How is the rest of the world behaving....environmentally?

[theophilus]

The attitudes in this country are fracking stupid, at least in the leadership, at this time. People, in general, don't seem as environmentally aware as they were in the 70s and 80s. But the U.S. is, relatively speaking, a small portion of the world's population. We waste and use a lot more resources than our numbers justify, granted, but we are still just a "drop in the bucket".

So, what is the rest of the world doing? I assume that most other developed countries are more enlightened. Will the U.S. be marginalized by the rest of the world? Is there hope that this downhill slide in environmental quality will be turned around?

How about China and India? Are they environmentally sensitive? Russia? Is there any hope or is the whole world giving up on saving our environmental standard of living. Can we say good-bye to good air, good water, safe food, and ultimately, life?

Please, somebody give me some good news......or tell me the sad tale. Whichever.

[kestrel91316]

1. Denmark will very soon achieve complete energy independence via

its wind power production, IIRC.

I don't understand why they need to do this. They should keep using oil.

sarcasm off

[euroexpat]

2. In much

In Holland, people bring their own bags to the supermarket or pay 50 cents for a new one (a good thick one though - you can use it again and again) if you don't bring a bag.

Hence plastic is not completely abused - ending up blowing around the streets.

In Holland - people now have cards which they use to swipe a mailbox-like container which opens up to allow a normal black garbage bag inside. It tracks how much crap you throw away - and charges you for it. The garbage 'mailbox' gets pulled out every couple of days with a crane - and there's a huge concrete box below it that get's dumped.

That's why people in Holland take their paper waste to the bin around the corner (separate rig with no card) and put their bottles (by colour) in other bins (around the corner) and keep their compost waste either in the garden or in a Green container outside (like the American style garbage can but only full of compost material).

To lighten the load they have to pay for.

Make sense.

[Gregorian]

3. The truth is there are nearly 7 billion people.

When they want to live in a modern world, it can't happen without paying a price. Warm water. Just warm water for 7 billion is a mind boggling act. The great dam project in China will take the place of an equivalent fifteen or so nuclear reactors. The problem is, more people are beginning to live in the "modern world". That translates to death for this planet. It's the numbers. It's the numbers. Seven billion. There is essentially no way for us all to live in a modern world without that world collapsing. There is no good news. The only good news we'll get is when the population starts to decline. Nothing else is worth talking about, except curbing the extremes in our world. That would be the crazy living we are doing right here in America. Me. You. And are we going to stop? Can we stop? Buy it now. Shopping. Going to work.

But then, nothing lasts forever. I've learned to be less upset by that fact. I find myself focusing on things that have immediate and grave human suffering involved.

[Solon]

5. Hell, think about just feeding that many people...

You know that it wouldn't have been possible without the Green Revolution, don't you? Our entire food system, from production to distribution rely on fossil fuels to keep going. Now that Peak Oil may actually be here, how the hell are all of us supposed to live at all?

[KT2000]

4. Where there is universal healthcare

there seems to be more of a connection between environment and health. Good research comes from countries that have made that connection, especially the Scandinavian countries. They ask the right questions.
US environmental health research is so compromised by corporate influence, we are lagging way behind. The research questions serve to obfuscate connections.
In my opinion.

[pitohui]

6. the rest of the world is doing just awful

where do you start

brazil is turning the amazon and the pantanal into soy but not a DUer will ever give up her soy

china and india, they all want to get jobs and buy cars like americans and who can blame them

russia, environmentally sensitive, now that is the joke of all time, hahahahaha

there ain't no good news, appreciate what we have today, it won't always be here