Excerpts from a statement from the Prime Minister of Bhutan, H.E. Jigmi Y. Thinley, in preparation to the 2nd of April debate on GNH at the United Nations. That total misguided reliance on GDP was never clearer than in the global economic collapse of 2008-09 when the world's leaders almost unanimously decided that the most important thing...

Excerpts from a statement from the Prime Minister of Bhutan, H.E. Jigmi Y. Thinley, in preparation to the 2nd of April debate on GNH at the United Nations. In fact, many things that make GDP grow, and that are therefore conventionally (and misleadingly) counted as positive signs of an expanding economy, actually signify a decline in wellb...

In July 2011, the UN General Assembly resolution about ‟Happiness: towards a holistic approach to development,” introduced by the Kingdom of Bhutan was adopted unanimously and warmly applauded by the 193-member states. On the forthcoming 2nd of April a debate, to which I shall participate, will be held at the UN headquarters in NY, under the ...

Excerpts from Matthieu Ricard's preface to Didier Ruef's ‟Recycle” The future does not hurt� for the moment. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama has repeatedly stressed, interdependence is a key concept in Buddhism that leads to a profound under¬standing of the nature of reality and an awareness of the universal responsibility that we bear al...

Excerpts from Matthieu Ricard's preface to Didier Ruef's ‟Recycle” Blind Selfishness Imagine a damaged ship in which it would be necessary to use all the power of the engines to pump the water out from its holds. Where first class passengers want to continue to use air conditioning and other facilities, and where the sole concern of second...

Excerpts from Matthieu Ricard's preface to Didier Ruef's ‟Recycle” The high price of materialistic values An American psychologist Tim Kasser and his colleagues at the University of Rochester have shown, through studies spanning two decades and within a representative sample of the population, that individuals who focused their lives on we...

Excerpts from Matthieu Ricard's preface to Didier Ruef's ‟Recycle” As Didier Ruef wrote, ‟While the re-use and recovery of waste is part of everyday life in developing countries, our consumer society has turned waste into garbage, by taking away its economic value.” I have witnessed this transformation in a country that 25 years ago had...

Excerpts from Matthieu Ricard's preface to Didier Ruef's ‟Recycle” Recently, I had the opportunity to swim in the middle of around thirty whale-sharks off the Mexican coast. But amidst the sun's rays that lit up the shimmering ocean and the sharks around us, floating like great bubbles of mineral water were plastic bags and waste of all s...

Excerpts from Matthieu Ricard's preface to Didier Ruef's « Recycle » de Didier Ruef) From prehistoric tools to the flooding of waste� Some animals have learned to use and even shape rudimentary tools. Homo habilis generalized tool making and Homo sapiens has raised this production to a level of sophistication barely thinkable. The numbe...

Tibetan and Bhutanese monks from Shechen Monastery in Nepal enjoy the snow on a summit overlooking Lake Geneva in Switzerland during a European tour of sacred dances. /MR 474