Americans Least Green - And Don't Care

NatGeo ^ | 7-12-2012 | Ker Than

[Sir Napsalot]

Americans are the the least likely to suffer from "green guilt" about their environmental impact, despite trailing the rest of the world in sustainable behavior, according to a new National Geographic survey.

This year's Greendex report, conducted by the National Geographic Society and the research consultancy GlobeScan, also found that Americans are the most confident that their individual actions can help the environment. (National Geographic News is a division of the Society.)

(How green are you? Find out with the Greendex calculator.)

"There's a disconnect there, and we hope the Greendex helps shed light on it," said Eric Whan, GlobeScan's director of sustainability.

"In our culture of consumption, we've sort of been indoctrinated to believe that we can buy ourselves out of environmental problems," said Whan, who's based in Toronto, Canada, another country ranked low in the survey.

.....

This year Americans ranked last in sustainable behavior, as they have every year since 2008. Just 21 percent of Americans reported feeling guilty about the impact they have on the environment, among the lowest of those surveyed.

Yet they had the most faith in an individual's ability to protect the environment, at 47 percent.

Consumers in India, China, and Brazil led the pack, with Greendex scores in the high fifties. Paradoxically, many Indians, Chinese, and Brazilians reported feeling the most guilt about their environmental impact and had the least confidence that their individual actions can help the environment.

....

[EyeGuy]

I generally assuage my Green Guilt with a backyard tire fire.

[Mich Patriot]

I scored 40 and don’t do squat to help the environment that I’m aware of. I DO choose to do certain things (dial down heat, don’t run the air excessively) but only to keep bills low (raised that way).

I don’t recall any questions about recycling, either. I’ll throw a bottle in the bin ONLY if it’s made convenient for me to do so.

[TurboZamboni]

U.N. data show U.S. greener than EU

Finger-pointing critics often vilify Americans as the sole cause of global warming. But the typical image of SUV-driving, energy-hogging Yankees may be bogus — a new analysis of U.N. data reveals that U.S. efforts to reduce greenhouse gases actually beat European policies.

“Despite constant criticism from environmental activists at home and across Europe claiming the U.S. government is doing nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, new evidence suggests America’s efforts are more effective than those of Europe’s,” according to a study by H. Sterling Burnett of the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070222-111037-4654r.htm

The US also dwarfs the Europeans in reforestation efforts...

Looking to the full article, the reporter actually mentioned this:

“U.S. businesses are succeeding where European bureaucracy is failing,” Mr. Burnett said. “Further, efforts like the Asian-Pacific partnership will do far more than [the] Kyoto [Protocol] to have a lasting effect on greenhouse gas emissions.”

The Asian-Pacific partnership is a nonbinding plan to cooperate on development and transfer technologies that would enable greenhouse gas reductions.

[Sir Napsalot]

This article has very little (i.e., none) substance on actual facts.

It is a survey, and how people in different countries chose to answer it.

We (the posters here) are just proud (and making fun of the Greendex) of our redneck attitude.

[TurboZamboni]

I think it’s funny the countries who signed Kyoto are bigger polluters than we are.

[TurboZamboni]

Despite nightly TV news admonishments, indoctrination in all levels of education,Algore’s(Captain Planet) Current TV, Earth Day, and “green czars” in every level of government,we’re still not worshipping Gaia with enough fervor.

DAMN YOU ALL!

[Cincinatus]

To quote a famous first lady, “For the first time in my life, I feel proud of my country!”