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Cleanest Places in the World
The quest for perfection is man’s unattainable goal. Man can never be perfect if we are to believe the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Man is man’s wolf and all of that. There’s always somebody to stick a stick in the spokes of the bike you are cycling along on and then stand there and smirk as you brush the dust off of you. Yet, we embark on a quest, a conquest of what might be perfect. We hold that ideal of the division between good and evil, the binary format that G.W. Bush excelled in in dividing the world into black and white, so erroneously forgetting the 50 shades of grey that also existed out there in between. We may not be perfect and we may not know the good from the bad because the ugly is standing in the way, but we know that are societies uphold only that which is clean, that which is good and that which is therefore consequentially desirable by men. We all strive for the attainment of perfection in the world.
For the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche perfection only comes from the exercising of what he called the ‘will to power’, the possession and exercise of creative power but also the conscious or unconscious urge to exercise authority over others. Perfect is then that? Exercising authority over others? And yet we are led to believe that it is anything but. Perfection is said to be just around the corner from where you live, then. The cities that are all the same, the roads with the green lawns and the litterless streets, the people that have polite children and the people that grow tulips in the back yard and tend the roses out the front, baking cakes for their neighbors and going to church on Sunday. Ah! That’s the perfect society, the exercising of control over them to make them conform and believe that they live in that perfect society. Perfect! A society, a city where everything has been cleansed, cleaned, shiny and new. It’s the cleanest that’s best. But the cleanest whatever in the world is a term that can cover a multitude of sins, can’t it? It all depends on what your definition of clean might be. Clean after all means free from dirt or stains, but it also has the meaning of free from unwanted matter, uncontaminated and pure or innocent.
Today, it’s the quest for the state of the perfect city, the cleanest country; the one that will save the planet at the same time by cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions; the one that is worried about the toxic waste that’s released. The cleanest countries are ranked every year according to their Environmental Performance Index (EPI), or the method of numerically quantifying the policies that a state implements with regard to the environment and protection. The index was developed by Yale University (Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy) and Columbia University (Center for International Earth Science Information Network). What’s taken into account in the calculation?
· Environmental burden of disease.
· Adequate sanitation and drinking water.
· Indoor air pollution and urban particles as well as local ozone.
· Regional ozone and sulfur dioxide emissions
· Water stress and water quality.
· Conservation risk and effective conservation including critical habitat protection and marine protected areas.
· Growing stock of forestry.
· Trawling intensity in fishing zones.
· Agricultural subsidies and intensive cropland.
· Pesticide regulation.
· Emissions per capita (greenhouse gases).
· Emissions per electricity generated and industrial carbon intensity.
In all there are 25 indicators that are examined for 178 countries (2014).
The 2014 scores are as follows.
Cleanest Countries in the World
10. Norway
This country has a score of 78.04. This country was in 3rd place in 2012 and has rapidly lost that top pole-position. But, over a ten-year period it has improved biodiversity and habitat by 15.61%. It is one of the first to have made efforts concerning environmental protection and air quality but it has been rapidly overtaken by greater effort from others.
9. Sweden
This country has a score of 78.09. Sweden has been in the top ten year after year. Since 2012, it has increased from 10th to 9th position and it ranks in first place for health impacts of the environment and the quality of the air. Fishing stocks have decreased for this country by nearly 15% also.
8. Austria
Austria has a score of 78.32. This country has always ranked in the top-ten since the creation of the index. But, it has been knocked down by one place since 2012 from 7th to 8th. It’s not necessarily that Austria is lacking in making consistent effort, but rather that the others are just making more. It is in 1st place for water and sanitation quality.
7. Spain
Spain notches up 79.79 points on the EPI. Despite all the economic problems that hit this country, the Spanish have improved their position since 2010 when they ranked 25th to 7th place today. They have improved agriculture by over 30% in a ten-year period. But, it still has a lot of effort to make regarding climate and energy since they only rank 101st position.
