And the answer might surprise you.

Hey Everyone Julia here for DNews.

Here in the US we like to think pretty highly of ourselves. We like to think we’re

the BEST AT EVERYTHING. Especially on a day like Earth Day.

But we can’t seem to get it through our skulls that we aren’t great at all the things. Especially when it comes to the environment.

So where does the US rank compared to the rest of world ?

According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s Better Life

Index, the top honor goes to Sweden. Other top countries include Australia, the United

Kingdom, New Zealand, and Finland. Although this index only measures things like air pollution and water quality,

the things that really affect a person on a daily basis.

But according to Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index, Switzerland takes the lead,

followed by Luxembourg, Australia, Singapore, and the Czech Republic. The EPI is more comprehensive.

It measures things like environmental health, air pollution and water quality, but it also

takes into account less tangible things like the the health of the ecosystem. Which includes

protected habitat, fish stocks, and even energy use.

How did Switzerland get ahead? In recent years the country has designated a lot of land as

National Parks, which earned it the top score for Terrestrial Protected Areas. And it gets

over half of its energy through hydroelectric power, the rest from Nuclear, so it’s got

a very small carbon footprint.

Luxembourg is a small country with only half a million people and 1500 square miles. (2500

square km). But its robust water and sanitation networks plus protection of 17% of land habitats

earns it the number two spot.

Australia comes in at number 3 with high marks in health impact and water quality. The land

down under also boosts solid scores in both terrestrial and marine protected areas.

How about the US? Well according to the EPI The United States is number thirty three,

just above Malta but below Belarus. While we excel at measures of health, like air quality

and sanitation, we suck, I mean really really suck at other measurements.

The US performs very poorly in measurements of fisheries, with huge collapses of certain fish stocks.

And the country still has some room to grow in terms of climate and energy use.

I know i know, most of you must be wondering, where is Costa Rica? The Small Central American

country is well known for its eco-tourism. According to the World Bank over 20% of the

land is designated as a protected area. Well they did reforest half their country in just

a few decades. And this year, they used 100% renewable energy for 75 days. Yet, it placed

54th on the EPI listing. Its downfall seems to be its treatment or lack thereof of wastewater.

According to a UN report, just three percent of the country’s urban sewage was treated

before being released back into the water.

But all of this data is from 2014 so maybe when the index is updated in 2016 things might

look a little different.

Fortunately Toyota is pitching in to help us become a greener nation! The new Toyota

Mirai is looking to the future with sustainability in mind; fueled by hydrogen and leaving zeroe missions behind.

Special thanks to our viewers Wesley Van Der Burg, jean-francois prince, michael gutierrez,

and a few others who asked this question in the comments.

And you wanna know more about the environment, Trace tells us the truth about biodegradable

plastics in this video down here.

Do you have any science questions you’d like us to tackle? Ask below and might just

answer in a future episode. Please like this video. subscribe to our channel. And as always,

thanks so much for watching DNews.