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Define “hidden” by opposites

Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic Canada Indice de progrès véritable - Atlantique RECREATION: - LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASURE Oak Island, Nova Scotia, 15 November, 2003. Define “hidden” by opposites. “DISCOVERED” - Goal = unearth treasure - help others discover gold

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Define “hidden” by opposites

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  1. Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice de progrès véritable - AtlantiqueRECREATION: - LIFE’S HIDDEN TREASUREOak Island, Nova Scotia, 15 November, 2003

  2. Define “hidden” by opposites • “DISCOVERED” - Goal = unearth treasure - help others discover gold • “GETS ATTENTION” = funding, policy, public/election issue Recreation’s hidden companions - e.g. health (vs sickness) , voluntary work, environment / natural resources, equity

  3. Why is recreation “hidden”? - Recreation’s Bottom Lines 1) Free time 2) Voluntary work 3) Balance (Suzuki) The power of indicators = • reflect values, • determine policy agenda, • affect behaviour (students)

  4. Our key indicator of wellbeing: = “If the economy is growing we are better off” • More work hours make economy grow • More stress, more Prozac sales ($4 billion), more cigarette sales, more fast food - Anything can make economy grow - Juan • “More” is always “better” vs balance • Free time has no value

  5. And its companion messages... • Natural resource depletion makes economy grow • Economy can grow if poverty, inequity grow = Affects recreation (lifestyle interventions ineffective for low-income) • Volunteer, unpaid work =no value. So 12.3% decline no policy attention • Fossil fuels, GHG’s make economy grow

  6. And health.... • Sickness = growth industries. Canada spends $103 billion/year treating sickness - up by 6.5% /year since 1998 = double 1980 • Diabetes up 5-fold globally. Lilly: “You’ve got to be in diabetes” • vs. Prevention = 2% of health budget Current measures send misleading signals to policy makers, public

  7. What are the consequences of all this for recreation? • Volunteer time, free time (especially for women) getting squeezed out; - 6% decline in N.S. women’s free time (next figures = 2006!) • N.S. = 30,000 fewer volunteers than in 1997 = decline of 10.7% • Statcan = working moms =75 hour week “Time poverty” vs balance = All un-noticed!

  8. Total Work Hours, Couple with Children, Canada 1900 2000 Male, paid work 58.5 42 Female, paid work -- 36.5 Male, unpaid work N.A. 22.4 Female, unpaid work 56 33.6 Total work hours 114.5 134.5

  9. And what does this imply about the Nova Scotia we are leaving our children?

  10. Should see recreation as investment in our future • But childhood obesity, asthma, physical inactivity are up. Volunteer decline -> sport coaching, after-school recreation • Depleted natural world (fish, forests, species), global warming • Materially better off but more secure? Recreation, health promotion as investment in human capital

  11. What are the costs of life’s treasure remaining hidden? • 90% greater chance of heart disease if inactive. 1/3 of heart disease could be avoided if all Nova Scotians were physically active. • 20% stroke, hypertension, colon cancer, type 2 diabetes, 27% of osteoporosis, 11% breast cancer, could be eliminated by becoming physically active.

  12. Costs of physical inactivity • Inactivity costs NS $107m (direct) + $247m (indirect) = $350m/year • More than 700 Nova Scotians die prematurely every year because they are physically inactive = 9% of all early deaths. • Every year 2,200 potential years of life are lost in N.S. due to physical inactivity

  13. The Good News: Annual Savings from 10% Reduction in Physical Inactivity($millions) • Hospital, physician, drug costs $4.6 • Total direct health costs $7.5 • Economic productivity gains $17.2 (avoided premature death and disability) Total annual economic savings $24.7 • Lives saved / year 50 • Years of life gained / year 156

  14. Costs of obesity • Obesity: 56% diabetes 2 in NS attributable to obesity; 37% hypertension; 22% heart disease; 24% gallbladder disease; + stroke, cancers (colorectal, endometrial, post-menopausal breast), arthritis etc. • Obesity costs NS health care system = $120m/year (6.8% budget) + $140m indirect productivity losses = $260m • 39% N.S. overweight (BMI = >27)

  15. 53% Nova Scotians are inactive Only 21% physically active(CCHS) (3 kcal/kg/day), age 12+, 2000/01 (%)

  16. T R E N D S: Nova Scotia Remains Stagnant • % exercising regularly in NS stagnant. Dramatic decline in physical activity by men. Obesity = more than doubled • All 4 Atlantic provinces rank well below Canadian average. • Atlantic Canadian men now have a significantly higher risk of heart disease.