6. Germany
Germany has a score of 80.47 on the EPI. Germany has increased its score by 13.56 points since 2012 (when it came in 11th place). Over the past ten years it has improved legislation and efforts regarding agriculture, by 27.91%. Air quality has also increased by over 7% in a decade.
5. Czech Republic
This country stands at 81.47. This country is rarely the one that comes to mind when we think of environment and improving the quality of eco-oriented legislation. But, it is now in 5th position, having improved by 16.68 points since 2012, when it was ranked 18th.
4. Singapore
Singapore has an EPI score of 81.78. In 2010 this country was just in 28th position and it shows that nothing is impossible when the will is there. Perhaps others should take a leaf out of the Singaporean book on the environment. They also rank in joint-first position for health impacts and they are in first place for water and sanitation and water resources.
3. Australia
Australia’s EPI stands at 82.4. The country is the third best in terms of environmental protection and eco-policies. They were only in 20th position in 2006 and they have made a vast improvement in legislation over the past ten years, increasing their score since that time by 11.77%. The country ranks 1st in terms of health impacts and water sanitation as well as forest protection.
2. Luxembourg
Luxembourg stands at 83.29 and has second place in the rankings for the cleanest country in the world. This country has increased by +3.02% for the decade overall trend and its final ranking. It ranks in number one position for water and sanitation but it doesn’t come out well with regard to agriculture and forests since it only ranks 93rd place and 62nd place respectively. But, the country has decreased the pollution in the air, improving quality by 26.57 points over a ten-year period.
1. Switzerland
Switzerland stands at as the world’s cleanest country with a score of 87.67. It’s not surprising that this country is at the top since it recycles almost 96% of its recyclable materials. It scores first place for overall EPI but it also comes in first for water and sanitation cleanliness and biodiversity and habitat as wealth as health impacts on the environment. But it is only ranked 156th with regard to agriculture and even its air quality is only 103rd. Over a ten-year time span it has increased its overall score by +17.27%.
Where’s the USA in all of this? Only in 33rd place today. It was in 30th position in 2006, which is hardly any better. But, it would seem that the US is doing even less today than it was nearly ten years ago. It has an EPI of 67.52. The USA can only do better in increasing its score. It has increased overall by 2.23% in the past decade, which means that it is making some effort to improve the cleanliness of the country. But, it’s obviously being overtaken by other countries that are making a far more considerably visible effort.
What about the cleanest cities in the United States then? The one where the kids breathe good air as pure as the mountains of Switzerland and where the parents don’t have to worry. The American Lung Association produced the State of the Air report for 2015, measuring air pollution particles as well as ozone pollution near ground levels, all of which can lead to health issues.
Cleanest Cities in the USA for Year-Round Particle Pollution
10. Rapid City-Spearfish, SD
10. Anchorage, AK
10. Bismarck, ND
6. Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, HI
6. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL
6. Salinas, CA
6. Duluth, MN-WI
5. Flagstaff, AZ
3. Casper, WY
3. Cheyenne, WY
2. Farmington, NM
1. Prescott, AZ
What is it with the people that want it all perfect? Perfectionism: exercising authority remember! Everything must be perfect. Perfect kids, perfect job and perfect life. But, behind closed doors you can imagine the complete opposite can’t you? Is the definition of perfect the cleansed world, the asepticized abomination of society that we have tried to create in which the dirt gets swept under the rug in the front room of the White House? What is it with our quest for removal of the dirt around us all the time and yet the ones that are actually exercising their own will to power, the perfect ones, those at the top of the heap, are actually wallowing in it up to their necks. Where did cleanliness go there and what’s it next to these days?
So, what would your definition of a clean city be in this world? A place that would be perfect, a place that is free from the stains that you don’t want in society. But does a clean city mean necessarily happy citizens? The attainment of perfection or approaching what we might consider to be perfection in cleanliness is one thing, but happiness is quite distinct.
