October 5, 2007 Chautauqua

From the Editor's Computer

I was recently reading about Kerala in India. This tiny area, with a population of over 31 million, is roughly comparable in size to Vancouver Island and located on the southwestern tip of India. Kerala is almost an anomaly in India as a whole as quality of life indicators (life expentancy, literacy, health care, fertility rates, etc) rank Kerala in with the First World nations such as Canada and Japan. However, its low Gross Domestic Product places it firmly with the rest of the Third World nations.

An election in 1957 resulted in a communist led government which enacted a number of social and land reforms that favoured the labourers and rural tenants such as removing the caste system and giving land to the landless poor. Subsequent governments have continued the trend of social reform creating an equitable society with very little poverty. Fair price shops are within walking distance of each and every home, there is a commitment to education and libraries, health care centres are also within walking distance of every home, self-employment loans are readily available and there is no taxation for the self-employed.

Known as the Kerala Phenomenon - high human development, low economic development - is the area’s greatest paradox. Combining gender equality with grassroots democracy and a government supported social net, Kerala has emerged with a highly sustainable society.

This does not mean that the area is without problems (suicide, unemployment)...but that they have found unique ways to live a quality of life that surpasses what one would expect in a way that has the least impact on the environment and on each other. They did not accept the status quo and were willing to think outside the box.

How would you measure the real quality of your life? What changes need made to increase that quality for you? Think outside the box!

Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth by Jim Merkel (New Society Publishers 2003)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala

Beth

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