Happiness and the Organic Lifestyle in the Himalayas

We're often discussing very negative news stories on this blog, and it can be nice to have a change of pace and theme sometimes to talk about something more positive. Coincidentally, it seems that when I have something positive to say, it's always about the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan. It's the same this week, as Bhutan have just announced that they intend to be the first country to become entirely organic, hopefully within the next decade.

We've previously discussed Bhutan's use of the Gross National Happiness concept to replace the more traditional economic measure of wellbeing that is Gross Domestic Product. The idea is that simply having more and more money is not a worthwhile measurement of the success of society as a whole – money should be seen only as a conduit to a greater goal of happiness that needs to be partially achieved through non-monetary means, and which can be measured and indicated in a whole variety of ways. This drive towards becoming a pesticide-free country is part of this plan to increase happiness.

The government believes that the nation will be happier eating organic food grown using the traditional methods of Bhutanese agriculture that worked so well for so long in the country's history. This kind of agriculture will give people a connection to their traditional culture, as well as potentially keeping them healthier in the long run due to the exclusion of possibly harmful toxins from the food chain. More importantly, Bhutan believes it can still grow enough food to feed itself in this way (and presumably a little extra to export for foreign currency), allowing it to continue to live as self-sufficiently as possible.

Some critics are worried that Bhutan may be stretching itself too far, however. They argue that the high, sloped lands of the Himalaya region are difficult enough to grow food on in the first place, and that they will be further damaged in the coming years by the effects of climate change. Consequently, they argue, Bhutan will need all the help it can get to grow food for its people, and if that help includes chemical fertilizers and pesticides then there is nothing wrong with that. They may have a point, and Bhutan will indeed need to be careful about the way it approaches this transition. But, as we have previously discussed in this blog when talking about the lies of companies like Monsanto, organic growing methods have consistently proved to yield roughly the same amount as most industrial agricultural plantations – if this trend continues, and if the country uses local plant species that are well-suited to the local soil, Bhutan will have nothing to worry about.

We will be watching this experiment closely and with great interest. If they succeed it will be a great example to all of us of the powers of organic agriculture and the possibility of jettisoning our current extremely wasteful and hazardous industrial methods of growing food. And of course, it will be a further sign of the possibilities of Gross National Happiness, which will hopefully begin to spread across the world as the prime measurement for the success or failure of societies. We wish Bhutan all the best in their quest to create a happy and healthy life for all of their citizens.

[ organic food, himalayan nation, traditional culture, gros national happiness, gross domestic product, pesticide-free country ]