With the concept of "Going Green" cutting a higher profile in the minds of most people, it is interesting to ask the question, "Which countries are the greenest?" among the major countries in the world.
Well, National Geographic has recently published its most recent assessment of how green the various countries in the world are.
The results arise from a surprisingly comprehensive and complex analysis of the actions of citizens in each country and the actions those countries are taking to become greener and make the citizenry more environmentally conscious.
The results come from a survey of 17,000 consumers in 17 major countries.
The participants are asked a range of questions about their typical behavior relating to environmental impact of their consumption patterns and attitudes toward environmental consciousness and sustainability.
Specific questions posed include what people are doing about conservation, reducing energy consumption, choices for transportation and food, the tendency to purchase green products, and general attitudes toward sustainability.
In addition, participants are quizzed about their general knowledge of environmental issues.
Called Greendex 2010, the survey was conducted online with citizens of 17 countries.
These countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Spain,Sweden and the United States.
The results are surprising in many respects.
For example, the five highest ranking countries averaged over the past 3 years were the developing economies of India, Brazil, China, Mexico, and Argentina.
Russia was number six.
And which country was dead last? It was the United States, followed closely by Canada, France and the United Kingdom.
For Americans there was some positive news.
The USA was among those countries showing the greatest improvements in environmentally sustainable consumer behavior.
Consumers in Germany, Sweden and Spain actually showed slight declines in green behavior.
These results are counter-intuitive.
Why are the western countries rating so poorly, while developing countries getting such high ratings? The answer lies in the way the survey is scored.
Housing is an important component, and if you use air conditioning, you are downgraded.
That penalizes Americans relative to almost every other country.
The use of energy-consuming electronics has a similar impact on western countries as a whole.
Then there is the possession and use of cars and trucks.
Of course, Americans are more reliant on their cars and consequently, are penalized to a greater degree.
The study is misleading.
Progress on making reductions in energy consumption, recycling, and water conservation should have a heavier weighting.
Those are the factors that are having the largest impact as we go forward.
On that basis, western countries are doing a lot better than this survey suggests.