While enjoying my out-of-season, hot-baked Cherry Clafoutis for breakfast this morning, I thought, 'Did these organic dried cherries come from Michigan?' And then I thought, 'where do I go online to learn more about making greener sustainable choices in my life?' So I went on the Sierra Club website since I donated money to them and realized it was more political than I was in the mood for this early morning. Then I thought, what countries on this beautiful planet are making the most mindfully green choices? And I found MIT's The Green Future Index 2022.
The brilliant minds at MIT ranked 76 countries from greenest to meanest in making mindful choices to help save life on this planet. Here are the current top twenty:
Iceland
Denmark
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Norway
Finland
France
Germany
Sweden
South Korea
Belgium
Ireland
Spain
Switzerland
Canada
Poland
Italy
Portugal
Japan
Costa Rica
The United States did not make the top twenty. How embarrassing, since I live in this country. I know from a DNA test that I'm 100% Northwestern European. So the lands of my ancestors and the cultures of the people there make more mindful choices than where I'm currently living. Hmmm...and to think my ancestors came to this country for better lifestyle choices once upon a time. I am the descendant of voyagers. If I tap into their thinking, I might someday consider voyaging back to my ancestral homelands if things don't change quickly enough in the next decade here in the United States. How many other people are thinking like this?
One thing is for sure; I'm going to start reading more about how people in these top 20 countries are making sustainable choices and learning from them. How can we help the rest of the world's countries make more sustainable choices? I'm most concerned about the people living in the countries ranked at the bottom being affected by climate change because so many people are not privileged enough to even think about leaving their countries for a better life. What can we do in our own towns and cities to help each other?
Most Americans I know drive cars to go places. So I researched the greenest modes of public transportation. And I'll list them for you. If you want to travel, these are the best ways to go, listed from cleanest to meanest:
Walk
Bicycle
Rail/Train
Med. size electric car
Vespa/Motorcycle
Bus
Med. size hybrid car
Med. size diesel car
Med. size gas car
Airplane/Boat
Now, we can make conscientious choices just by knowing this ranked list. And if you NEED to buy a car, here's an excellent resource.
Finally, I found a fantastic website with a list of all the best available resources to learn more about how to live a greener life and help save each other and this gorgeous planet. I bookmarked it.
Sometimes we all just need a little help finding where to begin.
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