credit co-operatives, micro-finance institutions, and HIV/AIDS partnership projects. She was previously the general manager of a women's co-operative for 9 years. Financial co-operatives are currently providing an important stabilizing function in Nepal's highly unstable political situation. Workshop:
Economic Development and Good Governance
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
Danny Graham Danny Graham was elected to the Nova Scotia Legislature following a two-year term in Ottawa as a special advisor in the Department of Justice, and was leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party. Mr. Graham spearheaded a leading-edge Nova Scotia initiative on Restorative Justice and later worked with the United Nations to advance Restorative Justice internationally. Workshop:
Restorative Justice and Good Governance
Tuesday, 1:30 pm

 
Frances Gray Frances Gray, Professor of Piano and Music Theory at The University of Prince Edward Island, performs extensively as chamber musician and piano soloist, and has been heard frequently on CBC and Radio-Canada broadcasts. She has played in concerts throughout Canada, in the United States, at Canadian Embassies in London and Brussels, in Rachmaninoff Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in Russia, at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and has recorded two CDs of solo piano music. Classical Music Concert:
“From Iceland With Flute”
Thursday, 8 pm
 
  Robert Greenwood, PhD is Director of The Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development at Memorial University in Newfoundland. He was founding Director of the Sustainable Communities Initiative in Saskatchewan and was Assistant Deputy Minister of Policy in the Economic Development departments in Saskatchewan and in Newfoundland and Labrador. Workshop:
Governance Issues in Disadvantaged Economic Regions
Tuesday, 1:30 pm

Plenary:
Report back from groups
Tuesday, 4:00 pm
 
  Dasho Sherap Gyeltshen is District Administrator of the Thimphu Dzongkhag in Bhutan. He previously served in the Ministry of Home Affairs and was Director of the Punakha-Wangdue Valley Development Project and District Administrator in that region.
 
Anders Hayden Anders Hayden is a former researcher and policy coordinator for 32 HOURS: Action for Full Employment, a citizen's group committed to a reduction and redistribution of work time. He is one of the leading proponents of new work schedules in Canada, and is author of Sharing the Work, Sparing the Planet: Work Time, Consumption, & Ecology. Workshop:
Balancing Work and Life
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
John Helliwell John Helliwell, Ph.D, is Professor of Economics at the University of British Columbia (formerly of Harvard and Oxford Universities) and author of Globalization and Well-Being (2002), The Contribution of Human and Social Capital to Sustained Economic Growth and Well-Being (2001) and other books. Professor Helliwell serves as Special Adviser to the Bank of Canada and is a pioneer in wellbeing measurement.

Understanding Happiness (240K PDF)

Globalization & Wellbeing (642K PDF)

Well-Being, Social Capital and Public Policy: What's New? (340K PDF)
Workshop:
Globalization and Wellbeing
Tuesday, 1:30 pm

Plenary:
Counting so it Counts
Wednesday, 1:30 am
 
Doug May and Alton Hollett Alton Hollett, Director of Statistics in the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Doug May, Ph.D, Department of Economics, Memorial University, together developed the Newfoundland and Labrador Community Accounts - a unique information system that provides 400 communities in the province with data on their health, living standards, and wellbeing.

Doug May and Alton Hollett
Plenary:
Counting so it Counts
Wednesday, 1:30 am
 
Farouk Jiwa Farouk Jiwa is Co-Founder and Director of Honey Care Africa, a small, private sector organization that has been working to promote sustainable community-based bee keeping initiatives across Kenya. Farouk has received the prestigious Equator Prize that recognizes outstanding achievement in sustainable development and sustainable community livelihoods. Plenary: Pursuing Gross National Happiness Sustainable and equitable economic development
Tuesday, 10:30 pm

