ENVIRONMENTAL COMPARISON OF THE U.S. TO OTHER RICH NATIONS

The following statistics demonstrate that the U.S. is the most polluting nation in the First World. Except where otherwise footnoted, all statistics are taken from the international encyclopedia Where We Stand (cited above).

Travel on public transportation as a percent of all travel:

Japan          18%
Finland        16
Denmark        15
Portugal       14
Germany        11
Norway          9
United Kingdom  8
Netherlands     8
United States   1

Annual air miles per person:

United States  1,698
Canada         1,105
Netherlands    1,014
United Kingdom   902
Norway           829
Sweden           575
Finland          506
Denmark          476
Japan            425
Germany          344

Average price of a gallon of gas:

Sweden         $4.85
Denmark         4.46
United Kingdom  3.56
Germany         3.05
Netherlands     3.02
Japan           3.01
Canada          1.40
United States   1.07

Energy Units of oil burned annually:

United States       791.5
European Community  501.4
Japan               234.3
Germany             108.5
United Kingdom       81.3
Canada               80.4
Netherlands          24.1
Sweden               16.3
Finland              11.1
Norway                9.3
Denmark               9.0

Carbon dioxide released per person per year:

United States   5.8 tons
Canada          4.8
Germany         3.2
United Kingdom  2.9
Japan           2.2
OECD Europe     1.8

Total Carbon Monoxide emitted annually:

United States   60,900 tons
Canada          10,100
Germany          8,926
France           6,198
United Kingdom   5,264
Sweden           1,754
Netherlands      1,229
Norway             649
Switzerland        621

Percent of all greenhouse gases emitted annually: (1)


United States       21%
Former USSR         14
European Community  14
China                7
Brazil               4
India                4
Rest of the world   36

Total chlorofluorocarbons emitted annually:

United States   332 million tons
Japan            95
Germany          71
United Kingdom   67
Canada           34
Netherlands      17
Switzerland      10
Denmark           6
Finland           6
Sweden            4
Norway            1

Major oil spills (1976-89):


United States   16
France           6
United Kingdom   5
Japan            4
Canada           2
Sweden           2
Finland          1
Germany          1

Forests cleared (thousands of cubic yards):

United States  808,421
Canada         379,500
France          95,964
Sweden          84,612
Finland         72,864
Japan           57,272
Norway          14,810
United Kingdom   6,600

Acid rain (the lower the pH number, the worse the acidity):

Japan            3.9 pH
Sweden           4.1
United States    4.3
Canada           4.3
Norway           4.4
Denmark          4.5
Finland          4.5
Netherlands      4.9
United Kingdom   5.1

Energy Units of coal burned annually:

United States       458.0
European Community  299.0
Germany              73.9
Japan                73.2
United Kingdom       64.0
Canada               27.6
Netherlands           8.1
Denmark               5.5
Finland               4.1
Sweden                2.5
Norway                1.0

Debris inhaled per person per year:

United States   81 pounds
Finland         44
Sweden          44
Europe          26
Netherlands     24
Germany         24
Denmark         20
Norway          15
United Kingdom  11
Japan            2

Government spending on pollution control (percent of GDP):

Japan           1.17%
Netherlands     0.95
Canada          0.89
Germany         0.78
Sweden          0.66
United Kingdom  0.62
United States   0.60
Norway          0.54
Finland         0.52

Municipal waste per person per year (kilograms) (2)

United States   864 kg.
Canada          632
Japan           394
United Kingdom  353
Germany         331
France          304
Italy           301

Percent of all glass recycled:

Netherlands     50.3%
Japan           49.6
Germany         41.2
Sweden          40.0
Denmark         31.0
Finland         30.0
United Kingdom  27.0
Norway          21.1
United States   20.0

Percent of all paper and cardboard recycled:

Netherlands     62.0%
Japan           54.4
Germany         37.0
Denmark         32.0
United Kingdom  13.0
United States    8.4

Exception footnotes:
1. NASA, IPCC Scientific Assessment of Climate Change, 1992.
2. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, France, Environmental Indicators, 1991.

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