  17. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1985 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  18. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1986 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  19. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1987 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  20. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1988 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  21. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1989 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  22. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1990 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  23. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1991 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  24. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1992 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  25. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1993 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  26. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1994 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  27. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1995 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  28. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1996 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  29. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1997 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  30. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1998 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  31. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1999 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  32. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 2000 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  33. Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 2001 Source: Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc1999;282:16, 2001;286:10.

  34. Recreation is bigger than physical activity.... • Culture, arts, and more........ • Social supports, social networks key determinant of health (Health Canada • Increases resilience, recovery from illness, health

  35. Costs of overwork • US: $100 billion cost due to work fatigue: accidents, errors, productivity, health • Valdez, Chernobyl ($300b), 3-Mile Island, Bhopal, road accidents (trucking - 50%+) • Sleep down 25%, 15% clinical insomnia, CVD, gastrointenstinal (ulcers = 2-8x) • Family stress: shift work 60% + divorce

  36. Time Stress • Statistics Canada 1999: Longer hours -> more smoking, poor diet, unhealthy weight gain, less physical activity • Working mothers - 75-hour week, (invisible when ignore unpaid work - women 2x labour force; 2/3 housework) • Effect on diet (Harvard longit. study)

  37. Costs of Under-work • Unemployment - higher mortality, crime, morbidity, poverty, family breakup • Underemployment - wasted talent • Stress: Overworked and underworked - equal risk of heart attack (Japanese study

  38. = Economics as if People did not Matter • The more we produce and consume, the “better off” we are • Growing economy = “healthy,” robust economy. Shopping is patriotic • Vs health as balance. Security, health, community, environment, free time, volunteerism, recreation have no value

  39. What can we do about this? • How can we assign free time, volunteerism, health their true value? • How can we give recreation the attention it deserves? • How can we help all Nova Scotia discover life’s hidden treasure?

  40. 1) We can change the way we measure progress What we measure: • reflects what we value as a society; • determines what makes it onto the policy agenda; • influences behaviour (eg students)

  41. Good indicators can help Nova Scotians: • foster common vision and purpose; • identify strengths and weaknesses; • change public behavior; • hold leaders accountable at election time • initiate actions that promote wellbeing

  42. In Genuine Progress Index: • Health, security, free time, education, unpaid work (voluntary + h’hold), have value • Sickness, crime, disasters, pollution are costs; so reductions in crime, poverty, GHGs, ecological footprint are progress • Human, social, natural capital valued • Growing equity signals progress

  43. Valuing Voluntary Work • Nova Scotians give 140 million hrs of voluntary work/yr = 73,000 FTE jobs • Worth nearly $2 billion /year to NS economy • Nationwide decline in volunteer work cost Canadians $2 billion in lost services in 2000 • = Invisible in conventional accounts

  44. 2) New policy initiatives that address underlying causes Learning from the Europeans, rather than compare with US: US passed Japan with longest hours - rapid growth at expense of quality of life • Scandinavia - family-friendly work top concern • Germany = 6 weeks vacation; Denmark = 5 1/2

  45. Making Part-time Work Desirable • Netherlands: 1,370 paid work hours / yr Canada: 1,732 paid work hours / year • Non-discrimination law: equal hourly pay, pro-rated benefits, equal promotion opp. • Netherlands: unemployment 12.2% —> 2.7% - Highest rate of part-time in OECD - Involuntary part-time = 6% = <1/6 Atlantic - New bill gives workers “right” to reduce hrs

  46. Value/expand free time: Danes have 11 hrs more free time each wk than Canadians Source: Andrew Harvey, “Canadian Time Use in a Cross-National Perspective,” Statistics in Transition, November, 1995

  47. Sharing the Work Can... • Reduce unemployment, underemployment and overwork • Improve work-life-family balance and health; enhance recreation opportunities • Increase free time and community service • Protect the environment, spare the planet from over-consumption, natural resource depletion

  48. 3) Recreation and Equity • Education, income, employment, social networks are key determinants of health, recreation participation • Lifestyle interventions effective for higher income/education groups, not lower = can widen inequity, health gap • Low-income = higher rates all risk factors

  49. If we explicitly value... • Our free time and true value of recreation • The time we spend with family and children • Productive unpaid work done in households • Our voluntary contributions to community • Health and Equity Then we will naturally explore policy options that are currently not on the political agenda

  50. By including these values in our core measures of progress... We can draw attention to models that: • go beyond superficial coping, stress relief • can improve health and wellness • quality of our lives, expand recreational opportunities and unearth life’s hidden treasures

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