Workshop:
Sustainable Rural Development
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
  Sigfús Jónsson is former Mayor of Iceland's second largest city, managing director of Nysir Group Ltd, and Iceland's top expert on local government. He was a consultant to the government of Iceland on local government reform and local government finance, including the division of roles between central and local government. He also worked on the amalgamation of local authorities in Iceland. Workshop:
Self-Government and Prosperity: The Icelandic Model
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
  Nawab Ali Khan, MSc., International Rural Development Planning, is working as a Program Manager with Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan, and has over 10 years experience in planning and managing community development projects that address built environment infrastructure, water and sanitation, housing, environmental conservation, energy efficiency and gender issues. Workshop:
Natural Building
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
  Rainer Kistler, Ph.D (engineering science), Switzerland, was Director of the Zug Environmental Agency in Switzerland, where he established a reliable municipal solid waste management program in the Canton that reduced the quantity of eliminated waste by almost 50%. He now lives and works in Montreal as an independent consultant in environment, health and safety. Seminar:
Towards Zero Waste
Monday, 3:30 pm

PowerPoint (1.3MB)
Zeroing in on Waste: The Swiss Army Knife for Waste Management
 
Dr. Yacouba Koné Dr. Yacouba Koné, director and field coordinator for Santé Sud Mali worked for many years as a rural general practitioner in Nongon, Mali, and initiated the first health cooperative society in Mali. He is pioneering new medical practices in rural areas that village communities can trust, and that are now spreading to other parts of Africa. These are based on community-based general practitioners who merge primary health care and family medicine in one practice. Workshop:
Caring for the Living and Dying
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
 
K. K. Krishna Kumar K. K. Krishna Kumar, was Director of Kerala's Total Literacy Program, which mobilized 350,000 volunteers to teach everyone in Kerala to read, write, and do math, and has worked with the people's movement for science popularization and awareness in Kerala for more than 30 years. He is a founding member of the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samithi (BGVS), one of the largest voluntary agencies in India, providing field and academic support for literacy and continuing education throughout India, and is on the executive committee of India's National Literacy Mission.

Good Governance and Engaged Citizenship ~ A View from Kerala PowerPoint (5.5MB)

Total Literacy PowerPoint (4.3MB)
Plenary: Pursuing Gross National Happiness Good Governance and Engaged Citizenship
Tuesday, 10:30 am
Video Clip: Optimism

Workshop:
Holistic Education Policies
Wednesday, 3:30 pm

Film Festival Q&A:
Kerla Experiences
Wednesday, 9:00 pm
 
Mary Jane Lamond Mary Jane Lamond is a critically acclaimed Gaelic singer with a worldwide audience, who lives in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and passionately preserves her historical and local culture by sharing its songs, stories and spirit. She recently released her fourth album and has received numerous Juno and East Coast Music Award nominations. Workshop:
Promoting Local and Indigenous Culture
Wednesday, 3:30 pm

CEILIDH
Wednesday, 9:00 pm
 
  Pierre Landry is owner of The Paint Recycling Company in Springhill, Nova Scotia. Seminar:
Towards Zero Waste
Monday, 3:30 pm
 
Janet Larkman Janet Larkman is a community economic development professional and artist based in rural Nova Scotia. She worked with the Western Valley Development Agency, the Regional Development Authority for Annapolis and Digby Counties, for 11 years, six of those as Executive Director. She presently runs two small businesses, Larkman & Associates Consulting and Studio Lark. Workshop:
Governance Issues in Disadvantaged Economic Regions
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
Judy Lief Judy Lief, a senior teacher in the Buddhist and Shambhala traditions, is the Executive Editor of Vajradhatu Publications and the former Dean of Naropa Institute (now University). Judy is the author of Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality. She teaches widely on the topic of change and loss, and a contemplative approach to death and dying. Workshop:
Caring for the Living and Dying
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
Wendy MacIsaac Wendy MacIsaac is a renowned fiddler, piano player, and stepdancer from Creignish, Cape Breton, who has released two CDs, toured the world with her traditional Cape Breton music, and now manages and plays with a five-piece instrumental group, Beolach. CEILIDH
Wednesday, 9:00 pm
 
