Tuesday, 28 October 2014

WWF Live Planet Report 2014

Read a report which had Singapore at 7th position on the list of countries with the largest ecological footprint.

USA is 8th and Australia is 13th.

Amazingly, China is 76th, way below the world average.

Take a closer look though and note that even if you add up all 7 countries on the list before USA and you won't even have a land mass close to it.

This is how they calculate the ecological footprint ... The size and composition of a nation’s per capita Ecological Footprint is determined by the goods and services used by an average person in that country, and the efficiency with which resources, including fossil fuels, are used in providing these goods and services.

Basically, the countries ranked at the top of the list are there because they import most of the stuff they use. Consider their small sizes and the chances they have of being self-sufficient based on their own resources and you arrive at the problem I have with the report.

Not doubting that humans are living beyond the means of the Earth to support but questioning the way the report goes about formulating its results.

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