From: Cylvia Hayes

Sent: Thu Mar 28 18:54:17 2013

To: 'Cylvia Hayes'

Subject: FW: Bhutan

Importance: Normal

Attachments: DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE.2doc.doc; SUSTAINABLE HAPPINESS WEEK PROPOSAL.doc;

Message

Cylvia Hayes

First Lady of Oregon

cylhayes@gmail.com

(503) 373-7489

From: John de Graaf [mailto:jodg@comcast.net]

Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 3:54 PM

To: 'Cylvia Hayes'; Cylvia@3estrategies.org

Cc: 'John de Graaf'

Subject: Bhutan

Hi Cylvia,

It was wonderful talking with you today. I hope we'll meet in person at some time. Don't know if you are often in Portland but I have to do some speaking at Portland State in May so will be down there then. I know you spend most of your time in Bend. In any case, I'm attaching the film proposal I'm working on as it might interest you. I'm working on a better write-up of the overall narrative. Laura and I wrote a piece for Bob Costanza's SOLUTIONS magazine that got reprinted in Al Jazeera that might interest you... http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/02/2013227114424700535.html I thinkit indicates the growing interest in this issue. I'm also attaching our proposal for Sustainable Happiness Week, based on Bhutan's ideas but also on Thomas Jefferson and our American tradition, so that it is far less assailable from the Right. This year, there will be celebrations of this on a number of US campuses--including U of Mich, Carleton College, Ball State University, University of Iowa, Colby-Sawyer College, Eastern Washington University, Clark University, Central Missouri University, and a few others, and such communities as Santa Fe, NM, Seattle, etc. Next year, with assistance from the US Public Health Service, we hope to make this a much bigger deal. What we do here is to help diffuse the criticism of happiness by showing that it is the American tradition--indeed Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Franklin all declared that the sole purpose of government was to increase the happiness of its citizens. As you know we use the term synonymously with well-being as does Bhutan.

I know you'll have a great time in Bhutan. I do hope you can meet Dasho Karma Tshiteem, head of the Gross National Happiness Commission and Dasho Karma Ura, director of the Center for Bhutan Studies. They are both terrific and I'd be happy to send introductory emails...if you wish to contact them, their emails are tshiteem@yahoo.com and dasho.k.ura@gmail.com they are a wealth of knowledge about how Bhutan measures GNH (Karma Ura) and how it uses GNH data to determine policy (Karma Tshiteem). Please feel free to use my name with both of them as we are good friends. Dasho is like Sir in the sense of knighthood by the king in Bhutan. But they are both very humble and Karma Tshiteem is very fun-loving and funny. You should also meet Ron Colman, who pioneered the GPI in Canada and created the Canadian index of wellbeing. He lives in Bhutan now and is part of the Happpiness Secretariat. His email is colman@gpiatlantic.org. Ron can give you a great westerners view of what Bhutan is doing and the connection of GNH to GPI. He is also a friend so please feel free to use my name with him. Finally, you should meet Tashi Choden, from the Secretariat, perhaps the strongest female leader in Bhutan and also a terrific person. I don't know her as well, but her email is tashi.choden79@yahoo.com. These are all very impressive people.

You will be there during the elections so it should be very interesting for you. The opposition party's key issue is that they say Prime Minister Thinley is spending too much time promoting GNH internationally and not enough promoting it at home! You are going to Bhutan at the most beautiful time. I hope at the very least you will be able to travel to the Dochu La pass about an hour from Thimphu to see the rodedendrons and the amazing view of the high Himalayas.

I am very interested in being part of your conversation with Lew Daly. Let me know if you'd like to talk again before your trip, or if you'd like me to write introductions to the folks in Bhutan. Otherwise, just have a wonderful trip. What is happening there is very exciting. Ask Karma Ura for a copy of his book, THE GNH INDEX: AN EXTENSIVE APPROACH.

Warm regards and all my best,

John

(206) 443-6747