How does your city need cleaning up today?
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The perfect city would be clean of control freaks.
How many of those countries have an MLK Blvd or hoards of hispanics sneaking in, in spite of having a DHS and an EPA???
I wonder how much of the scorre is based on so-called "climate change initiatives" and the farcical waste of taxpayers' money to take the general population back to the middle ages?
O.K. which of those countries has a constitutional guarantee of the right to bear arms? It is say, ZERO! As the saying goes, a clean desk is a good indictor of an empty mind. And, of course, Mussolini did make the trains run on time. Give me a country where you can own as many firearms as you can afford and ride a Harley without a helmet. The world is chaotic and random, eat dessert first!
"Political correctness is the belief you can pick up a turd from the clean end"
-H.L. MenckenObama just said Los Angeles is smogless. Lol.
Is it just me but are these "clean" places countries that don't produce a lot of anything. China isn't on the list for obvious reasons. Is it because they are filty people, or simply that they do filthy work. AS a blue collar worker most of my life I have lived along side many who would never stoop to physical labor and look down upon those who come home from work a bit ripe from a day of sweating.
Maybe once we have "evolved" to the point that we no longer need to "work" and can set at home rolling in the riches of our imaginary digital fiat wealth earned by trading bits of "asset value" over the net, we can all live in "clean places".
Exactly what I was thinking. Easy not to make a mess if you don't actually do anything. Switzerland is the perfect example - ALL paper-pushing wealth and corporate HQs but little to no actual industry to speak of. Majestic place though for sure, been there a couple of times. Feels like Lord of the Rings. Germany stands out though, quite an accomplishment given the amount of industry. However, they're BS use of "renewables" might somehow inflate their score over pure cleanliness.
Well , I am forced to conclude that New Zealand is not a country.
That, or this index is horseshit.
That was a joke, right? Dairy runoff, collapsing fisheries, the big coal plant at Huntly, log trucks instead of rail transport, plans to shut Kiwirail, old utes rusting in plain sight in neglected paddocks and 2,4,5T herbicide residue still poisoning people in Taranaki ... the list goes on and on. Do you actually live in NZ or just saw it in LOTR movies?
So you did read the report, and saw that N.Z was one of the top 20 cleanest places?
Wow, I feel sorry for you.
I admit that I have never been out of NZ, but that is because I can't see any reason to do so.
Ad hominem is the refuge of those without a factual argument.
Want to try again?
Perhaps you are pushing some political agenda here?
NZ scored 76.41 with an improving performance.
It seems that you have a very jaundiced view of one of the top 20 placings. And the differences between the top -ranked are not great.
It seems that your response was the joke.
Except for Germany, Spain, and maybe Australia, those are also the most boring countries on the planet.
How is Switzerland, Austria, Singapore or Norway boring in comparison to Germany? Have you actually been to those countries? I find them way more exciting and atractive than Germany.
Lets get philosophical:
Humans are the only animal with self-awareness--freewill.
Freewill can be determined to be between choosing not to think, utilizing freewill to reject self-awareness and therefore being more animal than human, and choosing to think, embracing freewill so as to be more human.
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission..
Man's biggest strength is the ability to think.
Man's biggest weakness: Not thinking.
Self awareness is relative. Even an ant with a tiny microscopic brain is self aware at his / her level of existance , he / she is a perfect example of the Hive mind , which is exactly what we humans are part of - Hive mind human conciousness. Even a pebble or rock posesses some form of conciousness only we do not have the instrumentation or time to measure it. All matter is conciouss at it's own energy level. Imagine the internal electrical and atomic activity of our sun , it lives long enough to be able to communicate with many other of our local Star's in it's lifetime. To think a Star is not the ultimate form of conciousness is stupid as far as I am concerned.
I somewhat agree, BUT why do you think that self-awarenes = freewill?
I long-since concluded that "freewill" s largely a myth, or a bit of a slogan, like "democracy".
