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1.	Barometer of Sustainability
	In the Western world at least, people have become so used to thinking about the material 'Wealth of Nations' – since the publication of Adam Smith's ground-breaking and history-shaping eighteenth-century tome – that they have neglected the ‘Well-being of Nations’. Prosperity, narrowly-defined in traditional economic terms, has come to overshadow broader social and ecological concerns in decision-making. While it has long been easier to measure material wealth than social and ecological well-being, author Robert Prescott-Allen hopes to help change all that in an upcoming book, The Well-being of Nations. Developing Ideas interviewed the author during the final stages of the writing process and found a powerful and intriguing concept which could offer an easy-to-understand single indicator of SD – a measurement which has up to now proven to be elusive. Prescott-Allen starts from the premise that the 'human sphere' lies within the 'ecosphere' and that both – like a 'yolk' and 'white' in an 'egg of well-being' – must be healthy to ensure SD. He then develops a corresponding pair of aggregate indices of human and ecosystem well-being, and finally combines them into an overall two-coordinate measure called the 'barometer of sustainability'. By giving both indices equal weight, the barometer sends the message that a healthy human sphere and eco-sphere are equally important for achieving SD. The strengths of the one hundred and eighty countries using five colour-coded categories which show national well-being as ‘unsustainable’, ‘potentially unsustainable’, ‘intermediate’, ‘potentially sustainable’, and ‘sustainable’. The result is a powerful atlas of global SD. The colourful barometer grabs the attention of the public, from schoolchildren to scholars alike. The approach is also flexible in that it can be used from the local (household, community or village) level to the national, regional or global level. One criticism is that the approach is 'unscientific' because many value judgments must be made in deciding which indices get included in the measures of human and ecosystem well-being in the first place, as well as in deciding how 'good' or 'bad' performance is on each component scale, be it poverty or biodiversity or local control of resources, for example. Given the complexity inherent in SD thinking, however, the barometer promises a welcome integration of scientific measurement on the one hand and transparency about values on the other. It invites users to be clear about why they use the judgement scales they do. The barometer is not absolute but indicative, and as long as reasonable processes are followed for deciding what gets included or excluded – processes that can be defended for their inclusiveness and balance – the barometer could prove to be the most useful measure yet for bringing the lofty concept of SD down to Earth in a way that everyone can understand. [integrating scientific measurement and values to chart progress]
	well-being of nations n.a broader alternative to narrow economic 'wealth of nations' measures like GDP, incorporating values for both the ‘human’ and ‘ecological’ spheres barometer of sustainability n. a two-coordinate measure of the well-being of communities, including values for both human (read socio-economic) and ecosystem well-being IEW n. Indicator of Ecological Well-being, the first dimension of the barometer of sustainability IHW n. Indicator of Human Well-being, the second dimension of the barometer of sustainability
	Prescott-Allen, Robert.The Well-being of Nations. To be published, Fall/Winter 1997. Barometer has been applied in: Manitoba. Manitoba Environment. State of the Environment Report for Manitoba 1997: Moving Toward Sustainable Development Reporting. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Environment, 1997. 174p.
Virtual Ideas	Compendium of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives and Publications