Sustainable Seattle Annual Event Press Release

December 14, 2010

Sustainable Seattle Hosts Annual Event and Award Ceremony at Hidmo Restaurant

Sustainable Seattle

Phone: +1.206.622.3522
Email: laura@sustainableseattle.org, Andrew@sustainableseattle.org, nathan@sustainableseattle.org

SEATTLE -- Sustainable Seattle, in collaboration with Sustainable Central District and Pursuit of a Green Planet (POAGP), will hold its Annual Event at Hidmo on Dec. 16, 2010 from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. The celebration marks the year’s achievements by Sustainable Seattle and its collaborators and will feature food, entertainment and a silent auction to benefit the organizations.

The evening will be a series of acts that include local calls to action, musical performances, film screenings of Sustainable Seattle videos, artistic displays and performances, awards program winners and a performance by local Hip-Hop act Young & Brave.

Hosting the Annual Event is Hidmo, a community-focused restaurant, lounge and meeting space located in the historic Central District. The venue was selected for its connection to the community it aspires to build and maintain and its wonderful food, service and ambiance. This is the second Sustainable Seattle event hosted at Hidmo.

Many organizations and individuals have donated goods and supplies toward Sustainable Seattle’s fundraising goals and they include: Grand Central Bakery, Macrina Bakery, Gelatiamo, Honest Tea, Columbia City Bakery, PCC Natural Markets and Starbucks. Local artists and visionaries also donated gifts and services to the silent auction benefiting Sustainable Seattle and its partner organizations.

For more information on the Annual Event and to reserve tickets, visit www.sustainableseattle.org.

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Sustainable Seattle

Founded in 1991, Sustainable Seattle is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in the Central Puget Sound, nationally and internationally. Sustainable Seattle creates cutting edge products, processes and leadership that propel people and communities forward in reaching sustainability. Sustainable Seattle strives to create healthy communities, economies, and ecosystems by serving as an incubator for emerging people, projects, and ideas, as a convener of diverse citizens and practitioners, and as a catalyst for turning indicators into action

Sustainable Seattle’s mission is to be a positive catalyst and resource for positive change. We accomplish this mission by working with diverse individuals, communities, businesses and government agencies to build awareness, assess progress, and take action on collective sustainability goals.

A Happy economy? The GNH Metric

John de Graff, author and filmmaker of “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic” and writer of “What’s the Economy For Anyway” and founder of Take Back Your Time gave a fantastic brownbag tonight for Sustainable Seattle. Here is a summary.

Gross National Happiness is the measure Bhutan uses instead of the Gross National Product (GNP). Bhutan uses GNH to form policies and law, allocate resources and take action, just as the US uses the GNP. So what is the GNH? It has nine parts: Mental Health, Physical Health, Time Balance, Education, Cultural Vitality, Social Connection, Environmental Quality, Governance and Material Wellbeing. In other words, the gross national product counts for 1/9th of how the country measures itself.

What is the point of working such long hours, messing up the environment, allowing our health, community and family to fall into dilapidation just so we can have more stuff? Gallup, a marketing research company, surveys states in the US (Washington ranks #7 or so) and countries on our planet, and issues reports rating countries (Denmark is all smiley faces, US falls between 11 and 20 in any given year).

How is GNH measured? Surveys are taken- the Wellbeing Survey (June 2010). The Well-being Survey asks people to rate how strongly they agree whether “in most ways my life is close to ideal.” “The conditions of my life are ideal,” “I would change almost nothing in my life,” and how often they feel pleasant, cheerful, love, sad, anger, worry and stress. Nine scores are compiled for each part- these are the nine parts of the GNH. In the survey they are called: “The Pace of Your life” “Employment,” “Your Community,” “Social Support” (i.e. friends and family), “Psychological Wellbeing,” “Your Financial Security” “Your Culture and Education,” “Your Attitudes Toward Government and Public Institutions,” “Your Natural Environment” and You and Your Household.”

The Seattle City Council is looking into adopting the approach Greater Victoria took. Their summary report “The Happiness Index” (April 2009 www.victoriafoundation.bc.ca/web/node/353) is being used to raise questions, and, perhaps, at some point, provide answers. For government- towards more participation, for our personal lives- giving rather than spending money, volunteering and building trust in relationships. In our corporate governance where laws are imposed so that employees must elect half a board of directors, limiting work weeks to 40 or fewer hours, vacations and maternal leave is the law.

Gross National Happiness: USA gnhusa.org