Happiness

I was watching my neighbours' young and not so young children dancing at the new years's party. The thought that struck me is how much we are sold in to an external definition of happiness. Will these kids be happy when they grow up ? Will they be sabotaged by fitting into an external definition of happiness- in an environment where advertisements and consumerism increasingly seek to define to you how happy you should be....And what you should do to be happy. Considering that these rules are not exactly made by selfless do-gooders...

I guess there was one time when your parents and culture's definition of happiness and achievements was the only standard. What has changed is that there are too many voices, too many snake oil salesmen posing as purveyors of truth.

So many insidious voices selling ideas to make money, with little thought for the receivers long term happiness or impact on others. And we are getting programmed to listen to people who tell us how to live- more than to people who really care for their happiness and well being.The mythical tower of babel must look like a garden party compared to what modern society is getting to be.

Green accounting

 If you have never heard this term before- remember you heard this here first :-). Green accounting is to help consumers and other decision makers make a decision based on true costs of any item. In other words, to buy a CFC refrigerator( for example) may be cheaper in cost terms than a non-CFC refrigerator. But the true cost of the CFC refrigerator takes into account the long term and incidental costs and hence would be much higher.

What today's consumer lacks is the ability to make an informed decision. In my own life- was it better to continue with my old A/c or buy a new one which is more energy efficient ? Remember- the energy efficiency does not take into account the energy needed to produce the new one- OR the life cycle cost- including the disposal/post disposal pollution etc.

Some decisions are simpler to make- I bought a more expensive mobile on my credit card, rather than purchasing a cheaper one in cash- to buy a more expensive one later- because 1 mobile is less polluting than 2.

The Kyoto protocol, for all its inadequacy, makes a first step towards adding the cost of some kinds of pollution through its carbon credit trading.

What do you think ? What specific actions/criteria do you consider to make a green purchasing decision ? I think it would be wonderful to bring out a booklet which can help make consumers make decisions.

You can post your suggestions here or mail me at shyam.srivatsa@gmail.com. Dont worry- I will give you credit for any idea you post- the cause is more important than individuals.

This blog post was first made by me on an IBM internal blog on 26th december 2006