Americans are the the least likely to suffer from “green guilt” about their environmental impact, despite trailing the rest of the world in sustainable behavior, according to a new National Geographic survey.
This year’s Greendex report, conducted by the National Geographic Society and the research consultancy GlobeScan,
also found that Americans are the most confident that their individual
actions can help the environment. (National Geographic News is a
division of the Society.)
“There’s
a disconnect there, and we hope the Greendex helps shed light on it,”
said Eric Whan, GlobeScan’s director of sustainability.
“In our
culture of consumption, we’ve sort of been indoctrinated to believe that
we can buy ourselves out of environmental problems,” said Whan, who’s
based in Toronto, Canada, another country ranked low in the survey.
