Next January, the state of Alaska will celebrate its 50th birthday, and the event is already generating some great introspection about who we are, how we got here, and where we go from here. Central to all of this is the question of how we are doing at present.
Using the annual "Gross State Product" (GSP) to measure the state-of-the-state, things look pretty good. After historic booms and busts in fur, gold and fish, Alaska's annual GSP increased from a few hundred million dollars at statehood to over $40 billion today. Almost all of this economic expansion came after Prudhoe Bay and the pipeline came online in 1977.
But is this the best way to measure how we are doing as a society? In this sort of simplistic economics, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, clear-cutting of our coastal forests and increased cigarette sales were all positive contributions to Alaska economy and society, as these generated a lot of cash flow -- despite the enormous environmental and social costs. Conventional economics fails to account for resource depletion, lost cultures, pollution, habitat damage, climate change, health impacts, economic inequality and social corrosion. In short, conventional economics doesn't measure what we value most -- quality of life.
Fortunately, there are better ways of measuring progress and sustainable economic well-being. One is the "Genuine Progress Indicator" (GPI), developed by "Redefining Progress" (www.rprogress.org). GPI itemizes negative expenditures/costs from environmental degradation, auto accidents, resource depletion, carbon emissions, pollution, crime, health costs, lost leisure time, etc., and deducts these from positive economic contributions such as personal consumption, capital investment, higher education, housework and parenting, volunteerism, and so forth. The balance is the GPI. The GPI shows that well over half of the current U.S. economy is nonproductive and unsustainable.
Another fascinating measure of real progress was developed by the Himalayan nation of Bhutan. Decades ago, the government there rejected the conventional economic measure of "Gross Domestic Product" in favor of what they call the "Gross National Happiness". The four fundamentals of GNH are equity, culture, environment and governance -- nothing whatsoever about economic activity. Such indicators represent a new paradigm in socioeconomic thinking -- holistic measures of real progress that include environment, social integrity, equity, health, and contentment.
And on those accounts, how is Alaska doing at 50? What is Alaska's Genuine Progress Indicator or our Gross State Happiness? On the positive side, after statehood Alaska had an increase in cash flow, educational opportunity, health care and other social amenities. On the negative side, we've had increases in resource depletion, violent crime, suicide, substance abuse, pollution, damaged fish and wildlife habitat, lost languages, cancer rates and traffic congestion. While we collect our oil dividend checks, our natural capital degrades due to global warming caused, in part, by the oil we produce. We have over-exploited and exported much of our natural capital -- minerals, oil and gas, forests and fish -- and to an extent, become the very "looted land" we sought to avoid through statehood.
Get-rich-quick corporate colonialists still see Alaska as a last frontier for mega-development projects -- the Pebble mine, Bristol Bay oil, Arctic Ocean oil, NPRA, ANWR, more timber from the Tongass, more fish from the Bering Sea -- without regard for the resulting cumulative deterioration of Alaska's natural capital.
Alaska at 50 is still the most wonderful place on Earth, but will it still be so on its 100th birthday? To ensure such, we would be well advised to begin thinking in terms of our gross state "happiness" instead of our gross state "product." Clearly we need shelter, food, water, heat and employment. But what else do we really want and need? How can we be truly better off than before? Will these mega-development projects help or hurt our Genuine Progress Indicator or our Gross State Happiness? And, what is the role of government in all of this?
These are some of the questions we will all be asking come our 50th birthday. Our answers will tell us much about our next 50 years.
Rick Steiner is a professor and conservation specialist at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
By RICK STEINER