Gross National Happiness and environmental status in Bhutan

Bhutan’s Transition to Modernism

Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom, was undergoing a transformation, and it is now transitioning from its remote history to modernism. The country makes an effort to engage in trade and join the global community. In its development direction, the nation-state adheres to a policy and ideology known as Gross National Happiness (GNH) (Zurick 657). The idea evolved into a tool for fostering environmental preservation and human growth. The ideas are based on long-term methods that are driven by Buddhist ethics. Bhutanese approaches to governance and development policies have a direct effect on the country’s environmental conditions.

Gross National Happiness as a Development Approach

Bhutan uses happiness as a proxy for calculating prosperity rather than GDP. Since the 1980s, Bhutan did not consider Gross Domestic Product as the only method of measuring progress (Zurick 664). However, the country championed the gross national happiness as the new approach to development. The country measures the physical, spiritual, environmental and social health of its people and the surrounding environment. In the last 30 years, the GND approach considers preferences over material growth that sparking a global debate. The financial crisis and breakdown in financial systems, environmental destruction, and gross inequality helped the Buddhist nation to gauge people’s happiness.

GNH as a Path to Peace and Prosperity

The term GNH expresses distinct Buddhist perceptions as a process to earn peace and prosperity. The GNH is premised on the country to create necessary conditions enabling citizens to live a better life. The GNH concept supports the notion that pursued and achieved happiness within improved society context offers best possibilities to sustain happiness of individuals (Zurick 662). Ultimately, the concept emphasizes that the country addresses happiness through public policies. The country should make happiness as an explicit criterion to measure programs and project.

The Elegant Tribe Heaths

William Burchell, a botanist, visited the Table Mountain in 1810 and realized the existence of herbage, weeds, and bushes growing by the roadside. The botanist was in search of exotic plants around Cape Town and other settler colonies. The country has abounding beautiful plants and flowers. The gardens of inhabits comprise of a significant number of choicest productions. The gardens of flowers in Europe have great meaning and value (Van Sittert 105). The people show their taste in horticulture and felt the pride of hyacinths and tulips. The elegant productions growing on the hills are considered as mere weeds. A few exotic for sometimes grow in gardens but none of the elegant tribe of heath are cultivated. The Cape Town, since the 17th century, Cape Botany led the Metropolitan science practiced by the scientist from the colony. The artisan gardeners ran the botanical centers themselves since inception (Van Sittert 106).

Institutionalization of Botany and Flower Trade

The local botanist managed to come up with policies governing colony botany and wildflower trade. Since the 1880s, the indigenous flowers were on sale in Cape Town stores. Some of the bestselling entrepreneurs such as Adderley Street flower and were familiar with features of the urban landscape. The gradual institutionalization and indigenization of botany at the Cape manage to mobilize class constituency. The policies attempted to control the sale of exotic. The middle- class dominated the indigenous flower trade. Men and women were employed in flower farms part men too got employment. However, the Wild Flower Protection Acts aimed at preventing the sale of roots, plants, bulbs, flowers and indigenous species deemed in danger of extinction. There were some exceptions into the sale of the species through annual licenses and exhibitions (Van Sittert 113).

Works Cited

Van, Sittert L. “From ’Mere Weeds’ and ’Bosses’ to a Cape Floral Kingdom: The Re-Imagining of Indigenous Flora at the Cape, C.1890-1939.” Kronos: Journal of Cape History, 28.28, 2002, pp. 102-126.

Zurick, David. “Gross National Happiness and Environmental Status in Bhutan.” Geographical Review, 96.4, 2006, pp. 657-679.