Wendy MacIsaac David MacLeod is President of WindShare, Canada's first green power co-operative established in 1999 to provide an opportunity for local communities in Toronto to own and direct their energy future. Workshop:
Sustainable Energy Use: Harnessing the Wind
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
Mark Mancall Mark Mancall is a professor of history in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University where he has been teaching for 40 years. His special interests are South and Southeast Asia, particularly Buddhism and Bhutan, and he is currently writing a book on Buddhist political and social thought and a textbook of the national language of Bhutan, Dzongkha. Workshop:
Globalization and Wellbeing
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
Elizabeth May Elizabeth May is Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada. Her public advocacy, campaigning, senior policy advisement, writing and teaching on behalf of the biosphere has earned her the United Nations Environment Program Global 500 award, and her exemplary work for the environment was recently recognized in the establishment of the Elizabeth May Chair in Women's Health and Environment at Dalhousie University. Plenary:
Good Governance and Engaged Citizenship Tuesday, 10:30 am

Workshop:
Sustainable Forest Management
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
 
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is Head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage, which emphasizes the basic goodness of all beings and works towards the creation of an enlightened society based on wisdom and compassion. He is author of the best selling book, Turning the Mind into an Ally, and his teachings emphasize the profound relationship between working with one's own mind, caring for others, and creating decent and peaceful human societies on earth. Guided Meditation:
Inner and Outer Development and the view of Interdependence
Monday, 7:30 pm
 
  Ali Mokhtar, Centre for Development Services, IDRC Lake Nasser project, Egypt.

Towards a Sustainable Livelihoods
Strategy for Lake Nasser

PowerPoint (14MB)
Workshop:
Sustainable Rural Development
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
Debra and Jeff Moore Jeff Moore is co-founder of Just Us Coffee, Canada's first Fair Trade coffee importer, roaster, and distributor, based in Grand-Pre, Nova Scotia. This progressive worker owned cooperative has expanded its business to other associated Fair Trade and organic products. Workshop:
From Seed to Sale: The Journey of the Coffee Bean
Tuesday, 1:30 pm

Plenary:
Report back from groups
Tuesday, 4:00 pm
 
Stuart Myiow has been Wolf clan representative of the Mohawk Traditional Council, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, since 1987, and is among the last of the Mohawk Traditionalists to be born and raised by the chiefs and clan mothers within the Longhouse. He will pass on to conference participants the knowledge of good governance passed down to him through generations, on the Constitution of the Five Nations Iroquois Confederacy - "the Great Law of Peace." Workshop:
Restorative Justice and Good Governance
Tuesday, 1:30 pm

Workshop:
The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Nation Building and Environmental Sustainability
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
Prof Siddiqur Osmani Dr. S. R. Osmani is Professor of Development Economics at the University of Ulster, United Kingdom. He obtained Ph.D in economics from the London School of Economics and then worked at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Dhaka and at the World Institute for Development Economics Research, Helsinki before joining the University of Ulster. He has published widely on issues related to poverty, inequality, hunger, famine, nutrition, rights-based approach to development, and development problems in general, and his books include Economic Inequality and Group Welfare and Nutrition and Poverty.

Toward a development strategy for Bhutan: translating philosophy into action
PowerPoint (68K)

Thursday, 8:00 am
 
Siok Sian Pek-Dorji Siok Sian Pek-Dorji is a journalist who works independently on media and communication projects in Bhutan, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Bhutan Broadcasting Service Corporation. Workshop:
The Media in Development
Wednesday, 3:30 pm

Paper:
The Bhutanese Media In the service of the public
(164K PDF)
 
  Dasho Tashi Phuntsog is Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communications in the Royal Government of Bhutan. He previously served as Secretary of the Bhutanese National Assembly, District Administrator, and Director of the Information Department.
 
