The opening keynote speaker on the first morning of the GNH conference in Vermont was Karma Tshiteem, Secretary of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Commission.  Karma was asked by Susan Andrews(Founder of the Future Vision Institute in Brazil and keynote speaker on day 2 of the conference) what was needed for change away from GDP and toward GNH.  His response: “The leverage for change is getting the people organized.”

The people.  That’s you.  And me.  And our friends and their friends, on and on, rippling out to create a desperately needed movement for the well-being of this planet and all who live here.

Speaker after speaker made the same point, from Ron Coleman (Executive Director of GPI Atlantic in Canada), who stressed that the people are “very important,” to Con Hogan (former Secretary of Vermont’s Agency of Human Services), who said it will take “all of us” to push for these changes.

Yet, up till now, the voice of the people has been missing.  Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke gives a graduation speech urging Americans to look beyond material wealth for their happiness (see the May 9th blog on this website); former Harvard President Derek releases a new book, The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being; and The New York Times publishes a ground-breaking article on “The Rise and Fall of GDP” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/magazine/16GDP-t.html) — all informative, all important, and all inspiring.

But these are the experts, the elite.  They can’t do this alone.  It is time to add our voices.  The Ambassador Training Day on June 4th was a beginning — just a drop in the bucket, of course, but all movements have to start somewhere!

What can you do?  For starters, tell your friends, family and associates about this website.  Share your comments — let’s get a conversation started!  Join our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=145375412018) and chime in with your own posts and comments.  Follow us on Twitter.  There are no doubt an infinite number of actions each of us can take — what can you do?

We the people really must dive in their and define our 21st Century pursuit of happiness.  Are you game?