I studied abroad my junior fall through the School of Field Studies in Bhutan. My program was called Himalayan Environment & Society in Transition. We focused on the Bhutanese model of environmental management, which is very different than the approach in the United States. Historically and culturally, Bhutan has a unique background that has enabled it to become the country of Gross National Happiness, carbon neutrality, and indefinite environmental protection.

Integrated with the Buddhist Middle Path, traditional knowledge, and modern practice, Bhutan has impressively effective management of its natural resources, from soil and water to forests and biodiversity.

In Political & Socioeconomic Dimensions of the Environment, we explored the field of political ecology, which unravels the political forces behind environmental access, management, and transformation.  To begin, we asked three questions, answered and re-answered as the course progressed:

  1. What is development?
  2. What is sustainable development?
  3. What is human-environment relationship?

The stated aim of the course is:

for all of us to think critically and holistically about the social, ecological, and political implications and contradictions of our relationship with nature or the sustainable management of natural resources.

Course lectures included:

  • Bhutanese History: guest speaker Dr. Karma Phuntsho lectured on the course of Bhutan throughout history and how it has effected its course of development.
  • Ecology in Spiritual Writing: we read and discussed translated 14th century poetry about the importance of ecology in landscape in the Bhutanese relationship with the land.
  • The Himalayan Dilemma & Political Ecology: Development and conservation are in direct odds with each other, tied in political and socio-economic dimensions.
  • Development, Promises and Realities: several readings and lectures about theoretical development and reality. Discussion on Bhutanese context.
  • Critiques of Development and Alternatives: discussion on the problems with development and different indicators. This includes the strengths and weaknesses of Gross National Happiness.
  • Tourism in Bhutan: what are the challenges and opportunities for Bhutanese tourism and who are the stakeholders?

Each of the courses in this program required regularly scheduled field explorations. Highlights include:

  • Livelihoods Mapping: mapping human, natural, social, physical, and financial capital in the town of Paro. In groups, we surveyed on foot a route to create a rough map of land use and livelihood strategies (2 hours).
  • Embodying sacred landscapes: we visited a roadside stream on the outskirts of Paro. This site used to be a place where people from the city would wash their cars, directly polluting the stream and downriver water system. Signs and warnings to not wash cars were ignored by the public. When the site was declared holy and prayer flags, rock drawings, and other infrastructure changed the cultural significance of the site, people stopped washing their cars there out of respect. This was a clear lesson in how spirituality/religion/culture can be used to help achieve environmental goals.
  • Life cycle assessment: we traveled to the industrial sector in southern Bhutan to watch the production of consumer products from raw materials to finished product. We visited the Coca-Cola Bhutan facility to learn about their sustainability goals, sourcing of raw materials, and end product recycling program.
  • Interviewing monks: we interviewed monks about their thoughts on science, climate change, and environmental protection in Bhutan. We also gained insight into the daily lives and aspirations of Bhutanese monks — yes, they carry smartphones.

Roadside holy site near Paro, Bhutan

My favorite part of the class was a student-led discussion on Gross National Happiness (GNH). The guiding principles for Bhutanese development are the four pillars of GNH:

  • sustainable and equitable socioeconomic development
  • environmental conservation
  • cultural promotion and preservation
  • good governance

Particularly of interest is the “sustainable development” and “environmental conservation” aspects. The results of a national survey revealed that 99% of Bhutanese respondents fully support environmental protection and 75% had a great awareness of the environmental policies of their country. Imagine those kinds of statistics in the United States!

While we identified ways in which GNH is not a perfect metric for development, it offers an alternative to the typical use of GDP or HDI. Overall, this course and study abroad experience introduced me to a completely new context of environmental management and expanded my limited worldview to eastern philosophy, predominately Buddhist background, unique national history and identity, and a different system of values.

Course: PUBPOL 300 (SFS 3040)

Instructor: Dr. Kenga Wangmo

PSEDE Syllabus and Classwork

Traditional dress: the kira

I’m grateful for the opportunity to have traveled to a country with principles so different than the United States with a shining example of how environmental management can happen. In my next semester, I again had the opportunity to travel and see how other communities (on a hyper-local scale) managed resources and practiced community-based conservation…