What’s the most environmentally friendly country?
Well depends on who you ask.
And the answer might surprise you.
Hey Everyone Julia here for DNews.
Here in the US we like to think pretty highly of ourselves.
We like to think we’re the BEST AT EVERYTHING.
Especially on a day like Earth Day.
But we can’t seem to get it through our skulls that we aren’t great at all the things.
Especially when it comes to the environment.
So where does the US Rank?
Who bested us?
According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s Better Life
Index, the top honor goes to Sweden.
Other top countries include Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Finland.
Although this index only measures things like air pollution and water quality, the things
that really affect a person on a daily basis.
But according to Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index, Switzerland takes the lead,
followed by Luxembourg, Australia, Singapore, and the Czech Republic.
The EPI is more comprehensive.
It measures things like environmental health, air pollution and water quality, but it also
takes into account less tangible things like the the health of the ecosystem.
Which includes protected habitat, fish stocks, and energy use.
How did Switzerland get ahead?
In recent years the country has designated a lot of land as National Parks, which earned
it the top score for Terrestrial Protected Areas.
And it gets over half of its energy through hydroelectric power, the rest from Nuclear,
so it’s got a very small carbon footprint.
Luxembourg is a small country with only half a million people and 1500 square miles.
(2500 square km).
But its robust water and sanitation networks plus protection of 17% of land habitats earns
it the number two spot.
Australia comes in at number 3 with high marks in health impact and water quality.
The land down under also boosts solid scores in both terrestrial and marine protected areas.
How about the US?
Well according to the EPI The United States is number thirty three, just above Malta but
below Belarus.
While we excel at measures of health, like air quality and sanitation, we suck, I mean
really really suck at other measurements.
The US performs very poorly in measurements of fisheries, with huge collapses of certain
fish stocks.
And the country still has some room to grow in terms of climate and energy use.
I know i know, most of you must be wondering, where is Costa Rica?
The Small Central American country is well known for its eco-tourism.
According to the World Bank over 20% of the land is designated as a protected area.
Well they did reforest half their country in just a few decades.
And this year, they used 100% renewable energy for 75 days.
Yet, it placed 54th on the EPI listing.
Its downfall seems to be its treatment or lack thereof of wastewater.
According to a UN report, just three percent of the country’s urban sewage was treated
before being released back into the water.
But all of this data is from 2014 so maybe when the index is updated in 2016 things will
look a little different.
Fortunately Toyota is pitching in to help us become a greener nation!
The new Toyota Mirai is looking to the future with sustainability in mind; fueled by hydrogen
and leaving zero emissions behind.
Special thanks to our viewers Wesley Van Der Burg, jean-francois prince, michael gutierrez,
and a few others who asked this question in the comments.
And you wanna know more about the environment, Trace tells us the truth about biodegradable
plastics in this video down here.
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