If You Want Sustainability – Change the Definition of Wealth.

 

Last night, I had the privilege of attending a corporate sustainability function that was held at the ParkRoyal Marina Bay. The event turned out to be intellectually stimulating as I had the chance to meet with people who had dedicated their careers to making the planet to being more sustainable and one of the quirkiest but most poignant part of the event came in the form of the snacks – the hotel had utilised its urban farm as well using “plant-based” meats.

 

 Sustainability, has unfortunately, only become a “pressing” issue in the last two decades, when big corporates and governments have thrown money at the issue. Prior to this, environmental concerns were primarily the focus of fringe groups (“tree-huggers”) and academics. However, thanks several years of unexplainable weather patterns in the richer parts of the planet for the big corporates to see that they had to be seen to be sustainable in their business practices. Hence, you get the likes of Shell going out of its way to cater to things like electric vehicles.

Environmentalism has also been something of a lightning rod in the “West-versus-East” debate. Whenever the Western World talked about the environment, the East would always take this it as the Western world telling the East that it was not allowed to get rich.

Thankfully things are changing and we in the developing world are starting to understand that being worried about the environment is not a Western fad. How did that happen? The answer is simple – the devastating effects of environmental damage started to hit home. For example, it has taken over two decades of having to endure the annual “haze” to understand that a screwed-up environment actually screws us up. It’s no point having lots of money if you can’t breathe.

While the efforts to promote sustainability are welcome, I believe that we need to look further and change our very definition of wealth and development. The argument is simple. To many of us are placed in a situation where we are constantly chasing the almighty dollar and as a result, we end up living unsustainable lifestyles that are not good for us and by extension the planet.

I take myself as an example. I am by most definitions in a relatively “OK” situation (Managerial position in a professional firm.) I’ve passed the age where I am chasing wealth and as much as I tell myself I just want to pay my bills and don’t need a lot; the truth is that I need to live an unsustainable lifestyle just to stay in the game. What do I do that’s unsustainable? I spend more time than I should at a desk worrying about all sorts of things in the name of keeping my employer in a position where he can pay my salary. This in turn means I exercise less than I should and sleep less than I should. Plus, I live in Singapore where food is readily available, hence there’s the temptation to eat and drink more of the things that the body does not need.

I am actually quite OK in as much as I’ve managed to convince my employer that I should spend most of my time out of the office, delivering things and thus walking around. I am lucky in the sense that I am now in a situation where I leave the office when I should (which in the modern context is considered early). Being on call twenty-four/seven is almost expected if you want to make it in corporate.

There are plenty of people who like this way of life. However, we’ve noticed things like mental health becoming part of the talking points. It’s not that mental health issues are recent inventions or fashions. It’s merely that there have been too many stories of people simply losing it.

Again, the question remains – why do people put up with situations or lifestyles and environments that are clearly unstable? The answer is simple – because too many of us think there will be a monetary payoff sometime in the future. We are conditioned to put up with situations that are against the natural order because we think it will make us rich. Then, if you live in a place like Singapore, where the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figure is divine, you’ll find the most powerful institution pushing you to live in an unsustainable way so that the GDP goals are achieved.

Hence you have countries that are rich on paper but filled with miserable people. How do you change that situation?

One country that seems to be trying to avoid the “wealth-worship” trap is Bhutan, which works on the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH). Bhutan is on paper ranks towards the bottom of the GDP leagues. As a former Prime Minister pointed out – the total GDP of Bhutan is US$ 2,000,000 and he acknowledged in his TED talk that there were individuals in the audience worth significantly more.

While Bhutan is not “rich” in the sense that it does not have a high GDP or vast foreign currency reserves, it seems to have found a way to keep its citizens happy. A major issue in Bhutan is a poor chili harvest and if you visit any random Bhutanese town, you’ll find that the jails are inevitably empty. Let’s remember that “Democratic Freedom” had to be forced upon the Bhutanese people when their fourth king insisted on elections and the monarchy reverting to a constitutional one.

Now, this is not to say that the Bhutanese government is perfect. However, given that this tiny country trapped between the two of the worlds’ worst polluters has found a way to remain peaceful, clean (only carbon negative place on the globe) and be free of starving people, there’s something to be said for the concept of GNH.

What is GNH? Well, there are several measurements that make up “happiness.” Environmental, cultural and psychological well being are given as much importance as material gain.

 

 https://ophi.org.uk/policy/gross-national-happiness-index/

This is not to say that the Bhutanese are against having money. As a tourist in Bhutan, it becomes clear that your purpose in the nation is to contribute foreign currency. Bhutan has, from a materialistic point, developed very slowly (admittedly, I am from Singapore and most places don’t develop Singapore style – in a hurry).

However, Bhutan has managed to avoid many of the issues that nations that focus on material wealth suffer from. Bhutanese do not stress out of health care costs for example and during the height of the global pandemic, Bhutan had a total of 21 deaths from Covid, which is an achievement when you consider so much of what Bhutan gets from outside world is from India, which had over half a million deaths. There are no beggars in Bhutan or old people rummaging through the rubbish to feed themselves.