Joey Wagemans
A nice study called “Evaluating the Relative Environmental Impact of Countries” did a great job at ranking countries on their sustainability. It uses seven indicators of environmental degradation: natural forest loss, habitat conversion, marine captures, fertilizer use, water pollution, carbon emissions and species threat. Here’s the outcome, Tonga is the most sustainable country in the world. Tonga is an island group with a little over 100,000 people. Some island lack basic electricity supply and had to import diesel. After increasing cost and the decrease in reliability of diesel, the islands switched to renewable energy solutions. Individual homes were turned into small power plants, collecting solar energy. They basically had no choice, but it turned out for the best. Unfortunately it’s a fairly small countries and it has a small effect on a global scale. The biggest countries can of course be found at the bottom of the list. So let’s learn from the mistakes of the three least sustainable countries in the world:
3. China
China ranks first in water pollution. Almost 100,00 people die every year from water pollution-related illnesses, with over 20 million people having no access to clean drinking water. Not only that, but they also rank second for total CO2 production.
2. USA
The USA ranks first CO2 emissions, but that’s hardly their biggest problem. They also rank first in fertilizer use, which means they release big amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium into the water, which can harm the natural life.
1. Brazil
Brazil scores first place for natural forest loss, fourth place for threatened species, fourth place for CO2 emissions and eight place for water pollution, just to name a few. The main problem is the deforestation due to commercial exploitation of forest resources and misguided government policies. Think of the deforestation effects from cattle ranching and growing soy and cocoa crops.
It’s a shame that the countries with the biggest impact also seem to be the ones with the lowest score. Let this be a warning to them. Shame on you guys!
