Clean countries.

If the U.S. were graded according to its ability to protect the environment, how do you think it would score? High? Low?

The Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) Report is one way to find out. The ESI measures a broad range of data that show how well a country can sustain a healthy environment. It tracks the amount of money a country spends on saving natural resources, past and present pollution levels, and environmental protection efforts, to name only 3 of the 21 indicators. The higher a country's ESI score, the better it is able to maintain a healthy environment. The U.S. scored 52.9 out of 100.

One concerned reader wants to know which country has the best environmental record.

Albert M. e-mails us with his interest in clean countries.

Q: What is the greenest (or cleanest) country in the world?

A: According to the 2005 ESI Report, Finland is the greenest country, with a score of 75.1.

The ESI ranked 145 countries, which were separated into five groups according to their wealth. The results were surprising--some of the poorer countries scored better than the richer ones. (See the map for the top-10 countries.)