Indians are world’s ‘greenest’: Survey

Indians are world’s ‘greenest’: Survey

Country’s Frugal Ways Put It Atop National Geographic’s Greendex

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Washington: That cold water bath many Indians take because there is no electricity... that earthen pot matka they use because they can’t afford a fridge...and the long walk to work and back because private transport is expensive and public transport shoddy. Well, there’s an upside to the hard life.
Indians may be green with envy at the consumption-drive lifestyle in the West, but their own frugal ways and modest means has catapulted them to the top spot in the world’s Green index, making them the friendliest denizens of Planet Earth.
The second annual survey conducted by National Geographic Society and the international polling firm GlobeScan on environmentally sustainable behaviour, results of which were released on Wednesday, showed that Indian consumers have overtaken Brazilians to take the top spot with a Greendex score of 59.5. Chinese retained the third spot with 55.2.
At the bottom end of the ladder in the 17-country survey were over-consumptive Americans (last with 43.7), Canadians (43.5) and Japanese (49.3).
So what put Indians at the top of the Green ladder? Well, it was driven by above-average performance on all four sub-indices, including firstplace rankings for food and goods.
Indians are the most frequent consumers of selfgrown food, with 35 per cent eating this type of food several times a week or daily. They are also the least frequent consumers of beef, which requires greater energy to grow. Only 22 per cent of Indians consume beef weekly compared with an average of 63 per cent for the 17 countries surveyed.
Indian consumers also topped the goods sub-index score. Their top-placement status is due in part to having lower-than-average rates of ownership for large appliances and electronics, and having some of the highest rates for buying used goods, avoiding environmentally unfriendly products and excessive packaging, and buying environmentally friendly products
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