Americans are the best...

...at killing the planet through consumption! The 2009 National Geographic Greendex survey, "[...] a comprehensive measure of consumer behavior in 65 areas relating to housing, transportation, food and consumer goods" (Greendex Highlight Report.pdf), has, for the second consecutive year, given the US the worst overall score. (This must be qualified in just a few ways: the survey is only in its second year, only includes 17 countries (14 in 2008), and is based entirely on Internet-based polling data.)

A bit more about the approach: The survey measures "[...] energy use and conservation, transportation choices, food sources, the relative use of green products versus traditional products, attitudes towards the environment and sustainability, and knowledge of environmental issues" (Greendex: Survey of Sustainable Consumption), in order to give each respondent a score in each of the four main categories listed above (housing, transportation, food, and consumer goods). Based on performance in these categories each respondent is given an overall Greendex score.

One more thing: Brazil's Greendex score went down from last year to this year, so they are clearly gunning for our position at the top. We must waste as much as possible in the coming year in order to keep our crown. I hope each of you will do your part.

Approval Ratings

A website called PoliticsHome selected "informed Americans" to participate in a series of polls. I don't remember exactly how I got involved, but it definitely involved reading electoral websites a lot.

Anyway, most of their polls have been unremarkable, but here's an interesting one: approval ratings for many notable political figures.

Ziegler vs. Silver, Part 37

A show called The B Cast has an episode in which John Ziegler and Nate Silver debate Ziegler's recent polls that Ziegler claims prove Obama supporters are not well-informed about some of the negative aspects of Obama's past (e.g. Ayers, Wright, etc.). The episode is quite long, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. The bickering is kind of hilarious.

An interesting note on Ziegler: he was profiled in The Atlantic by David Foster Wallace in April of 2005. "Host," the profile, was later included in Ira Glass' The New Kings of Non-Fiction. I really enjoyed the descriptions of why he is a fantastic talk-radio host.