3.3 RIGHT LIVELIHOOD

Introduction

Make students more aware of the tension between the universally present tendency to want to constantly increase our consumption level versus personal well-being. Students explore alternative ways to measure our well-being, such as the Happy Planet Index and Gross National Happiness and more. They then explore and try out alternative lifestyles such as the 4-day work week and zero-waste, off-grid and slow motion living.

Relevance

Why?

Livelihoods & consumption habits do not consider ethics and wellbeing

How?

Contemplate on consumption & what makes us happy

What?

Review GNH & other alternative welfare measures

SDG’s

SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth; SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production

Subjects

Human studies.

Open Learning Activities

Responsible (for) living

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Happiconomy

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Student page

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Key concepts

  • Do high levels of consumption improve human well-being?
  • Fair purchases
  • Happy Life
  • Alternative indicators at the national and international level
  • Values and ethics in economic life
  • Investment choices

Learning outcomes

  • Describes motivations behind livelihood expectations
  • Identifies & explains alternative welfare measures used around the world
  • Debates new welfare measures for community, regional & global level that support happiness & sustainability
  • Describes examples & outcomes of 4 day working week experiments / cases in different countries
  • Names collaborative consumption projects
  • Explains principles of ‘slow movement’
  • Describes concepts of zero waste and off-grid lifestyles
  • Understands principles of participatory budgeting
  • Visualizes & describes a world where cooperation, friendship, joy & living with nature are the main underlying values
  • Develops a personal vision for the balance of personal/professional life
  • Participates in group design process for a collaborative consumption project
  • Creates a list of personal welfare measures for own life
  • Identifies collaborate consumption & peer-to-peer networks in home region
  • Calculates an ecological footprint of his / her diet
  • Conducts an experiment of zero waste lifestyle for a period of time and reports to class / group
Last modified: Wednesday, 22 February 2023, 12:53 PM