Thakur S. Powdyel Thakur S. Powdyel is Director of the Centre for Education Research and Development in the Ministry of Education of the Royal Government of Bhutan. He previously served for 15 years as Vice Principal of Sherubtse College in Bhutan and has worked in community service, curriculum development, national education assessment, establishment of educational standards, and production of bilingual dictionaries. Powdyel's major interests are in educational integrity, institutional self-respect, inter-cultural relations, development, and furtherance of gross national happiness. Workshop:
Education and Gross National Happiness
Wednesday, 3:30 pm

Paper:
The University as an Instrument of Gross National Happiness: Some Reflections (100K PDF)
 
Kerry Prosper Kerry Prosper is a member of the Paq'tnekek First Nation Band situated along the shores of St. Georges Bay in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia and served as Band Councillor and Chief of the Paq'tnekek for 12 years. He is currently research coordinator for the Paq'tnkek in the Social Research for Sustainable Fisheries project, working with the Paq'tnekek Fish and Wildlife Society and St. Francis Xavier University. He also uses traditional medicine and ceremony to bring good health to people in need. Workshop:
The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Nation Building and Environmental Sustainability
Wednesday, 8:30 am

 
  Lisangela Gnocchi da Costa Reis developed the environmental and corporate social responsibility policies and practices of FURNAS, a publicly funded electricity company in Brazil for which she has worked for 14 years. She is on The Committee of Entities Against Hunger and For Life (COEP) — a nationwide network that mobilizes institutions to combat hunger and poverty, and to support the social and economic development of low income communities in Brasil. Workshop:
Economic Development and Good Governance
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
Richard Reoch is President of Shambhala International and Chair of the International Working Group on Sri Lanka, a network of diplomats and experts supporting the peace process in that war-torn island. Mr. Reoch was former Global Media Chief of Amnesty International where he spent 23 years and he is author of Combating Torture, the official field manual of the 55-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and of To Die Well: A Holistic Approach for the Dying and Their Caregivers.

Richard Reoch and Mary Coyle of the Coady Institute are co-chairs of the conference.
Youth Day Workshop:
How Change Happens

Opening Ceremonies:
The View: Setting the Tone
Monday, 7:00 pm

Introduction:
Conference overview
Tuesday, 8:30 am

Introduction:
Guided Meditation with Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

Workshop:
Human Rights and Cultural Sustainability
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
Dick and Pat Richardson

Dick and Pat Richardson collaborated with faculty and university administrators in creating the Environmental Science Institute at the University of Texas, and have worked with a variety of government, non-government and private land managers over many years to restore soil health and biodiversity in prairie lands. Their innovative educational methods use holistic research methods to teach students about their relationship with nature.

Video Clip: Soil Bugs

Workshop:
Holistic Land Management and Soil Health Restoration
Wednesday, 8:30 am

Fundamental Change to Managing Holistically PowerPoint (4MB)

Plenary:
Report back from Wednesday groups
Thursday, 8:30 am
 
Vicki Robin
Vicki Robin is co-author with Joe Dominguez of the national best-seller, Your Money Or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money & Achieving Financial Independence, available now in nine languages. She is President of the New Road Map Foundation and Chair of the Simplicity Forum. She lectures widely, has appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows including "Oprah" and "Good Morning America" and has been featured in People Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and the New York Times. Youth Day Workshop:
SURVIVOR: The Consumer Culture

Workshop:
Balancing Work and Life
Tuesday, 1:30 pm

Plenary:
Report back from groups
Tuesday, 4:00 pm
 
Sanjit Bunker Roy Sanjit Bunker Roy is founder and Director of the Barefoot College, India, whose mission is to alleviate the suffering of the rural poor and imbue them with self-respect and dignity. Founded in 1972, the Barefoot College is the only College in India built by and for the poor, and addresses issues of health & sanitation, rural employment, sustainable energy, social awareness, and the conservation of ecological systems in rural communities. The college recently received the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and Mr Roy was awarded the St. Andrew's Prize for the Environment.

