5/11/2008 2:48:20 PM Charles Hale
So Brazilian consumers are "tied with India's as the highest-ranked on the 14-country index of environmentally sustainable behavior". Apparently someone got the idea that they should ask consumers questions and rank countries according to the responses.
I lived in Brazil for several years, and I can attest to the fact that this is a bogus and short-sighted study.
Typical in the US we see trucks with exhausts pointing towards the heavens. In Brazil they direct them towards anyone walking down the road, at a bus stop, or anywhere they expect a pedestrian to be. Breath that you pedestrian scum!
Small residence size? This was always my biggest beef in Brazil is that everyone wants to live on top of each other. A nation with half of the population of the US, and equal in size to the lower 48, and everyone is crowded into 20 or so cities. There is no space anywhere in the cities. No suburbs at all: it's either urban or rural. Planners try to fit as many units into buildings as possible, so they are small. Everyone wants to live in the city, so it is expensive.
Transportation is mostly public. I rode the subway and buses for several years. You have no choice. It is either run the risk of being jacked in the evenings, or stuck in traffic for 2 hours, or go public. Security sucks (can't own a gun), so I didn't buy a car. Roads suck, they have no decent infrastructure to support rush-hours. And when it rains, all of the major roads are under water.
Electric usage? Funny, before I left they had to ration electricity. See, Brazil relies on hyrdo so much that they cannot support droughts. And when it does not rain enough, the government forces everyone to use less energy. They fine you the first time you use too much, and shut it off the second time.
And finally, they do "think" that they are greener. Just because they live in the tropics, and do not know what winter is. Ever live in a concrete building when it is 45 degrees F outside? It's pretty darn cold. Everyone has space heaters.
Central heat/air does not exist. It is too expensive. Hot water? Only for the rich, otherwise you get an electric heater that screws onto your shower pipe. Dishwashers, clothes washer/dryer? Not a chance, that's why you can get a maid for about 80 bucks a month.
Compact cars? You have little choice. Parking spaces for cars only fit the smallest of cars.
And on and on. These studies are nothing but bull. We'd drive down the highway and see fields on fire (it's cheaper to burn it down than plow it under). And what of the Amazon? Isn't it Brazilians tearing that down to plant more "green" sugar cane? Yup.
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