1. As we enter the new millennium: How are we doing as Canadians?

1. Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice de progrès véritable - AtlantiqueThe Heart and Stroke Foundation of New Brunswick6th Workplace Wellness ConferenceEconomics as if People Mattered

2. 1. As we enter the new millennium:How are we doing as Canadians? • Are we better off or worse off than our parents? • Are our communities safer and stronger? • Are we healthier and wiser? • Are our jobs and livelihoods more secure? • Are our air and water cleaner? • Are our natural resources healthier? • Are we leaving Canada a better place for our children?

3. What kind of world are we leaving to our children?We have more “stuff”……BUT • The natural world -- some disturbing signs: • Less fish in the oceans • Fewer old forests • Depleted soils • Fewer species of animals and plants • Are we leaving our children a poorer natural world? • A dangerously warming world?

4. What kind of world are we leaving to our children? • … And some disturbing socio-economic signs: • A more insecure world -- less safe, more fearful • Declining job security and real incomes for many • Greater inequality and more child poverty • Higher rates of stress, obesity, childhood asthma • Voluntary activity declining • Is this progress……..?

5. Economics as if People Didn’t Matter We currently measure how well off we are as a society by how fast the economy is growing. The language of health: A growing economy is “robust” “healthy” “dynamic.” If people spend less money, consumer confidence is “weak.” If economy shrinks, we have a “depression”

6. Current Measures of Wellbeing Based on GDP: • Count crime, war, sickness, pollution, addiction and stress as contributions to economic growth and prosperity. • Count the depletion of our natural resources as gain. The more trees we cut down, the more fish we catch, the more fossil fuels we burn, the faster the economy will grow.

7. Current Measures of Wellbeing • Ignore the value of voluntary work and unpaid household work. • Count longer work hours as contributions to economic growth and prosperity. • Ignore the value of free time. • Assign no value to health, security, wisdom, environmental quality or strong communities.

8. Current Measures of Wellbeing • Give no value to equity: The economy can grow even as inequality and poverty increase = 1990s • In sum: Make no distinction between economic activities that create benefit and those that cause harm: Misleading signals to policy makers • “More” is always “better” when GDP is used to measure wellbeing

9. This impacts workplace wellness • Measuring success materialistically (income, possessions, “getting ahead”)/ working poor • Both lead to culture of long hours, dual earners, women’s double burden of paid + unpaid work • In turn leads to stress, loss of free time, less time with children, physical inactivity, obesity (StatCan), voluntary activity down 4% in N.B.

10. Total Work Hours, Couple with Children, Canada, 1900 and 2000 1900 2000 Male, paid work 58.5 42 Female, paid work -- 36.5 Male, unpaid work N.A. 22.4 Female, unpaid work 56 33.6 Total work hours 114.5 134.5

11. Indicators are Powerful • What we measure: - reflects what we value as a society; - determines what makes it onto the policy agenda. • E.g.: Family-friendly work arrangements (cf Scandinavia) • E.g.: Voluntary work decline • Analogy of student assignments

12. All that is economics as if people didn't matter. Robert Kennedy: “Too much and too long, we have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things....The (GDP) counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

13. There is a better way! Four hundred leading economists, including Nobel Laureates, said: “Since the GDP measures only the quantity of market activity without accounting for the social and ecological costs involved, it is both inadequate and misleading as a measure of true prosperity....New indicators of progress are urgently needed to guide our society....The Genuine Progress Index (GPI) is an important step in this direction.”

14. ECONOMICS as if PEOPLE MATTERED • GPI Atlantic founded 1997 to address that need: independent non-profit. • Mandate: Create better measures of progress • Nova Scotia pilot project for Canada, working closely with Statistics Canada • Can provide more accurate and comprehensive measures of workplace wellness

15. Measuring Genuine Progress In the Genuine Progress Index (GPI): • Natural resources are seen as capital assets subject to depreciation and requiring re-investment. • Crime, sickness, disasters and pollution clean up are counted as costs rather than contributions to well-being. • Voluntary work, unpaid household work, free time, health, educational attainment are valued.

16. Measuring Genuine Progress In the Genuine Progress Index (GPI): • Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, crime, poverty, ecological footprint are signs of genuine progress that make the index rise. Unlike measures based on GDP, "less" is sometimes "better" in the GPI. • Growing equity makes the GPI go up.

17. Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index: Twenty-two Components Natural Capital: • Soils and Agriculture • Forests • Marine Environment/Fisheries • Water Resources / Water Quality • Nonrenewable Subsoil Assets

18. Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index: Twenty-two Components Environment: • Greenhouse Gas Emissions • Sustainable Transportation • Ecological Footprint Analysis • Air Quality • Solid Waste

19. Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index: Twenty-two Components Time Use: • Value of Civic and Voluntary Work • Value of Unpaid Housework & Childcare • Work Time and Underemployment • Value of Leisure Time = Vital issues for Workplace Wellness

20. Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index: Twenty-two Components Socioeconomic: • Income Distribution • Debt, External Borrowing and Capital Movements • Valuations of Durability • Composite Livelihood Security Index

21. Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index: Twenty-two Components Social Capital: • Health and Wellness (5 reports) • Educational Attainment • Costs of Crime • Human Freedom Index

22. Work to Date • 35 full reports: 13 of 22 components complete • Community GPI (two rural communities) • Beyond Nova Scotia • National Round Table, Health Canada • Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, BC • Replications (e.g. Cost of Obesity in N.B.) • Press and policy penetration

23. Partnerships • Statistics Canada, Environment Canada, National Crime Prevention Centre, Canadian Population Health Initiative, HRDC, many community groups • Dalhousie Univ. Population Health Research Unit • St. Mary’s University Time Use Research Program • Maritime Centre of Excellence for Womens Health • Cape Breton Wellness Centre, UCCB

24. Examples of GPI Results for NB: Valuing Voluntary Work • New Brunswickers contribute 105 million hrs/yr • Equivalent of 55,000 full-time jobs • Services worth $1.4 billion / year, invisible in our conventional measures of progress • 1990s: voluntary work down 4% - time stress

25. Valuing Equity:GDP tells us how much income, but not how income is shared:

26. Cost of Obesity in New Brunswick • Overweight rates up 2.5 times since 1985 • 41% have BMI >27, highest in Canada (29%), compared to 16.5% (1985); youth rates double • = 750 preventable deaths/year = 3,000 PYLL • Health care direct cost = $96 million = 7.5% • Total economic cost = $200 million, 1.4%GDP Tobacco costs $290 million / year

27. Other Risk Factors in N.B. • 1/2 exercise regularly (3+ times per week); 27% never exercise or exercise < 1x / week • Average 3 hours 23 minutes TV / day • Eat out more; spend 28% less time preparing food than 1992 • More than 25% = high levels chronic stress

28. Costs of Second-Hand Smoke in the Workplace • 30% of Nova Scotians smoke, the highest rate of any province in the country (CTUMS 2000). • 38% of 20-44 year olds smoke. • 42% of children under 12 are regularly exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in the home. • 24% of Nova Scotians are exposed to ETS at work.

29. “The Deadly and Costly Effects of Smoking” • Smoking kills 1650 Nova Scotians a year • Smoking costs NS $168 million/year in health costs • Second-hand smoke kills 200 Nova Scotians a year,(140 from heart disease, 60 from cancers). • Second-hand smoke costs $21 million a year in health costs and $57 million in productivity losses

30. The Deadly Effects of ETS • ETS causes heart disease, lung cancer, nasal sinus cancer and respiratory ailments in adults. • ETS causes sudden infant death syndrome, fetal growth impairment, bronchitis, pneumonia, middle ear disease and asthma exacerbation in infants and children.

31. Recent Research Also Shows: • ETS has been linked to cervical and breast cancer, stroke, and miscarriages in adults; and to asthma induction, decreased lung function, cystic fibrosis, and cognition and behaviour problems in children

32. Restaurant, Bar and Casino Workers Most at Risk • In restaurants, second-hand smoke levels are twice as high as in other workplaces without smoke bans.In bars and casinos they are 3-6 times as high. • Food service workers have a 50% higher rate of lung cancer than the general population. • Excess mortality for workers in smoking lounges, bars, restaurants, casinos and bowling alleys is 15-26 times higher than OSHA’s “significant risk” level. • “Establishment of smoke-free bars and taverns was associated with a rapid improvement of respiratory health….”Eisner, 1998

