What Gets Measured Gets Fixed, so Measure the Right Things

Article PhotoEditor’s Note: Sightline Institute just released their third annual Cascadia Scorecard, a publication reporting on the state of human and environmental health in the Pacific Northwest. Through seven key indicators, they examine present concerns, and offer practical vision for a prosperous future. Last year, we published an excerpt from their Sprawl & Health chapter, and one year later we’re returning to the topic to see what this year’s findings can tell us about the evolution of health and the environment, regionally and beyond. The following is an excerpt from the Introduction and Health chapters of Cascadia Scorecard 2007. ———————————————- contributed by Sightline Institute What if your bathroom scale has been wrong all along? Day after day, you step on, and take comfort—or sigh with disappointment—at the reading. But what if it’s been telling you the poundage of some other person? Or, perhaps, the average of 30 strangers, picked seemingly at random? You might try to exchange your scale for one that works; or you might just toss it in the trash. Regardless, you’d certainly stop consulting it. Now consider the Dow Jones industrial average. The Dow is the king of stock indicators—the bathroom scale of the global economy. Yet the… (more)

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Worldchanging Guests at 9:13 AM)