Entries by Rabia Abrar
WEAll Weekly Update – December 3
Welcome to our weekly update! As part of our work to amplify the important work in the Wellbeing Economy movement, these WEAll Weekly Update blogs will share some of the latest and greatest updates from our membership and beyond. Please use the comment box to share any relevant updates from this week and keep the […]
A big week for the Wellbeing Economy movement: parliamentary debates and environmental law
This has been a week of big milestones / ‘firsts’ for the Wellbeing Economy movement – from being seriously debated in the UK Parliament to being recognised in law in the EU. Let’s dive into some of the highlights: The UK’s first ever Parliamentary Debate on a Wellbeing Economy On Tuesday, MP Caroline Lucas of […]
Happy Planet Index 2021 Launch Event – recap
By: Rabia Abrar On October 25, we held a launch event for the Happy Planet Index 2021, the 5th edition of an index that ranks countries based on how efficiently they use our limited ecological resources to live long, happy lives. What is the Happy Planet Index? Nic Marks kicked things off by explaining why […]
The latest Happy Planet Index: Costa Rica tops the list, beating Western economies on sustainable wellbeing
WEAll revealed the latest rankings of the Happy Planet Index (HPI) today, which compare countries by how efficiently they are creating long, happy lives using our limited environmental resources. The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is the leading global measure of ‘sustainable wellbeing’. It measures ‘efficiency’, using three indicators: Wellbeing – how satisfied people are with […]
Social Bite: Social Housing and the Wellbeing Economy
By Calum Rosie Calum Rosie is a writer based in Edinburgh, and is a correspondent for Immigration Advice Service. He writes about his personal views on social housing as it relates to a Wellbeing Economy, for WEAll’s ‘Wellbeing Economy Correspondents’ guest blog series. Wellbeing Economy Correspondents is a series highlighting the first-hand experiences of individuals who […]
How the Philippines is Using ‘Community Pantries’ to Address Socioeconomic Inequalities Amid the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about many revelations that forced everyone to reassess. Amidst the challenges and difficulties, it showed that a holistic and unified approach trumped a profit-centred individualistic mindset. Rather than just striving to return to “normal”, we are seeing more countries promising to build back better. In fact, thanks to vaccinations, a transition […]
What might social media look like in a Wellbeing Economy?
by: Rabia Abrar Are you a bit uncomfortable using Facebook and other social media platforms these days – but don’t feel like you can stop using them? 😰 You’re not alone! After all, one of our five universal human needs is connection! That’s why we’re all on social media platforms to begin with. With all […]
A ‘Market for Values’ as an instrument for human and ecological wellbeing
by: Marco Senatore Many have said that after COVID-19, the world will have to embrace a totally new path. We will need new instruments to make this happen. The main reason why our current market economies do not serve human beings is, in a nutshell, the following: the means have become the ends. That is […]
Using green technology to foster technology transfers in Africa
By Xola Keswa Today, Africa has the youngest population in the world. Why is this important to note? Because the Earth is inherited by the young people of the world. Today, young Africans are not faced with the same threats that threatened their ancestors such as lions or other wild animals. Instead, we face our […]
Visions of a Wellbeing Economy: Switzerland
Wohlbefinde – “Wellbeing” Eh Ökonomie fürs Wohlbefinde – “A Wellbeing Economy” Swiss German Switzerland is a country that always scores very high in rankings such as “the world’s happiest countries” and “best standards of living”, and that people living elsewhere often associate with beautiful nature, tasty chocolate, and very expensive prices. In many ways, Switzerland […]
Where do we go from here?
By: Rabia Abrar Over the last 24 hours, like everyone else, I’ve cycled through an overwhelming series of emotions: disbelief, frustration, anger, helplessness, sadness, dread. I felt especially sad because, while yesterday’s violent acts of white supremacy in Washington D.C. are news, white supremacy and the institutional and systemic racism1 that enables it, is far from new. […]
Wrapping Up 2020: WEAll Made It!
It goes without saying that this has been a difficult year for everyone. The global pandemic has made the injustice, unsustainability, and fragility of our current economic system clearer than ever – and exposed the urgency of transforming our economic system. The good news is that WEAll has made significant progress this year in our […]
Visions of a Wellbeing Economy: Bulgaria
By Izabela Ivanova Velikova Визии за Благополучната Икономика в България “Visions for the Wellbeing Economy in Bulgaria” Bulgarian (sounds like /vizii/ /za/ /blagopoluchnata/ /ikonomika/ /v/ /bulgaria/) Благополучна “Wellbeing” Bulgarian (sounds like /blagopoluchna/) Being a country with a 14 century history, Bulgaria has gone through many transformations, which inevitably had their impact on the way that […]
Visions of a Wellbeing Economy: Nigeria
By: Avwerosuoghene Onobrakpeya for Swedish Organization for Global Health (SOGH) A multi-diverse country, made up of over 200 million citizens, and about 250 ethnic groups, where more than 500 languages are spoken. This is Nigeria. And so, we have coined many ways of describing ‘wellbeing’. To mention just a few: The Yorubas call it Alafia, […]
Visions of a Wellbeing Economy: Greece
By: Anna Chrysopoulou Κοινωνική ευημερία: collective wellbeing (sounds like /kee-no-nee-kee/ /e-vee-me-ree-ah/) Οικονομία της ευτυχίας: Wellbeing Economy (sounds like /oy-kon-o-me-ah/ /tis/ / ef-tee-hee-ahs/) Greece is a country with several linguistic terms to define the concept of ‘wellbeing’: ευημερία (e-vee-me-ree-ah), ευ ζην (ev zeen), and ευδαιμονία (ev-de-mo-nee-ah). The latter, especially, appears extensively in Greek ethics and […]
The wellbeing economy and an epic journey to Bhutan on a bicycle
By: Christopher Boyce I’d been writing about wellbeing for years. In fact, I’d published loads on the subject; an ‘expert’ you might say. Yet, the really curious thing was that when I thought about my own life, how I spent my time (mostly working), whether I had neighbours I could rely upon (eerily quiet stairwells), […]
Enough is Enough: Raising Our Voices around COP26
by Rabia Abrar COP26, the UN Global Climate Summit, was originally meant to have taken place in Glasgow starting this Monday – but it was delayed until next year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the event has been delayed, the urgency to address the climate crisis remains the same. ‘Unusual suspects’, as some may […]
Life-Centered (Wellbeing) Economics for the 21st Century
by: Sandra Waddock There is a lot of talk today about bouncing ‘back’ or returning to what passed for normal before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the world and everyone’s lives. But there is a huge problem with that idea. By the nature of complexity and wicked problems in social systems, complex systems simply cannot return to prior states once change […]
People and Planet before Profit? A framework to compare the big ideas
by: Erinch Sahan A fundamental change is sweeping across the business world. Big ideas are spreading, new slogans being echoed, and the very purpose of business being questioned. A host of concepts and initiatives are driving this conversation. From BCorps to Social Enterprise, Cooperatives to Shared Value, the market-place of ideas is heating up. These are […]
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