Happy Holidays from Sustainable Seattle

I just got finished opening my presents from my mom, her boyfriend, and my sister and I have a few hours to reflect to myself since my family members have all gone off to other gatherings they are expected at. I looked at the floor of the living room, covered with opened presents from and for the four of us, scattered around with the miscellaneous wrapping paper or bow that didn’t make it into the recycle or trash, I can’t help but think about how the holidays vary for different people.

Back when I was in high school and Facebook was just getting popular, friends used to post pictures and updates about all the presents they got. “I got two Coach purses, a new laptop, an iPod…” Needless to say, some of the kids I went to high school with were quite spoiled and grew up in what we would call the “nice” neighborhood. (But to put it in perspective, their houses could eat my house for a midnight snack, and the rumor is that the neighborhood bylaws still had it written, although it wasn’t talked about or followed, that African Americans couldn’t live there.) The problem wasn’t so much how much they got, or what they got, because I myself grew up with a family who was always…comfortable…and they could tend to go overboard for the holidays. It was the fact that people felt the need to run around and brag about everything they got like it was a competition of who could get the most stuff.

So, almost 6 years later, looking around my living room post-Christmas-morning made me think about the old times, how far we have come, and what it all means in the greater world. At just 1 PM, I have already had two friends who had texted me “Merry Christmas” also ask what I got. I don’t understand the point of this… I'm not embarrassed of what I got, how much I got (whether a lot or too little), or any combination. I merely question their motivation. To me, Christmas is not about gifts. This does not mean that I didn’t give or receive any. But what makes me happy is making other people happy. Many of my gifts, especially for my friends, were homemade craft projects. I made my sister a set of earring hangers made out of two pieces of wall art I got at a secondhand store for two dollars each and a roll of lace ribbon I got for $1. It was the hours of hammering, sawing, and cutting, and hot gluing that really “cost” me.

This year for Christmas, I vowed to donate something equivalent to everything I got. If I got a new sweater, I would donate a few of my old sweaters. I am encouraging my family to do the same, because even in the economic hard times the world is going through, we still have SO MUCH STUFF.

As your holidays wrap up, and you are looking to see what you got, what you didn’t get, what you feel you need or don’t need, I encourage you to critically evaluate your situation and try to downsize. Whether that means regifting something you aren’t going to use, donating something you got that you didn’t want or don’t need, or donating something old that has been replaced by a new item. Always remember, there is someone out there who has less, but they are usually the ones that need less and want less too. All you NEED, is what you NEED to survive. This doesn’t mean we should feel guilty for having more than that, but I hope that you will all take a moment to think of the less fortunate with me.

Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and Happy Holidays from everyone at Sustainable Seattle.

Sustainable Seattle's Fifth Iteration of Sustainability Indicators and Seattle's Gross Happiness Product Initiative

SA-HI stands for Seattle's Area Happiness Initiative. Join it. We are.

Today a select few convened to join the Seattle Area Happiness Initiative - more shortly on this.

Today, Sustainable Seattle also announced that we are launching our fifth iteration of sustainability indicators. They will be based on the Gross National Happiness Product. Twenty years ago, Sustainable Seattle was the first organization to create a set of regional sustainability indicators through grass roots activism. Twenty years ago,Sustainable Seattle was the first in the field. Our work was formative in the indicator field today. That said, the indicator field has radically changed in the last generation (20 years). Cities, counties, other non-profits, groups of activists are issuing their own sustainability indicators. Businesses, agencies (like GRI and UN) have issued sustainability indicators. There are businesses offering sustainability indicator IT programs.

In the last twenty years, the indicator field has been terrifically successful. Our fourth iteration is demonstrative of the complexity of the field. It has also had terrific failures. The democratization of information, deep and wide spread grass roots activism - these have not been effected. Sustainability is in danger of becoming a leisure activity. Its time to stop reinventing and refining this wheel. Its time to break ground again and focus on grass roots activism.

So, today we start our fifth iteration of sustainability indicators based on the Gross National Happiness product. And we will focus on grass roots activism- on transforming what data means to people. What does this mean? We invite you to come and define this. October 11th at 2 pm will be our first meeting.

