The Happiness Quest

Did you know the five countries leading global GDP rankings perform surprisingly poorly when it comes to the happiness of their populations?

What if music acted as an antidote to our hectic lives? What if music was buried in our genes, like a long-repressed nature?

By removing religion from our lives, have we banished all forms of inner life?

What if agriculture and gastronomy were stories of our ties to the living world? What if these universal daily activities held the ultimate science of happiness?

While Homo sapiens have spent 99.9% of their history in nature, most humans now live in cities.

What if happiness lay in our ability to connect with others and build bonds?

The countries with the highest GDP also hold records for coronary disease, cancer, and diabetes. What if we measured national happiness through life balance and universal access to healthcare?

What if all schools inspired us to engage in the human adventure? What if they awakened curiosity about the living world?

World Happiness Report studies are clear: the more women elected to a country's parliament, the higher the percentage of citizens who report being "happy."

We are 60% water, just as the world's oceans cover more area than all continents combined. What if our destiny-and our happiness-were tied to the fate of the oceans?