Ranking rankings.In your latest issue ["Nordic Countries Are World's Sustainability Leaders," Environmental Intelligence, May/June] you cite a study by an organization ranking countries by various parameters (not specified). Bolivia and the Central African Republic Central African Republic, republic (2005 est. pop. 3,800,000), 240,534 sq mi (622,983 sq km), central Africa. The landlocked nation is bordered by Chad (N), Sudan (E), Congo (Kinshasa) and Congo (Brazzaville) (S), and Cameroon (W). came out at the top of the list. This is a simply ridiculous conclusion in terms of quality of life, political stability, educational standards, etc. If you regard such assessments as meaningful, when are you going to relocate your headquarters to either of them? As for the Scandinavian countries Noun 1. Scandinavian country - any one of the countries occupying Scandinavia Scandinavian nation European country, European nation - any one of the countries occupying the European continent , which ranked high in another assessment in the same article, things like cost of living [and] crowding into the cities to maintain an empty countryside are ignored. Also, the low population density reflects how many people emigrated from those countries to the U.S. years ago. While there are many issues on which I agree with you, you do frequently take up a Luddite stance invoking precautionary principles which can never be validated, like your stance on genetically modified genetically modified Adjective (of an organism) having DNA which has been altered for the purpose of improvement or correction of defects genetically modified genetic adj [food etc] → crops. H. LEON BRADLOW Edgewater, New Jersey Edgewater is a borough located on the Hudson River in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 7,677. As of the 2005 Census estimate, the borough had a population of 9,646. , USA Lisa Mastny responds: I mentioned the second study (The Ecologist and Friends of the Earth, March 2001), in which Bolivia and the Central African Republic rank high, not necessarily to endorse its conclusions but to illustrate precisely your larger point: that rankings according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. specific parameters of "sustainability" should be viewed with caution, as the results can differ depending on the variables chosen. In the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index The Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) is a composite index tracking 21 elements of environmental sustainability covering natural resource endowments, past and present pollution levels, environmental management efforts, contributions to protection of the global , Scandinavian countries topped the list mainly because the survey included variables related to economic security and institutional capacity to solve environmental problems, in addition to natural resource endowments, pollution levels, and other conventional environmental indicators. In the Ecologist/FOE survey, however, many developing countries performed better because the study contained fewer socioeconomic indicators and more measures of a country's overall environmental foot-print--not just how it uses its own natural resources, but the impact of its development and resource use globally. (For more on this critique, see www.theecologist.org/archive_article.html?article=243&category=59.) Talk to us! Please include your home town, country, and phone number (not for publication). Letters may be edited for clarity or brevity Brevity Adonis’ garden of short life. [Br. Lit.: I Henry IV] bubbles symbolic of transitoriness of life. [Art: Hall, 54] cherry fair cherry orchards where fruit was briefly sold; symbolic of transience. . Send them to: tprugh@worldwatch.org --or-- Editor, World Watch 1776 Massachusetts Avenue Massachusetts Avenue may refer to:
Washington, D.C. 20036, U.S.A. |
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