Customer Reviews

Bhutan - Gross National Happiness

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

this is a superbly produced DVD on a little known part of the world, the remote and spectacular Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan, which deserves to be much better known. This is because its national development policy is a model for global sustainable development. Years ago the King of Bhutan declared he was more interested in the GNH, the Gross National Happiness of his people than the GNP, gross national product of the economy. What followed was a serious commitment to work out an effective national development policy that was not based solely on economics. Other values, such as sustainable environment, cultural impact, and affect on good governance are equally weighted with economic factors. What is poignantly and clearly presented is a most effective model that the rest of the world would do well to emulate. Also the landscape and the wildlife are all stunning, as is the unbroken tradition of Vajrayana buddhism. A gem of a dvd. great stocking stuffer for the holidays!

At a time when Gross National Product (GNP) is less and less a measure of real progress, the attempt by the tiny kingdom of Bhutan to change its national focus to something more sustainable and sustaining - Gross National Happiness (GNH) - serves as an inspiration to the rest of the world. This wonderfully produced DVD traces an effort to create a national development policy that is based on more than production and consumption. Bhutan's Gross National Happiness includes measurements like sustainable environment, the preservation of the culture, health and education levels, as well as economics and governance. We in the West tend to think of our way of life as the only valid one, but as we experience the mounting problems that it produces, perhaps we need to look elsewhere for direction. The DVD offers an excellent insight into a fuller, more comprehensive way of organizing human interactions. It should be included in the important conversation now taking place about the future of our world.

The video is fine. Very informative, but the movie we received was produced the non-US format. We have to watch it on the computer. My newer DVD and Tivo player didn't recognized it. I wish it would have made the format more obvious.

The DVD is supposed to play on machines from all regions but the disc I got would not play on any of my region one machines.