In brief: we are born to parents and at a location we had no part in choosing.
We are formed by biology and upbringing by the age of seven, then spend several more years as dependants, i.e. at least until the age of about sixteen, by which time attitudes, beliefs and habits are well established, whether or not fully accepted, or rebelled against for reasons it may take years to understand.
There's a lot more I put into this when I was studying philosophy intensely (even that I should modify) but this will do to start a sort of Socratic questioning of the "freewill" doctrine - yes doctrine.
Identical twins sometimes live drastically different lives.
It may not be absolute : few things are.
The psychology of freedom suggests that the more information or cues that we utilise in forming decisions , the freer we are.
The more that we exist in a drive (driven) state, the less free that we are.
That is because, in a state of drive, our field of "vision" is narrowed, and we make decisions based on less information.
In my analysis there IS the posibility of some freedom, BUT it is akin to the peak on iceberg, i.e. the bulk that's above water = our experience of the world which we cannot escape, with just the "peak" being where we can make fairly superficial choices - which mght feel momentous of course, but ...
And then there is the vast bulk below water which = all that has gone on over millions of years to make animals possible, not least including basic drives/instincts obviously shared with most other animals perhaps, such as the fight or flight response.
My dog displays as much "free-will" as any person. I have watched her smell what's on the counter top, consider her options and the value of the goody, and if the trade is good enough grab what's up there, eat it, and then go to her crate for the "time out" she knows it coming.
My dogs - I have had several and one amazingly intelligent - and I really cannot tell the difference between us and them in essence.
One, like yours, used to sneak the cat food until I caught her at it, when she thought I had gone out ... my only "punishment" was to startle her by shouting "No" through the window. Thereafter she developed a "guilty conscience"for anything she felt was wrong - unmistakeable (like your dog) and NOT anthropomorphizing at all.
After she died I got the pup which turned out super-intelligent.
My wife had her favourite lap dog which was allowed on chairs and beds, whereas my Bonnie wasn't. No prob. She'd follow my wife to the car port, wait until she was sure that the dragon was gone, then race inside and settle on the chair/lounge beside me, or sometimes the bed.
On another occasion I was watching my daughter play Barbie Dolls with three friends and Bonnie, who suddenly got up (I was watching through the kitchen window) came indoors, went to my daughter's bedroom, picked up a number of Barbie Doll clothes in her mouth, went back out and dropped the clothes in the circle.
There is SO much more, but I won't bore you further.
Animals do possess intelligence and self-awareness, but it is at the level of a 2-3yr old toddler.
There are animals who cry when facing slaughter; or over the grave of its owner. There was an elephant who walked a huge distance to be at the funeral of his beloved ex-caretaker.
And there are animals who jumped over the cliff collectively when facing (their) environbment changes.
There are animals who mother other breeds; or care for wounded.
Moar than self-awareness and/or intelligence, no?
Ask this: "Do animals have soul?" "Do they evolve, spiritually?"
If animals have self awareness and the intelligence of a 3 year old, then what right do we have to use them in ways that are abusive? If you can't answer that then you understand why folks in PETA get so upset.
Which is why superstition is the Achilles Heel of Homo sapiens.
And that is why the scientific method has been so useful;it enables us to distinguish the products of imagination from reality.
Yes, but....
While we live in the time of incredible science and knowledge, human nature is most greatly attuned to delusion. We will deny the reality that science can prove to us simply because we prefer not to accept it. Humans think a lot, just mostly about how to defy their knowledge to pursue what they want and need, even when and especially when it is self destructive. While free will is pretty hard to define as I think few of us really have a clue what it is we really want beyond the typical distractions of toys and sex, we most assuredly have one exception to the rest of the animal world. We are the only ones who must rely on our own will to survive. We are the only creatures who commit suicide, simply because we are too sad or lazy to live. We have to actually think about getting out of bed and going to work. Most animals in the wild don't have to think about it. They are hungry and set about feeding themselves and I doubt "depression" plays much into it. Further, humans don't really have any natural defenses. We can't out run our out fight most other creatures. We instead are forced to use our mind as our single greatest tool without any reliance on ingrained mechanisms. We accumulate data all around us and put it together as a plan of action. We think, not just act, as our primary tool for survivial, or we kill ourselves with a gun or a drug, because we simply lack the will to live. Most creatures of the animal world would see that as free lunch.
