How Green is our world? Who are the culprits?

[Sensuikan San]

How Green is our world? Who are the culprits?

I have been fascinated for some time by statistics regarding waste emissions, pollution in general, and the apportioning of ﾂ"blameﾂ" in that regard. I was prompted to perform a little analysis of my own when I heard about the latest one – the ﾂ"National Geographicﾂ" survey on just how ﾂ"greenﾂ" we all are.

I was pee'd off because Canada came in at last but one!

Americans shouldn't laugh ﾂ….! You came in last! Apparently.

However, one of the things that has really pee'd me off is the way these statistics are surveyed and presented. It's always on a ﾂ"per capitaﾂ" basis.

Think about it.

You've just won the lottery, you've just bought a small island off Bermuda. You live alone. You have a small track in the back yard and you like to take your ﾂ'Hummer' for a spin in the morning and do the same with your Bugatti Veyron each afternoon. The weather isn't always perfect, so you fire up your furnace when needed – but run your air conditioning during the latter half of the day.

Totally irresponsible and extravagant, but what the heck! You're only one person – your carbon footprint is peanuts ﾂ… isn't it?

WRONG!

On a ﾂ'per capita' basis – your piddley little half-hectare is the most polluted place on the planet – and you should damn well change your ways ﾂ… now!

That's the way it goes, isn't it? Personally – I think not.

Surely, if we are going to analyze our planet, one factor that must come into play is the land area of the planet itself and the land area of polluting sources.

I took a few basic figures (that may be wrong by a figure or two ﾂ… I dunno ﾂ…) and looked at Carbon dioxide emissions from recent sources – they made interesting reading, but started (for once) to make sense ﾂ… they're based on land area – not population.

CO2 Emissions in Metric Tonnes per Square Kilometer (Latest figures –My own Calculations)

Best = Brazil = .03

Canada = .05

(This made so much sense to me. Brazil and Canada are so similar in one, demographic respect. Large countries with a few large, sophisticated, developed cities in which most of the population live, huge areas of lowly populated farmland, and thousands of square kilometers of wilderness.)

China = .36

India = .38

U.S.A. = .60

U.K = 2.30 (Oh dear ﾂ…!)

Japan = 3.26

Belgium= 4.10 (Mon dieux !!!)

And the list could go on ﾂ… but one thing is apparent ﾂ… if you have a small country with a large population ﾂ… you really have got a pollution problem! It goes without saying doesn't it? Just don't get too smug. Just don't sit back on your laurels and blame the Americans, the Chinese and the Canadians for the worlds pollution problems because you're demonstrating that on a ﾂ"per capitaﾂ" basis you're doing just fine! You're not! Your obligation and application is needed just as much, if not more so.

And we (In the larger countries ﾂ… China! - take note!) shouldn't get too smug either. Just because we have the spaces that make these figures as they are, doesn't mean that they're going to be there forever.

Let's just all get together and work on this rather than seeing ﾂ"who's best?ﾂ" who's worst?ﾂ".

And ﾂ… Belgium ﾂ…

Shape up!

Regards,

ﾆ淡ﾆ停?｡ﾆ停?

 

[Revenant]

That doesn't make sense.....

Denser population means that more people are making use of less resources. I mean, it's the difference between one person living a mansion and eight people living in a mansion. Sure, the energy usage for the entire mansion goes up with eight people in there, but it's better than the energy usage of eight people in eight seperate mansion, not to mention the energy and resources used in making eight seperate mansions.

Per capita is a better measure than per square kilometer.

 

[Sarapva]

I've heard a few times that Americans make up only 5% of the world's population, but use 40% of the resources. I don't know where this came from, but I guess it makes sense.

But the individual American is trying to become more environmentally friendly - recycling is growing (in the area where I live there was a sign saying that last year people recycled something like 35 tons of paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, etc. - and these are just regular people, not companies). Hybrid cars are in demand and are seen more and more on the roads. Some people are obsessively conservative, as in an article I read recently where a man eeks out the most mileage from his car by not rolling down the windows, not using air conditioning (even in the hottest months), braking as little as possible, etc.

We're encouraged by our government to spend money to keep the economy going, not to be conservative. But it's individuals who are trying to make a difference. I hope people don't judge Americans based on what we've all been taught (to spend money and use resources), but instead realize that the individual person doesn't want to wreak havoc and use up the world's resources.