U.S. Consumers Lag Others in Sustainable Choices

By Ford Cochran

Results of the Greendex survey of sustainable consumption patterns reveal that consumers in most of the 17 countries profiled have adopted more environmentally friendly behaviors over the past year. All but one of the countries polled in both 2008 and 2010 showed improvement over the past two years.

National Geographic and the worldwide polling firm GlobeScan released results of the third annual Greendex survey today. The Greendex tracks behavior across a broad spectrum of areas relating to housing, transportation, food, and consumer goods.

Compared to the attitude of the average consumer in other countries surveyed, Americans express less concern about environmental problems, and they increasingly consider the seriousness of environmental issues to be exaggerated (31 percent, up from 25 percent). American consumers' behavior still ranks least sustainable among all countries polled--as it has since the inception of the Greendex--followed by that of Canadian and French consumers. There were, however, some improvements in these countries.

See more at: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/06/greendex-points-to-better-cons.html