Superstition is just another tool for deceiving ourselves. Anything but reality.
I'm suggesting that the power of imagination is both our evolutionary advantage , and our Achilles heel at the same time.
We are really not a threat to anybody, unless we become totally rational, and check all imaginings against reality.
The prevalence of theistic religions is proof enough that this will never happen.
Look at the double slit experiment mr. rational and see what it says about "the observer". There's more between heaven and earth than you can find in your Newtonian / Cartesian outlook.
Note on the 2 slit experiment descriptions. Some descriptions are cursory, maybe by design to keep the Newtonian / Cartesian head from exploding. Find one that includes the effect when devices are used to monitor which slit the electron passes through.
Concious being:
Can you (and would you be kind enough, of couse) provide a link to what you consider to be a best example of a description of the slit experiment suitable for someone of average intelligence?
I didn't say anything like that: imagination is a critical ability. But it has to be checked against reality , or else it runs the risk of becoming superstition.
Of course perception can be unreliable.
What was your point?
one believes what one wants to believe:
superstition, science, reality...
perception, um...
check out what mid-brain / pineal gland would do.
And why is it on the Pope's Crozier?
Man is not an animal; he only acts like one sometimes, well often. What is free-will in your world? The only fee-will a person has is to choose their sinful behavior.
Of course humans are animals. We're not plants, right?
Of course we are animals! Every part of us is essentially the same in all mammals - we have the same number of vertebra as giraffes and whales, for instance.
Our brains are layered "atop" even reptilian basal structures.
Our types of organs are essentially the same as numerous other species.
Our behaviours are based in primary instincts like all animals, from the first instinct to suckle to the sex drive later on.
I think that croc is going to attempt to sell you a crock.
I would not be surprized.
@kchrisc -- What makes you ASSUME only humans are self aware, or some such definition of intelligence? Are you able to read animal minds? Or did you get this from some religion.
How ironic that someone who talks about thinking skills has so little of it.
Here is an interesting experiment. My cat absolutely goes ape shit if he looks out the window and sees another cat invading his territory. Yet, if I place him in front of a mirror he ignores his own image. In each case, the cat sees another cat "thru" glass. One is a threat and one isn't. Does this indicate self awareness in cats?
I am surprised they didn't at least give lip service to radiation in the analysis.
Lots of radiation out there, ocean dumping, Fukushima, resuspension in Chernobyl fires.
San Onofre Gate (by CaptD)http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2015/08/san-onofre-gate-by-captd.html
That is almost minor compared to the 800 nukes tested before and after the first A-bomb; just by the US alone and only to the extent that what they have said is true. Doesn't matter, the earth is a disposable planet and will be replaced by the One who installed the first one.
Crocodile - you are correct (although some .gov trolls sure downvote you). The US' nuclear tests mark the beginning of the nuclear contamination of our planet BIG STYLE. With Chernobyl public awareness rose but the the US had set the baseline many decades before, dwarfing the impact of Chernobyl and other sources.
Cancer rates started to explode in the fifties, too.
here is a video depiction of every nuclear bomb test done in the world.
scroll down 1 page about
http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/p/links-including-rad-maps.html
actually it started skyrocketing exactly in 1945, see charts here
http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2015/07/cancer-started-sky-rocketin...
and strontium in your bones... :)
#11 - Obama's bunghole, because all the crap comes out of his mouth
Isn't it funny that 8/10 clean places are in Europe?
Why does that strike you as strange...?