How Cuba Became a 'Happy' Country

Via the Wall Street Journal:

In what league does Iraq beat Britain, Haiti beat the United States, and Afghanistan beat Denmark? Political corruption? Violent crime? Temperature? No, welcome to the weird and wonderful world of the Happy Planet Index. It is a little window into the way many environmentalists think.

As they say, read the whole thing.

Here is a link to the latest "Happy Planet" report. According to the Happy Planet Index, the best of all possible countries would have the well-being of the people of Denmark, the life expectancy of the Japanese and the ecological footprint of Afghanistan. Putting all these factors together, the ideal places to live are Costa Rica and Viet Nam with Colombia, Belize and El Salvador close behind. 

If you want a "Happy Planet" you definitely don’t want to live in the United States.

Let it be noted that the Happy Planet people are British, living in England rather than the countries, like Afghanistan, that they are happy to promote. A comment from one of the readers of the Wall Street Journal article summarizes these people perfectly.

Not long ago, I lived for a year with a family of subsistence farmers in southern Africa. I learned first-hand, every day, how arduous and circumscribed their lives are. But we sure were ecologically sensitive -- you can't use much water when you have to walk half a mile to get it.

Soon after I returned, I was hired by the WSJ to interview, among others, one of America's most prominent environmentalist/businessmen. He talked at length about his excitement over Cuba. With no money coming from the former Soviet Union, there was no gas or oil. So farmers were forced to plow with oxen. Wasn't that a wonderful, sustainable way of life? I thought of my African family and thought, "Not so much."

In fact, he went on, he was so interested in the lessons we could learn, he was going to visit Cuba soon to see the wonderfulness for himself. But first, he was flying first class to Italy to go fishing in the mountains with some friends for a week.

All I could think was that sometimes, irony is too cheap to even comment upon.