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The Nordic countries are the world's greenest and Finland is the best country to live in, according to a new Reader's Digest study, conducted by professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment, Matthew E. Kahn and co-written by journalist Fran Lostys.
Finland was followed by Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Austria.
"Finland wins high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters," the study said.
The United States was No. 23 on the list of the analyzed 141 countries, Britain was No. 25 and China No. 84. The bottom nations were all African.
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Stockholm was the best city to live in out of 72 major metropolitan areas, followed by Oslo, Munich and Paris. New York was No. 15 and London No. 27. The dirtiest cities were in Asia. Beijing, host of next summer's Olympic, was at the bottom because of its air pollution. Matthew Kahn has looked at factors as quality of drinking water, greenhouse gas emissions, education and income. Better educated - higher standard of
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"Happily, their affluence and education makes people who live in these countries more likely to be aware and active when it comes to doing something about that footprint. Consider Norway (No. 3), which is party to more than 40 international environmental accords. It's no coincidence that nearly all Norwegian children graduate from high school."
The authors state, that It's in the interest of all countries for each one of them to gear public policy toward developing an informed citizenry. The goal should be an engaged, educated public that can act as a powerful antidote to environmental destruction.
Western nations should share with China
Global environmental management requires global cooperation. That
means Western nations need to move more quickly in sharing with China
emerging technologies that can be used to develop clean, alternative energy.
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Read more:
www.readersdigest.com
http://mek1966.googlepages.com/home
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10 best countries: 1.
Finland 10 worst countries: 132.
Haiti
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10 Best cities: 1.
Stockholm, Sweden 10 worst major cities: 63.
Athens, Greece
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