Beyond Scarcity: Embracing Happytalism for a World of Abundance

Introduction: From Scarcity to Abundance in Global Goals

Picture Painting by Katarina Baliova

The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were introduced in 2015 as a bold roadmap to address the world’s most pressing challenges – a “universal call to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity”. These goals, ranging from ending hunger to achieving gender equality, have galvanized governments and organizations worldwide. Yet, as visionary as the SDGs are, they remain rooted in a paradigm that often emphasizes lack and shortfall. Goals like “No Poverty” and “Zero Hunger,” while crucial, frame our aspirations in terms of eradicating deficits – implying that something is missing and must be fought for. This orientation, born from what can be called a scarcity mindset, subtly reinforces a worldview of competition, fear, and zero-sum thinking. In a scarcity paradigm, progress is measured by what we eliminate or prevent, and nations and communities may feel they are competing for limited resources or “taking from each other” in order to advance.

Luis Miguel Gallardo, founder of the World Happiness Foundation and author of Happytalism, argues that we stand at the threshold of a new era – one where humanity can transcend the scarcity mindset and embrace a philosophy of abundance and well-being. Happytalism is presented as a transformative paradigm that shifts the focus from solving problems born of lack to creating conditions for shared prosperity, happiness, and Fundamental Peace. This new paradigm, grounded in abundance and interdependence, asks: what if our global goals were not just about fixing what’s wrong, but about cultivating what’s best in humanity and our planet? What if, instead of viewing development as a struggle over finite resources, we envisioned it as a collaborative journey towards collective flourishing?

In this article, we critically but constructively compare the philosophical foundations of the current SDGs with the emerging Happytalist paradigm. We explore how the scarcity mindset underlying many development efforts might be limiting true global transformation. Then, we introduce a new framework of 17 “Happytalist Goals” – an abundance-based reimagining of global goals inspired by Gallardo’s Happytalism. Each of these goals emphasizes positive outcomes, interconnected well-being, and the cultivation of happiness and freedom, aligning with principles such as positive psychology, mindfulness, collective consciousness, quantum thinking, planetary sustainability, and interspecies equality. Finally, we invite you – the reader, a conscious catalyst – to help ignite this shift. Together, we can move beyond scarcity and become “Rousers,” or conscious catalysts of well-being, co-creating a fut

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