General INDIANS AND Brazilians Are The Most Environment Friendly People

[kds1980]

INDIANS AND Brazilians are the most environment friendly people while Americans are the most polluting, a survey by National Geographic magazine and pollsters Globalscan on consumer behaviour has revealed. The survey of a thousand people each from 14 high-polluting nations listed by the IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change (IPCC) has India and Brazil tied for the top spot with 60 green index points. Americans had the lowest score with 44.9 points. The survey, released in Washington on Wednesday, rates Indian eating habits the best, with 84 per cent eating local vegetables at least once a week. Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment said unlike the west, Indians don't waste much and are very good at recycling. The Indian green index is high on account of low per capita energy consumption - at 0.7 kilowatt - and large-scale recycling. India and China are the best users of solar energy About 42 per cent of Indians were concerned about environmental prob- lems whereas 35 per cent believe these problems can have adverse impact on their health. While 27 per cent said they were working to reduce the impact, 24 per cent claimed to have attended a demonstration related to environment (against the global average of 9 per cent). About 15 per cent wrote to government or a company on environment issues, the highest for any nation. Terry Garcia, executive vice-president, National Geographic, said the idea was to inspire consumers in countries with low scores to adopt best behaviours. chetan@hindustantimes.com

 

[Sinister]

Although there is always room for improvement in the west it is still newly industrializing countries that need to take extra care as they expand rapidly.

India and China are extremely polluted. One cannot even travel into the city without developing breathing problems due to smog. Thus, it is mandatory that countries such as India and China maintain a low energy per capita consumption rate because these countries teeter on the tip of environmental disaster (Water Eutrophication, Water table shrinkage, Exhausted soils, deforestation, Acid rain, heavy metal contamination etc).

Doesn’t really matter if ‘per capita energy consumption’ is low…there are just that many more Indians and Chinese to offset their efficiency.

I suggest people look at a scale developed from Yale University (Centre for Environmental Law and Policy) and Columbia University (Centre for International Earth Science Information Network CEISIN).

They measured Environmental Sustainability using a standardized ESI score (environmental sustainability index).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Sustainability_Index

India sadly place 101st

China 133rd

Brazil placed 11th

Cheers

 

[Sinister]

Environmental Performance Index - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

this is the EPI, Environment Performance Index

performance of a country relative to the impact on the environment (factors in sustainability of growth).

Switzerland, Sweden and Norway are the top 3 countries

 

[mkm]

Hello All ji

I was born and raised in India and live here but I havent met many who worry about pollution, how could they get so good marks ?

 

[kds1980]

Sinister to be honest at present its west which needs to cut down its energy consumption.
India and china with such small land,extreme poverty, and very large population is doing fairly good.

Did you hear the remarks of Bush that due to rising middle class of India there is food shortage in world.Does he ever studied pattern of consumption pf energy and food by Americans.

 

[Sinister]

Sinister to be honest at present its west which needs to cut down its energy consumption.
India and china with such small land,extreme poverty, and very large population is doing fairly good.

Did you hear the remarks of Bush that due to rising middle class of India there is food shortage in world.Does he ever studied pattern of consumption pf energy and food by Americans.

Yes they are doing well, that is why India ranks 101st on the ESI index :hmm:. The United States is 45th (nothing to brag about). And the EPI ranking of the US was 28 in 2006 (not so bad, but still there is room for improvement).

To be honest kds;

As you might have noticed the west is reducing its consumption of energy. Sure North Americans consume more…but it’s important to remember that they have more.

There is nothing inherently wrong with consumption or the specific amount of consumption as long as it’s SUSTAINABLE!!!!!!!


India and China’s consumption is the least sustainable (ESI ratings tell it all). It is the east that needs to reduce their massive populations and have fewer kids. The honesty that you should revert to is the fact that the US is far less polluted than India or China…and that’s all that matters when national sovereignty are protected by oceans, guns, icbm’s, and old retired geisers that call themselves minute men.



I heard about the Bush comments and they were ignorant and unnecessary, to pin the blame of high food prices on one or two countries is ridiculous and doesn’t accomplish anything. Globalization as a whole has led to higher energy prices. The increase trading across oceans has led to a dramatic increase in the consumption of fuel, as tones of grain, dry goods and minerals are shipped from one side of the globe to be processed on the other side and then brought back as finished products (resulting in tremendous amounts of energy expenditure). The blame lies on both sides of the fence. But then again we are talking about Bush…the man can barely get through a speech…and most importantly he’s just a dumb politician.


Cheers.