Consider Central America

Costa Rica is the happiest place on earth. That is, according to the Happy Planet Index. The HPI measures how effectively nations use resources to give its citizens a decent standard of living, without bankrupting its environment.

The point?

To find out who is living sustainably – and who would need the resources of more than four planets in order to maintain their current rates of consumption. That’s not empty hyperbole, either – looking at you, United States of America.

Unfortunately this year no country was found to be “single planet” living, which is the goal. The HPI gave marks for good, so-so, and bad performances in each category. They also gave an overall good or bad performance rating, with more of a gradient.

Costa Rica ranked higher than any other country for its combination of life expectancy, life satisfaction, and national carbon footprint. Central America and the Caribbean performed very well, representing nine of the top ten. Columbia, surprisingly, was the other one.

While Canada ranked very high in life expectancy and satisfaction, our carbon footprint was in the red. Overall, Canada rated was 39.4 out of a possible 100. According to the study, we would need between two and four planets to continue this way.

Meanwhile, Costa Rica is aiming to be a carbon-neutral country by 2021, getting 99% of its energy is from renewable resources.

What does it do differently? Interestingly, it merged its environment and energy ministries in the ‘70s.