Things Are Good

The New Economics Foundation has declared Costa Rica as the happiest place on earth.
The New Economics Foundation looked at 143 countries that are home to 99 percent of the world’s population and devised an equation that weighed life expectancy and people’s happiness against their environmental impact.
By that formula, Costa Rica is the happiest, greenest country [...]

Costa Rica is establishing itself as a fantastic spot for eco-tourism and to ensure that they continue to be so awesome they need to protect their natural environment. Costa Rica is trying to reclaim land that was taken away from their tropical forests and replant the natural species in hopes of revival – and it’s [...]

Costa Rica is a gorgeous country and so it’s really good to hear that their forests will continued to be protected. A US-based conservation group has arranged $26 million of Costa Rica’s national debt to be alleviated in exchange for a section of the rainforest to be preserved and used for scientific research.
“We in [...]

Oct. 24th is United Nations Day, and to celebrate LibriVox collected the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 21 Languages. You can download audio files of LibriVox volunteers reading the declaration at LibriVox.
“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was ratified in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly. It defines the fundamental rights of individuals, [...]

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, a really cool Costa Rican environemntalist won the Blue Moon Fund’s first annual Conservation Leadership Award! The Worldwatch Institute has the great reason why he won the award.
“Rodriguez is credited with implementing a unique conservation policy in Costa Rica, whereby the users of a forest’s environmental services, such as carbon fixation, [...]

The Happy Planet Index is an innovative way to track the state of the planet. The HPI lists the GDP to show that wealth doesn’t equal happiness. This is a great project, even though as a planet we have a lot of room for improvement in terms of happiness.
“The message, simply put, is that [...]