I noticed while browsing other websites, that there seems to be some uncertainty about the meaning of the survey results, and what they signify (especially the “country rankings”), so here is National Geographic’s Terry Garcia explanation of the “Greendex 2008”:
E&ETV -- Video Guide -- OnPoint: 05/12/2008
The survey was intended to provide a snapshot on consumer lifestyle choices (house size, energy efficiency of appliances, meat consumption, bottled water, usual transport means, etc.), as well as general attitudes towards environmental issues – not about the energy or environment performance of the country as a whole. It’s about the consumer behaviour of the people and the sustainability of their lifestyle, regardless of the individual government policies, etc. They intend to repeat these Greendex rankings each year to obtain trends on the lifestyle sustainability / consumer choices in the different countries.
The National Geographic site has the actual questionnaire used in this survey (
Greendex: Survey of Sustainable Consumption - National Geographic) – this can be used by individuals to get an estimate of your own “Personal Greendex” ranking, and to check how your ranking relates to the countries surveyed -
(map,
Are You As Green As India & China? : EcoWorldly)