Green Countries

Philipp's dad sent us an article from Newsweek listing the "greenest" countries based on an index of environmental performance which is based on greenhouse gas emissions, quality of water resources and habitat protection. The top 10:
1. Sweden
2. Switzerland
3. Norway
4. Lithuania
5. Latvia
6. Finland
7. France
8. New Zealand
9. Costa Rica
10. Denmark

...66. The United States

I have to say, I was a bit surprised by some of the placings. Two examples: Ukraine was 9 places ahead of the US, and the Netherlands were seemingly low on the list; ranking in at #52. Switzerland is number two? Wow. Thats very, very cool. From living there I'd place it in the top 10 for sure, but commander in chief is awesome!

We (the US) got high marks for sanitation and water quality, but not surprising lows on high emissions and reliance on fossil fuels. Its obviously a multi faceted issue here and so much of the equation is simply just how enormous our country is. There's no other way for most people to get around with bypassing a car. I grew up in an extremely rural community where the closest grocery store was a good 25 minute drive. Public transportation here for the most part is non existent, expensive and dirty and horribly inefficient. A few gems of cities have practical systems, but for the most part there's simply no choice in the matter for us as of right now. Bring back the electric car? Make an afforable hybrid?