Canada, US, Oz, Worst of OECD Nations on Ecological Indicators

According to the report of the Eco-Research Chair of Environmental Law & Policy at the University of Victoria, Canada are second from last, just above the United States , on a list of 29 environmental indicators.

We're in the bottom half on 22 of 25 of the environmental indicators measured of all the OECD countries. There are just three indicators on which Canada is not in the bottom half.

These are the percentage of the population connected to sewage treatment (9th), the number of endangered species (7th), and the percentage of land protected by parks (13th).

At last we are doing something somewhat right. I say this because the report states that we're among the the three worst nations in the OECD on a per capita basis when it comes to various forms of air pollution (sulphur oxide, carbon monoxide emissions & volatile organic compounds emissions), water consumption, energy consumption, energy efficiency, creation of nuclear waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and volume of forests logged.

In short, our environmental performance generally sucks, as does that of the United States, when compared to other OECD countries.

The top three countries were Switzerland, Mexico, and Turkey. The bottom three are the U.S., Canada and Australia.

On another 6 ecological indicators we're fourth worst in the OECD. these are:
per capita nitrogen oxide emissions,
hazardous waste,
fertilizer consumption,
consumption of ozone-depleting substances,
kilometres traveled by road and
population growth.

I think kilometres traveled by road is largely attributable to the size of the countries and the amount of commuting and hauling of products that goes on. However, having seen the attitude of many people who would rather have all new everything, all the time, and who feel grievously deprived if they can't buy and toss whatever they fancy, and the general push to consume that is conveyed in most media in North America, I don't think it's just the countries' size and long-distance commutes that's driving this indicator. There is an abundance of natural resources in the US, Canada and Australia that too many take for granted, and so squander.

You can download the report here.