Roots of Well-Being: Rethinking the Standard of Living Through Culture and Nature

But what does it mean to live well? Decades of the world exercising the same doctrine have taught people that the high quality of life means economic expansion, larger houses, faster vehicles, and additional things. However, behind the glitter of consumerism trails an increasing discomfort - increase in inequality, environmental devastation, and the feeling that he or she is no longer a part of nature or community. Had prosperity depended on wealth and consumption alone, how can it explain that most of the societies that have less material wealth claim to be happier, stronger, and more interconnected in their cultural ties?

Communities throughout the world have developed their own vision of the way to live well - a vision that is not only diverse but also has its roots in nature and tradition. The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has Gross National Happiness as a measure of prosperity, meaning that the forests and culture are as important as a market. In the rural Japanese, the satoyama sceneries remind us about the silent vigilance of being in accord with the land and seasons. The Indigenous populations of the Amazon and Andes practice Buen Vivir, or living well together, which embodies dignity, which cannot be separated, and ecological health. The value of life in Scandinavia has long been embodied in the coziness of hygge and freedom of friluftsliv, in which social trust and proximity to nature form one of the best standards of living in the world. And in the Pacific Islands, a whole community life is constructed around a close association with the sea, where tribal life is joined together with the tide and reefs.

They are not cultures that dismiss comfort or progress, but they establish these in different ways, in terms of reciprocity, harmony, and belonging. They both ask us to extend our notion of prosperity: to appreciate that a desirable standard of living is not determined by what we possess, but by the relationships we maintain with each other, with the past, and with the living world that has given us life.

Bhutan - Gross National Happiness.

In Bhutan, a marker of prosperity is not the well-being of markets, but rather the well-being of well-being. This kingdom of Himalaya has a philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH), which is a system in which harmony, cultural identity, and ecological balance are given more priority than economic growth. Bhutan has more than 60 percent of its land under constitutional law protection, and, therefore, its standard of living is connected to the well-being of its forests, rivers, and mountains. In this case, it would be good to live a life of balance: a home that is heated with family and culture, a community that is preserved by values, and one that is aided by respecting nature and its boundaries. 

Japan - Satoyama Living

The Satoyama landscape narrates a tale of living together in the silent rural Japan. Rice paddies reflect the sky, with forests providing firewood, mushrooms, and water. The villagers had centuries of living in a cautious rhythm with the land and taking away what they needed without disturbing the process of regeneration. This balance not only produces biodiversity but also a sense of belonging to a culture, which is the feeling that people and nature are a whole. In Japan, the standard of living used to refer to being entrenched in this mosaic of human and natural systems to be reminded that resilience and prosperity are the results of reciprocity with the earth.

Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon and Andes- Buen Vivir

Among the Indigenous communities of the Amazon and the Andes, a good life does not consist of having more but in a life that is well lived collectively, a philosophy called Buen Vivir or Sumak Kawsay. This worldview perceives rivers, mountains, and forests as family and not a commodity, thus underlining reciprocity and balance among all forms of life. The quality of life in these societies is communal, based on community relationships, the integrity of the ecoculture, and continuity of culture. In contrast to such models as extraction and accumulation, Buen Vivir provides a vision of prosperity in which dignity, identity, and the wellness of the environment are the key features of prosperity, not only defining the life of the Indigenous but even determining the national constitutions of Ecuador and Bolivia.

Scandinavia - Hygge & Friluftsliv.

Simple things, such as spending the evening by a candle with friends (hygge) or going to the forest no matter the time of the year (friluftsliv), can be the starting point to quality of life in Scandinavia. These are the practices that are embedded in the daily lives in Denmark and Norway and that show the way to live well has been closely connected with simplicity, coziness, and the close connection with nature. These values, together with the strong welfare systems, would create one of the highest standards of living in the world without making material wealth the center of interest. In this case, prosperity is defined in terms of warmth, time spent outside, and social trust that enable communities to coexist.

Pacific Island Nations - Living at Sea.

The Pacific Islands are not merely a source of food to the people, but also of family, history, and spirit as well. Conservative lifestyles are based on collective fishing, seasonal management, and the need to respect the cycle of tides and reefs. Villages are built on the principles of shared living, and cultural identity cannot exist out of the expansive waters that support the villages. The standard of living in this area is to be at peace with the ocean, to be unshaken even when storms hit, and to be able to carry on with the generations of ancestral knowledge. With the current rise in sea level endangering their shorelines, these countries are reminding the world that it is not about having power over nature that enables people to live well, but rather about being a part of it.

As these cultural tales are told, it is one thing that becomes apparent: the standard of living is not a single scale but rather a cloth of values, choices, and relations. Each of Bhutan, Japan, the Amazon and Andes, Scandinavia, and the Pacific Islands has a special thread: happiness, harmony, reciprocity, coziness, and kinship with the sea. They may differ in their application, but in theory they are alike: well-being can in no case be divorced from the well-being of nature or the health of the community.

In a world that is struggling with climate crisis, overconsumption, and inequality, these visions are not far-off pictures but rather lights to follow. They teach us that it is not the bulk of our wallets that makes us prosper, but the richness of our belonging: to one another, to our culture, and to the earth itself. It is not merely the living standards, but the definition of living standards, that must be brought up to the future, not the accumulation, but the balance; not the exploitation, but the care; not the isolation, but the connection.

Perhaps the best thing to learn is that living well is not living more but living wisely and in a community.