Who was there? Seattle Foundation, King County Labour Council , SCALLOPS, Antioch, City Club, Sierra Club, Compassionate Action Network, People for Puget Sound, Puget Sound Regional Council, UW Urban Planning and School of Public Health, Cascade Bicycle Club, Yes Magazine, Bellevue College, Sustainable Cascadia, were among those who attended. Sustainable Seattle too, of course.

Richard Conlin, City of Seattle's Council President gave the welcoming speech, noting that this initiative is timely, is needed, and is supported by the council. Cecile Andrews spoke to John de Graff's leadership in our community. John is the one bringing the Gross National Happiness initiative to Seattle.

John spoke about the inequity in our society. Who is hurting? How are they perceiving the harm? What are their needs? Part of this process will be to conduct surveys based on those Bhutan uses. The GHP provides a way to gauge this, and the material for policy formation. John spoke about how people responded to the surveys - about the levels of stress and imbalance in time and work in our lives today.

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

Sustainable Belltown May Events

Sustainable Seattle offers up this space for event coordination amongst like minded organizations and our fiscal sponsorees. For more information on getting your event posted or our fiscal sponsorship program please email info@sustainableseattle.org. The following is an announcement from Sustainable Belltown, a fiscal sponsoree.

Jump into a Sustainable Spring! These are the dates to hold and the events to attend for a really socially sustainable experience in Belltown!!



May 8th: 'Spring into Bed' garden party celebrating the year of urban agriculture. The City of Seattle has dedicated this day for each of the urban agriculture projects to relax and enjoy the company of our neighbors. Our garden party will occur at the site of our rooftop garden project at The Centennial Luxury Apartments!! In it's second year, these gardens bring sustainability and beauty to The Centennial. Bring your children or parents: meeting each other over refreshments. For all who enjoy the idea and practice of downtown/belltown gardening.

When: May 8th 1pm-4pm
Where: Centennial Apartments: 2515 Fourth Ave.
Who: Hosts Sustainable Belltown and Centennial Apartments
celebrating the grace of City gardening and our success in connecting food systems with social justice. (please see attached invitation).

May 18th: NMF open house: Friends of Belltown Gardens presentation of 'Large Project' proposal: restoration and preservation of the Three Landmarked Historic Cottages of Cottage Park.

When: May 18th 6:00-8:00pm
Where: Asian Resource Center: 1025 S. King Street 98104
Who: Department of Neighborhoods: City Review Team
With beautiful visual presentations and a brief informative presentation, we need our supporters to join us this evening: the turn out of broad community is crucial to our success. For more information on the project itself, please contact elizabeth (elizabeth@campbellcentral.org) or Liz Sheets of Friends of Belltown Gardens.

Racism, Prisons and the 13th Amendment

Daniel Atkinson, doctoral candidate at the University of Washington, lectured on his dissertation at the Northwest African American Museum on April 1, 2010. He visited Angola State Prison to conduct research on the role of music in the prison. His research uncovered a view of our society that he feels it is time to share.

2.4 million men are incarcerated in the US. Half are Black American males, while Black American males account for only 6.5% of the US population.

The 13^th Amendment reads “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Traditionally in this country, and especially in this prison, inmates are used for labor - labor for 2 to 22 cents an hour - labor that looks, tastes and feels too much like slave labor not to call it that. This labor leaves men without hope, without but one promise - of heaven in the afterlife. “Christ takes the ouch out of the pain” one prisoner told Atkinson.

What is institutional racism? Systematically breaking people down because of the color of their skin. Associating Black men with violence. Black people seen as not quite human- at the best, something a little less than equal. White kids dressing up in blackface. Attributing greatness to White people in genres created by the pain and suffering of the American Black experience -Elvis and Eminem as case in point.

Daniel Atkinson asks us to “realize where you fit into the equation - wake up. No more wasting of potential. Be aware of who you are, mind your manners. It is not that deep - treat others the way you want to be treated.”