EA Ottawa discuss Subjective Wellbeing as a metric

Date: Wednesday, April 30th

Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm

Location: NAC, 1 Elgin St (see below for details)

Theme: Subjective Wellbeing as a metric and fun happiness facts

We’ll meet at the couches and tables area on the first floor of the NAC (entering from Elgin St, walk straight towards the back to find).

On March 20th, the World Happiness Report 2025 was published: https://worldhappiness.report/

The Happier Lives Institute wrote one of the chapters in the report (Ch 8), on how to effectively increase the subjective wellbeing of others. A simplified summary of their chapter is on their blog: https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org/world-happiness-report/

I thought it was neat that an EA approach is in the World Happiness Report and I don’t think we’ve yet discussed subjective wellbeing as an alternative yardstick for impact. So for this meetup I figured we could spend our on-topic time talking about subjective wellbeing and any interesting or surprising results from the reports, such as how cost-effective lead exposure elimination is estimated to be. I’m open to other tangents about subjective wellbeing; topics don’t have to be only from these sources or something I thought to mention here.

I would recommend taking a look at the simplified chapter summary from the Happier Lives Institute blog, but I’m not demanding that anyone read the actual World Happiness Report (but if you do go diving for happiness facts, they might be fun to talk about at the meetup!)

I'll wear a shirt that says 'GiveWell' to help identify us.

Google Maps link to the NAC: https://maps.app.goo.gl/tu62DEModgxKyKXY7

Inside the NAC:

The meeting area is called the ‘Peter A. Herrndorf Place’, as on this map: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Pg9Z3QCtqsMU8W7L7

i.e. not the Equator coffee shop, although that should be open and you can take food/drinks from the cafe (or your own) over to the couches.

I’ll also bring some snacks.

You're invited to join us even if we haven't met before or you aren't sure what this effective altruism thing is all about. We'd be happy to meet you!