摘要：The world is in a state of crisis. At the height of this crisis is a contradiction of extreme and increasing consumption,despite accelerating depletion of natural resources and species extinction. The truth has been visible for decades, yetbehavioral transformations so urgently required to address the problems are not occurring fast enough. In a worldwhere the economic-haves dictate more strongly than the economic-have-nots, it is easy for this overwhelmingminority of the earth’s population to underestimate the severity of the global situation based on their own level ofcomfortable living (Fien and Maclean , 2000; Keating, 1993 ). Over 80% of the world’s six billion lives are lived inconditions of desolating discomfort – a discomfort exacerbated by the very access to comfort enjoyed by less thanone-fifth of the global population. Disparity of wealth among inhabitants, ecological degradation, and overall socialhealth and well being are considered externalities in this equation. Being forced to choose between economic wellbeing and ecological and social well-being is not only a false dichotomy, but it also negates the need to developintegrated strategies for problem solving. Bearing this in mind, it is imperative to build an approach to measuringwell-being that fuses economic, ecological, and social criteria in an integrated and global manner. This is the firststep in the move towards sustainability.
