Research memorabilia fills Stephan Schwartz’s warmly-lit office located on his South Whidbey property. Against the deep green walls, pictures of Schwartz’s expeditions—including a search for the Lighthouse of the Pharos in Egypt—are reminders of his adventures. 

Books he has written are shelved near a desk equipped with a virtual interview setup that enables him to connect with individuals around the world. It is within this sanctuary that Schwartz works diligently on research into the subject of wellbeing.

His data-driven approach focuses on culture as key to this, with wellbeing quantified in community metrics related to health, diet, exercise, and other measurable outcomes. For Schwartz, the argument for wellbeing as societally crucial is all in the data.

“What you see is, if you have a series of choices, you always want to make the one that is the most compassionate, life-affirming, and fostering of wellbeing,” said Schwartz. “The reason is, it is the easiest to implement, it is the most productive, the most efficient, it is the nicest to live under, it is the longest enduring, and it is by far the cheapest option.”

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