See also: Five Questions for Bunker Roy (82K PDF)
Plenary: Pursuing Gross National Happiness Environmental Preservation
Tuesday, 10:30 pm

Workshop:
Governance Issues in Disadvantaged Economic Regions
Tuesday, 1:30 pm

Workshop:
Sustainable Energy Use: Living off the Grid
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
Trudy Sable Trudy Sable has been involved in research and program development dedicated to First Nations and Inuit issues, and the development of a cross-cultural dialogue in the teaching of science. She has worked with Parks Canada, Environment Canada, the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, the Native Council of Nova Scotia, and is currently the Director of the Labrador Project at the Gorsebrook Research Instititute (GRI), Saint Mary's University in Halifax. Workshop:
The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Nation Building and Environmental Sustainability
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
Joel Salatin Joel Salatin is one of America's most dynamic and innovative farmers, combining science, art and ideas from nature to create a farm that is highly profitable, produces zero waste, and has been featured in the Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic and countless other radio, television and print media. He is author of many leading books on organic farming, including You Can Farm, Salad Bar Beef, and Pastured Poultry Profits Plenary: Pursuing Gross National Happiness Sustainable and equitable economic development
Tuesday, 10:30 am

Lunch with Joel
Tuesday, 12:00 pm
 
His Excellency John Ralston Saul His Excellency John Ralston Saul, author of The Unconscious Civilization, Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West, The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense, On Equilibrium, Reflections of a Siamese Twin, and five novels. He won the 1996 Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction and has twice won the Gordon Montador Award for the Best Canadian Non-Fiction Book on social issues. Keynote:
Good governance as the Key to Gross National Happiness
Thursday, 3:30 pm
 
Michael Salvaris Mike Salvaris, is a professor in applied social research at Victoria University, Australia, and a community activist. He was a key consultant to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in its internationally recognised ‘Measures of Australia’s Progress’ and specializes in the links between wellbeing measurement, democracy and human rights. He is currently working with 79 local governments to develop new processes for community based planning and local wellbeing measures, and is developing an audit of human rights in Australia

Measuring Progress: the view from Australia
PowerPoint (1.5MB)


Workshop:
Globalization and Wellbeing
Tuesday, 1:30 pm

Plenary:
Report back from groups
Tuesday, 4:00 pm
 
Allan Savory Allan Savory is a pioneer in holistic management and founder of the Allan Savory Centre for Holistic Management, Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is author of the seminal books, Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision Making, and Holistic Resource Management: A Model for a Healthy Planet, and was recently awarded the International Banksia Award for "the betterment of our environment on a global level."

Video Clip: Paradigm shifts
Video Clip: The change is coming
Video Clip: Care
Workshop:
Holistic Land Management and Soil Health Restoration
Wednesday, 8:30 am

Plenary:
Report back from Wednesday groups
Thursday, 8:30 am
 
  Christina Seidel is Executive Director of the Recycling Council of Alberta and operates Sonnevera International Corp., a waste reduction consulting firm. Seminar:
Towards Zero Waste
Monday, 3:30 pm

PowerPoint (716K): Zeroing in on Waste: The Role of Extended Producer Responsibility in a Zero Waste Strategy
 
Paul Shore Paul Shore is a documentary director, media consultant and social entrepreneur. He serves as Canada Bureau Chief for GNN, an award-winning alternative news network, and is Co-Founder of The Apathy is Boring Project, a non-partisan organization that uses sarcasm, media, art and technology to engage youth in Canadian politics. Youth Day Workshop:
How to be an Intelligent Media Consumer

