The UAE is the new USA

By Michael J.W. Stickings

On the environment, that is. And it isn't a compliment. The AP reports:

The average person in the [United Arab] Emirates puts more demand on the global ecosystem than any other, giving the country the world's largest per-capita "ecological footprint," [World Wildlife Fund] data shows. The United States runs second.

But the oil-rich Emirates is considered a developing country, and even as a signatory to the United Nations Kyoto protocol on global warming, is not required to cut emissions.

But at least the UAE is trying to do something about its poor environmental showing, even if its hyper-American culture of consumption won't be reformed easily: "The federal environment agency is devising strategies to cut emissions, including a public campaign that may offer economic incentives to those who turn down their air conditioning." It has what one official calls "an action plan".

The same, alas, cannot be said about Bush's America, which has a poor record on the environment, period, including global warming, which it essentially denies. (There have been rumours circulating, based on a British newspaper report that quoted a source close to Blair, that Bush would publicly reverse his position on global warming in his upcoming State of the Union, but the White House has denied them.)

But my own country, Canada, isn't doing much better. Although there is far more of a commitment to the environment here, not to mention a recognition of the reality of the climate crisis, even from our Conservative (and Kyoto-unfriendly) government in Ottawa, we rank fourth in the WWF report, behind Finland and ahead of Kuwait. Not good.

We can all do a lot better.