U.S. consumers rank last in world survey of green habits
It seems the US has a long way to go to challenge the contenders in the "green" race.
For a family of 2-4, the above home is ridiculous.
Americans rank last in a new National Geographic-sponsored survey released Wednesday that compares environmental consumption habits in 14 countries.
Americans were least likely to choose the greener option in three out of four categories — housing, transportation and consumer goods_ according to the assessment. In the fourth category, food, Americans ranked ahead of Japanese consumers, who eat more meat and seafood.
The rankings, called "Greendex," are the first to compare the lifestyles and behaviors of consumers in multiple countries, according to the National Geographic Society.
It plans to conduct the 100-plus question survey annually and considers trends more important than yearly scores, said Terry Garcia, executive vice president of National Geographic's mission programs.
"This is not just a one-time snapshot," Garcia said. "Some of the most important information may yet be revealed."
India and Brazil tied for the highest score — 60 points out of a hundred. U.S. consumers scored 44.9.
In between, China scored 56.1, Mexico 54.2, Hungary 53.2, Russia 52.4, Great Britain 50.2, Germany 50.2, Australia 50.2, Spain 50, Japan 49.1, France 48.7 and Canada 48.5.
Results are based on 1,000 online respondents per country interviewed in January and February by GlobeScan, an international polling firm based in Toronto.
To see how you score, take an abbreviated version of the survey. It's at nationalgeographic.com/greendex.
Note: Headline links to source.
Labels: green
posted by SPIIDERWEB™ at 5/08/2008 09:51:00 PM
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2 Comments:
All over Dallas, they're tearing down smaller homes, and building these monstrosities. They're always covered in heat-absorbing stone and brick. They have no shady roof overhangs to speak of. They often have living rooms and foyers that are 2 stories tall. Because they fill the lot they're built on, the old, established shade trees on the lot are generally cut down, leaving this huge heat sink to soak up the summer sun (and summer in Texas is 6 months long).
It's stupid, just stupid.
There's a passage in a book by Bruce Sterling called "Islands in the Sun" where he discusses the slums of the future - those same monsterous suburban homes, too large to affordably air condition and too far from the action to affordably drive to.
Among the things I argued as a boy with my father, other than paving over the whole earth with asphalt, was trees.
He was afraid of trees breaking and hitting the house. So he cut off limbs or cut down trees all around the house.
I argued they had survived perhaps hundreds of years without falling and they provided shade.
He wouldn't listen. Actually, he never listened to anyone. But that's a whole fucking other story.
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