33. Costs of Second-Hand Smoke, NS, 1999 • Deaths 200 • Potential years of life lost 2,900 • Hospitalizations 1,400 • Hospital Days 15,000

34. Direct Health Care Costsof ETS ($1999 mill.) • Hospitals 15.2 • Ambulance Services 0.3 • Physician fees 1.5 • Prescription Drugs 3.2 • Other Health Care Costs 0.3 • Total Direct Health Care Costs 20.5

35. Indirect Costs of ETS($1999 millions) • Productivity loss (sickness) 0.7 • Productivity loss (mortality) (6% discount rate) 57.1 • TOTAL COST TO ECONOMY 77.6 • Sources: Costs based on Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse, The Costs of Substance Abuse in Canada, Colman, The Cost of Tobacco in Nova Scotia, pages 15-20, and mortality rates in Glantz and Parmley, (1995), op. cit., and Steenland, (1992),op. cit..

36. Smoke-Free Workplaces Will Save Lives and Money • 80% of ETS exposure is in the workplace. • Smoke-free workplaces cut cigarette consumption among smokers by 20%. • Smoke-free workplaces can save 400-500 lives a year, $50 million in avoided health costs, and $150 million in avoided productivity losses.

37. And savings to employers: • It costs Canadian employers $2,280 more to employ a smoker compared to a non-smoker. Conference Board of Canada • Smoke-free workplaces can save NS employers $25 million a year in avoided absenteeism and smoking areas costs, and lower insurance premiums. • “Strong economic incentives exist for rapid adoption of smoke-free workplaces.”American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

38. Are Smoke Bans Bad for Business? • Without exception, every objective study using actual sales data finds that smoke-free legislation has no adverse impact on restaurant, bar, hotel and tourism receipts.(Studies conducted in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, Arizona, Texas, Utah, Vermont, North Carolina, and British Columbia.) • Two of the 16 studies found an initial decline in receipts in the first 1-2 months following enactment, but no overall or aggregate decline in the longer term. • Several studies find smoke-free legislation is good for business as non-smokers eat and drink out more often.

39. The Researchers Conclude: • “Legislators and government officials can enact health and safety regulations to protect patrons and employees in restaurants and bars from the toxins in secondhand tobacco smoke without fear of adverse economic consequences.... these data further discredit tobacco industry claims that smoke-free bar laws are bad for the bar business. Quite the contrary, these laws appear to be good for business.”Glantz1997 and 2000 (California)

40. The Evidence Clearly Shows: • Second-hand smoke causes heart disease, cancer and respiratory illness. Smoke-free workplace legislation will save the lives of hundreds of Nova Scotians, prevent serious illnesses, and save $200 million in avoided health costs and productivity losses. • Restaurant, bar and casino workers are exposed to the highest levels of ETS and have the greatest health risks. • Designated non-smoking areas and ventilation do not work. Only 100% smoke-free environments protect employees/patrons. • Smoke-free legislation will not harm restaurant, bar, hotel and tourism sales, and may be good for business.

41. Valuing Natural Capital For example, forest functions / values include: • Preventing soil erosion/sediment control • Protecting watersheds • Climate regulation/carbon sequestration • Providing habitat for wildlife / biodiversity • Recreation, tourism, aesthetic quality • Providing timber

42. % Forest Area by Age Class, NS 1958-99

43. Clearcut harvesting and loss of age and species diversity in NS have resulted in the loss of: • valuable species • wide diameter, clear lumber - fetch premium prices • resilience and resistance to insect infestation • wildlife habitat, - decreasing populations of birds • forest recreation values that impact nature tourism • valuable old-growth dependent medicinal plants

44. This represents a substantial depreciation of a valuable natural capital asset. And: • a decline in forested watershed protection and a 50% drop in shade-dependent brook trout • soil degradation and the leaching of nutrients that can affect future timber productivity • a substantial decline in carbon storage capacity and an increase in biomass carbon loss • a decline in other essential forest ecosystem services.

45. Ecological FootprintNova Scotia and Canada, 1961-1999

46. Ecological Footprint ProjectionsCanada 1995-2020

47. Can we do it?Percentage Waste Diversion in Nova Scotia

48. Competitiveness and Genuine Progress