Workshop:
The Media in Development
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
Emilía Rós Sigfúsdóttir Emilía Rós Sigfúsdóttir began her flute studies at the age of six in her native Iceland and later studied at the Reykjav'k College of Music. In June 2004 she was awarded a Postgraduate Diploma with distinction from the Trinity College of Music in London, England where she also was a prize-winner in a soloist competition when she performed the Ibert Flute Concerto with orchestra at St. John's Smith Square in London. Classical Music Concert:
“From Iceland With Flute”
Thursday, 8 pm
 
Emily Sikazwe Emily Sikazwe is Executive Director of Women for Change, a Zambian NGO committed to empowering remote rural communities to eradicate poverty - a post she has held for 12 years. She worked for many years as a senior agronomist with the Ministry of Agriculture and for CARE Zambia and is on the board of CUSO and of the Non Governmental Organisation Coordinating Committee (NGOCC) in Zambia. Workshop:
Women in Development
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
Keith Stoodley Keith Stoodley is Director, Marketing and Sales, with Lotek Wireless Inc., an environmental company focused on the application of telephony and miniature electronics for fish and wildlife tracking and monitoring. Lotek was the recipient of the 2002 Canada Exporter of the Year - Innovation and Technology Award, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Marconi Exporter of the Year in 2001. Plenary:
Pursuing Gross National Happiness: What’s Working?
Tuesday, 10:30 am
 
Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi is Director of the National Museum of Bhutan in Paro. He also worked at the National Library of Bhutan for several years, and has published a number of books and articles on Buddhism.

An Interview with Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi

Importance of Life Protection: A Tibetan Buddhist View
Workshop:
Caring for the Living and Dying
Wednesday, 3:30 pm

Paper:
The Positive Impact on Gomchen Tradition on Achieving and Maintaining Gross National Happiness
(223K PDF)

 
Lyonpo Jigmi Thinley Lyonpo Jigmi Thinley is Home Minister and former Prime Minister of Bhutan, whose King has proclaimed that "Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product." He is also President of the Council of The Centre for Bhutan Studies. Bhutan recently received the United Nations Environment Program's Champion of the Earth award for placing the environment at the centre of all its development policies, for its "excellent environmental track record," and for preserving more than 72% of its land under forest cover, with 26% designated as protected areas. Keynote:
What Does Gross National Happiness (GNH) Mean?
Tuesday, 9:00 am
 
  Kim Thompson is a pioneer in developing straw bale and earth construction methods for northern climates. She is committed to creating beautiful, healthy, affordable buildings that use local materials and which can be used as a powerful community development tool. She has been involved in low impact, building projects in Canada, USA and Mexico since 1993 and teaches Natural Building at Dalhousie University, Halifax. Youth Day Workshop:
Building Natural Shelters

Workshop:
Natural Building
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
  Jean Timsit, France, is founder and president of the French American Charitable Trust, which supports researches on happiness and related policy studies in different parts of the world. Workshop:
Promoting Local and Indigenous Culture
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
Centre for Bhutan Studies Karma Ura is Director of the Centre for Bhutan Studies, and author of The Hero With a Thousand Eyes (1995), The Ballad of Pemi Tshewang Tashi: A Wind Borne Feather (1996), Deities, Archers and Planners in the Era of Decentralization (2004), The Bhutanese Development Story, and numerous other books and articles on Bhutanese history, culture, and literature. Plenary:
Cultural promotion
Tuesday, 10:30 am

Workshop:
Promoting Local and Indigenous Culture
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
Father Francisco VanderHoff Boersma Father Francisco VanderHoff Boersma, Ph.D. (theology and political economy), is an ordained Roman Catholic priest living in Mexico, and founder of the global fair trade movement that now works in 17 countries. He founded the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Isthmus Region (UCIRI) in Mexico in 1983, and in 1989 co-founded Max Havelaar in the Netherlands - the world's first fair trade seal - as a way to build a more just and sustainable commercial bridge between poor peasant farmers and wealthy nations. The View:
Fair Trade
Monday, 7:00 pm

