Happy Planet Index

I try to catch the Wired News column by The Luddite whenever I can, and his latest column refers to an index created by the UK-based New Economics Foundation called the Happy Planet Index. For those skeptics who will look at the list and wonder how developed countries do so poorly, the description of the index is that it measures "the ecological efficiency with which human well-being is delivered around the world". Of course, like most studies of this type, there's bound to be an agenda, right? Right - the NEF discloses the sponsor, Friends of the Earth, right up front.

So is this index worth anything? I guess that depends on whether you buy into the idea that a population's well-being should be measured against consumption of resources. It's interesting that the countries most similar to the U.S. in terms of ecological footprint, according to this study, aren't Western European nations like I would have guessed, but several of the smaller Persian Gulf nations. Also somewhat surprising: Scandinavian countries aren't too far behind us in this category.