China's even doing it before we are... how sick.
"Green GDP system to debut in 3-5 years in China
The Chinese government is working on the criteria and indexes of a green GDP, which deducts the cost of environmental damage and resources consumption from the traditional gross domestic product, and the new set of criteria is expected to be finished in three to five years."
http://english.people.com.cn/200403/11/eng20040311_137244.shtml
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When I first heard of this concept a few years ago, it really struck me as a good way to actually figure out the real GDP. The problem with current GDP is that it counts ALL economic activity as "growth" and thus, the cost of cleaning up toxic spills, for example, is added to the GDP... In truth, yes it is an "economic benefit" because you get to pay workers, but it doesn't contribute to an actual quality of life index (which is what GDP generally purports to be), because you could be making people ultra sick, but because they're spending money on doctor visits and medication, it's added as a POSITIVE to the GDP instead of a negative.
That just sickens me that China is doing this before the US. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather live here than China. As shitty as it is here, it's worse in China. But at least they're realizing some of these issues on a surface level (if not working towards a deeper solution)... We don't even attempt to give a shit.
The Chinese government is working on the criteria and indexes of a green GDP, which deducts the cost of environmental damage and resources consumption from the traditional gross domestic product, and the new set of criteria is expected to be finished in three to five years."
http://english.people.com.cn/200403/11/eng20040311_137244.shtml
---
When I first heard of this concept a few years ago, it really struck me as a good way to actually figure out the real GDP. The problem with current GDP is that it counts ALL economic activity as "growth" and thus, the cost of cleaning up toxic spills, for example, is added to the GDP... In truth, yes it is an "economic benefit" because you get to pay workers, but it doesn't contribute to an actual quality of life index (which is what GDP generally purports to be), because you could be making people ultra sick, but because they're spending money on doctor visits and medication, it's added as a POSITIVE to the GDP instead of a negative.
That just sickens me that China is doing this before the US. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather live here than China. As shitty as it is here, it's worse in China. But at least they're realizing some of these issues on a surface level (if not working towards a deeper solution)... We don't even attempt to give a shit.