The Model of Sustainable Well-being Today: Integrating Ecology, Economy, and Happiness The concept of Sustainable Well-being has become a key response to the challenges of the 21st century, reinterpreting the very idea of progress. It rejects the identification of well-being solely with economic growth (GDP) and proposes a holistic model where the quality of human life is inextricably linked to the health of ecosystems and long-term social stability. This model is a synthesis of ideas of sustainable development (sustainability) and well-being science. 1. Critique of the Preceding Paradigm: Why GDP is Insufficient. The traditional economic model, measuring success through the growth of gross domestic product (GDP), has proven inadequate. GDP registers all monetary transactions but does not distinguish between beneficial and destructive activities (for example, expenditures on environmental disaster mitigation increase GDP). It ignores: The contribution of natural capital (resource depletion, pollution). Non-market activities (domestic care, volunteering). Benefit distribution (increasing inequality). Subjective well-being (level of happiness, meaning, social connections). The Easterlin paradox has shown that after reaching a certain level of income, further growth does not correlate with an increase in happiness. This has led to the search for alternative indicators. 2. Structural Components of the Sustainable Well-being Model. The modern model is built on the interconnection of three fundamental pillars: A) Ecological sustainability (biophysical boundaries).This is the foundation of the model. Well-being is impossible in a depleted or polluted environment. The concept of "planetary boundaries," developed by the Stockholm Resilience Center, defines safe limits for human impact on key Earth systems (climate change, biodiversity, chemical pollution, etc.). The well-being model must fit within these boundaries. An example is Kate Raworth's doughnut economics, which visu ... Read more