Workshop:
From Seed to Sale: The Journey of the Coffee Bean
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
Vilhjalmur Vilhjalmsson Vilhjalmur Vilhjalmsson is Chairman of the Federation of Icelandic Municipalities. Workshop:
Self-Government and Prosperity: The Icelandic Model
Tuesday, 1:30 pm
 
Mathis Wackernagel Mathis Wackernagel developed, with William Rees, the 'Ecological Footprint' - a widely-used measure of sustainability. He is founder and Executive Director of the Global Footprint Network and co-author of Our Ecological Footprint, Sharing Nature's Interest, and the WWF Living Planet Report. He has advised the United Nations and governments and organizations on six continents on reducing human impact on the earth. Workshop:
Ecological Footprint
Wednesday, 8:30 am

Plenary:
Counting so it Counts
Wednesday, 1:30 pm

Workshop for Youth:
Ecological Footprint Friday, 8:30 am
 
Lhatu Wangchuk Lhatu Wangchuk is Director-General of the Department of Tourism in the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the Royal Government of Bhutan. He was previously Bhutan's ambassador to Bangladesh, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and South Korea. He has also served as Chief of Protocol and Acting Foreign Secretary in Bhutan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
  Dr. Sangay Wangchuk is Director of the Nature Conservation Division in the Ministry of Agriculture of the Royal Government of Bhutan. In this capacity, he has headed the country's national park system for ten years and been responsible for implementing Bhutan's protected areas policy and developing integrated conservation programs in those areas. Bhutan's protected areas, comprising more than 26 percent of the country, were recently cited in Bhutan's receipt of the United Nations Champion of the Earth award.

Paper:
Integrating Conservation and Development: Can it contribute to Gross National Happiness (72K PDF)
Workshop:
Sustainable Forest Management
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
Marilyn Waring Marilyn Waring, Ph.D, is a Professor of Public Policy, Massey University, New Zealand, and a former Member of Parliament serving for 9 years. Dr. Waring is author of Counting for Nothing, the basis of the National Film Board film Who's Counting, and Three Masquerades: Essays on Equality, Work and Human Rights. She has led major development projects for UNDP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and has just completed a Ministerial Review of NZAID for the New Zealand Government. Plenary:
Counting so it Counts
Wednesday, 1:30 am

Workshop:
Women in Development
Wednesday, 3:30 pm

Film Festival Q&A:
Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies & Global Economics Wednesday, 7:30 pm
 
Gael Watson Gael Watson is owner and co-founder of La Have Bakery in La Have, Nova Scotia, and strives to live sustainably "off the grid." She shows what individuals and households can do on their own when they let nature more fully into their lives by cutting back on fossil fuel and electricity use. Workshop:
Sustainable Energy Use: Living off the Grid
Wednesday, 8:30 am
 
Tashi Zangmo Tashi Zangmo, is a Doctoral candidate in Education and Development at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. Informed by her experience growing up in Eastern Bhutan, she presented a paper on "Literacy for All: A Means to Attain Gross National Happiness" at the 2004 Gross National Happiness conference. In 1999, she received the Samuel Huntington Public Service award for public service in developing countries. Workshop:
Education and Gross National Happiness
Wednesday, 3:30 pm
 
  Linda Zhu (Zhu Qing Yan) is the Program Director of the Straw-bale Ecological Housing Program for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA China). Since introducing straw-bale construction in northern China in 1998, the program has worked with local communities training local construction teams, and building over 600 energy-efficient, earthquake-resistant, and culturally-appropriate houses using straw and other local building materials. The program is a finalist in the Building Social Housing Foundation's 2004 World Habitat Award.

Straw Bale Ecological Housing Program in China Print PDF (104K) :: PowerPoint (6.3MB)
Workshop:
Natural Building
Wednesday, 8:30 am
  What they are saying about Rethinking Development

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