Font ResizeGROTON -- Wednesday, March 20, is International Happiness Day. To mark this event, Groton's Sustainability Commission is inviting townspeople to take part in an online National Happiness Survey.
"We know that this is not going to be a statistically relevant survey, said Commission Chairman Michael Roberts. "But we are hoping that it will get people thinking about the value of happiness and open a conversation about how we might provide a happier environment for the people who live in Groton."
The Happiness Initiative is an international movement inspired by the introduction of the measure of Gross National Happiness in the Kingdom of Bhutan. The mission of the Happiness Initiative is to work for a just, healthy and resilient society where all people have the opportunity to pursue happiness -- all of which contributes to community well-being.
Canada, France and Britain now track citizen happiness in their official national statistics, and there may be a movement in the U.S. to track this value as well.
In 2006, Business Week rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth happiest country in the world.
In this country, the Happiness Initiative was introduced in Seattle, Wash., in 1991.
To participate in the survey, log onto happycounts.org/survey/GNH/groton2013.
