Americans are dead last when it comes to environmentally-friendly consumer consumption, according to the seventeen country "Greendex 2010: Consumer Choice and the Environment--A Worldwide Tracking Survey." The National Geographic survey, in partnership with GlobeScan, is in its third year of monitoring and measuring 65 areas of consumer behavior in housing, transportation, food, and consumer goods--ranking countries according to their consumers' environmental impact.



The top-scoring countries with sustainable-savvy consumers are India, Brazil, and China. Americans remain at the bottom, as they have since the survey began three years ago. We have familiar company at the bottom, though, with Canada, France, and the U.K. right there with us.

Emerging countries, it seems, may have fewer bad habits than those in the industrialized countries in this survey.

Among the survey's findings about American consumers:

--55% reside in homes with seven or more rooms, similar to Australian, British, and Canadian consumers.
--58% drive alone daily.
--61% never use local public transportation.
--26% walk or bike to their destinations regularly.
--25% eat imported foods; only Chinese consumers eat imported foods less often.

Across all participating countries, it was found that two perceptions helped to surpress sustainable consumption: many were discouraged by "companies that make false claims about environmental impacts of their products" and by the many obstacles set up by governments and companies to prohibit action.

Consumers, says the survey, "want less talk and more action."

To read more, go to: http://environment.nationalgeographic.c ... /greendex/

Lee, this doesn't surprise me at all. We live in a disposable society where people reach first for the most convenient thing possible -- consequences be damned.

Paper plates eliminate the need to wash dishes. Bug spray gets rid of those pests. A case of bottled water ensures you always have one at hand. Disposable razors mean you don't have to change blades. Beef is what's for dinner. No one wants to deal with a stinky diaper. The TV will keep the kids quiet - even in the car. Corn grows better and faster when its genetically modified. Cows are leaner and healthier when pumped full of antibiotics. Depressed? Take a pill. Wanna lose weight? Have your packaged meals delivered right to your door! The amazing toilet bowl cleaner that you can flush!

Well, you get the picture ... it never ceases to amaze me how much crap there is that just ends up in landfills, or farming practices that only make things better in the short run but mean huge consequences in the long run, etc. As we see from our current environmental disaster, our modern world is all about short-term gains with no regard for the long-term effects.

Which is why I'm feeling very down on humans right now ... more so than usual!

Sorry to be so depressing!

Emerging countries, Brazil, India and China score better because they are poorer. Unfortunately, China is one of the greatest polluters in the world. Americans score so low because there have already been several generations of throw-away culture, and waste has become part of life.

I have the hardest time trying to convince Americans of things that I think are self-evident, your normal sort of common sense kinds of things. For example, why not turn OFF the television or unplug the appliances when a monster lightning storm is next to the house? Or why do you keep the house cooler in summer and warmer in winter? Why not agree on a common temperature? Do you really believe your credit card debt is not going to catch up with you? Or why do you take antibiotics for flu just because the doctor prescribes them? They don't work for flu, and can cause other problems. When you have diabetes, shouldn't you try to lesser your intake of sugar, or lessen your fat intake when you have gall bladder issues? And so on and so forth. Sometimes I am just about ready to explode at the collective stupidity. Of course, I also take part in the wastefulness, and have gotten worse since I have lived in the US. In another culture, for example, the years I lived in Europe or traveled, I acted differently.

NG, I was thinking that too when I read the article. Its really not a fair comparison.



This is totally true. The difference between my parents' generation (growing up in the 50's), and my grandparents' generation (lived through the Great Depression) is significant. And its just snowballed since the 50's.

I'm right there with you. I belong to a local online group called Green Moms (even though I'm not a Mom, its a great resource for information on green living), and someone just posted a question to the group, "What was your trigger to go green?"

It made me think of all the ways I've modified my lifestyle over the years to avoid the type of behavior you mention -- and how I can still improve my behavior. But I'm still shocked when I'm at the mainstream supermarket in town and see what people are buying for their families. The worst is cases of single serving sizes of soda and cheap juice in the shopping carts of mothers with small children. No wonder there's an obesity problem -- corn syrup, sugar and artificial flavors and colors. Yum. Not what a growing child needs! Plus more for the landfill. When I walk my dogs on garbage night I'm always surprised at how few people in my neighborhood recycle.

Unfortunately the only way this will change is to have disasters like the oil spill. People don't want to see the truth unless it adversely effects them.

You know, I can see some change already whe I take my dogs for a walk in the nearby park. A few years ago, I found literally everything in the trash cans there (from curtain rods and bedspreads, towels, bathing suits, to living plants, food, half-empty water containers, tools, etc.), and the dogs had a field day with thrown away hamburgers, cake, and so on. For about two years now, there is still all the packaging trash (recycling beer cans seems to be an impossible task), but the other stuff is gone, simply eaten or taken home. So there is some improvement.

My favorite rant came up at the time gas was at its most expensive. For about 4-5 months, people were buying smaller cars, complaining they didn't have enough money to buy the gas to get to work. Then, just a few months later, they just had to have the monster biggest truck that you have to use a stepladder to get into and gets about 7 miles to the gallon. They can suddenly afford this?????

Simplicity is so much better than gross consumerism. I drive a 1994 car. It works, gets decent mileage, and I have no car payments. I am currently working to simplify my life even more. We are in the process of paying off some debts. I would like to be debt free in about 2 years time. Which would also coincide, pretty closely, with when I would like to retire from full time work and only work part-time. The message that continues to bombard us from the media in all shapes and forms is to buy - buy - buy. We don't have TV so we miss those messages. I listen to community radio so I don't get it there. We stopped with the newspaper because, gasp, it is mostly ads. Who needs it? None of us do.

Love it, RN.

You missed something about the newspaper: other than ads...there's also nothing but horrific stories of crime and death...yech...