---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 12:41:41 -0800 From: Simon Bullock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: uk-policy New website - redefining progress, http://www.foe.co.uk/progress ** http://www.foe.co.uk/progress ** Friends of the Earth has just launched a new interactive website which looks at new indicators of progress. Politicians and policy makers are in general agreement that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a poor indicator of progress, being a brute measure of the size of the economy. Achieving sustainable development will require much greater scrutiny of the "quality" of economic activity, and not just measures of its quantity. We need new indicators of progress. But constructing them is difficult - as any indicator will be laden with value judgements as to what constitutes "progress". This new website looks at the most advanced alternative indicator - the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW). It explains how ISEW is constructed, and then allows users to change the assumption which underpin the index to create indices of their own. The results of this are shown - averaged over all users, and also disaggregated enabling the comparison of the results of business people with academics, environmentalists with policy makers. In our view this site shows that the ISEW is agood basis on which to construct alternative indicators. We invite you to look at this website, and feed into it the values which you believe should inform new indicators of progress - through the interactive part of the site, and also through the site's discussion group. Your comments and suggestions will help us to build up and show a picture of the baseline goals and aims for sustainable economic policy. This website was developed by Friends of the Earth, with the Centre for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey and the New Economics Foundation. Regards, Simon Bullock -- Simon Bullock Sustainable Development Research Unit Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) 26-28 Underwood Street, London, N1 7JQ, UK Tel: (+44) 0171 566 1683 Fax: (+44) 0171 490 0881 http://www.foe.co.uk/progress ------------------------------------------------------------- Posted to uk-policy, a service of Nexus. http://www.netnexus.org/ Hosting and email provided by new media consultants On-Line Publishing
