As a natural resources social scientist, my work involves investigating, analyzing, and reporting on the intangibles far more often than the tangibles because of the need to think holistically as well as act strategically when conservation and stewardship of our natural heritage is concerned. Having a systemic, reliable, transparent, and comparable approach for identifying and inventorying the broad array of social-ecological health components that can be quantified in measures that can be understood (i.e., dollars) at all levels of society is a foundational principle of designing as well as undertaking a scientifically valid assessment. The Utah GPI approach is a robust, inclusive one due to the incorporation of the typically undervalued or seemingly invisible socio-ecological impacts that affect the very core functions of life as we know it. Not only is such an evaluation-decision-making tool long overdue, it is, imho, the only way to justify our societal use of any resource, both renewable and nonrenewable. A full accounting of the total costs and benefits of our actions should be projected through the future generations we are affecting, as we use more resources than one world can possibly sustain, let alone do so with any shred of decent human co-existence with our fellow creatures on, in, and around this planet. Having the GPI as a quantitative assessment tool of Utah's footprint is invaluable as we can make arguments and build a strong case for inclusion of heretofore unmeasured actions that affect our energy flows, meaning our human quality of life will not suffer as greatly as it has in the past. I also urge all of us to simultaneously employ qualitative means of measuring the quality of the health and wealth we enjoy. In my humble opinion, to solely gauge human impacts and make far-reaching, irreversible decisions with only economic or social measures, we diminish the Divine, i.e., all the living beings of Creation that share this planet. The Utah GPI Report, will go a long way to informing us as citizens and should play a role in the way our health and wealth decisions are made in the immediate future.
Dana Dolsen, MSc
dana_dolsen@hotmail.com
dana_dolsen@hotmail.com
