South Korea And China Leave US In Dust On Green Stimulus Efforts

As if we needed it: More evidence that Asia’s leaving the US in the dust when it comes to the renewable energies and green tech we’ll need to survive tomorrow’s warmer world. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported recently that of the 20 countries with the world’s largest economies, South Korea and China have invested the greatest percentages of their stimulus cash in green initiatives – 79 percent and 34 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, we Americans spent a perfectly underwhelming 12 percent of our stimulus money on healing and protecting mother earth. Is that how you treat your mama?

Still we’re no Italy, which directed a pitiful 1 percent of their stimulus money to environmental projects. I mean, Italians are laid back about a lot of things, sure, and that’s part of the Italian charm, but has anyone told them that this whole “climate change” thing is likely going to hurt their wine industry? Not to mention sink Venice?

Here’s the full list:

South Korea – 79%

China – 34%

 Australia – 21%

France – 18%

Britain – 17%

Germany – 13%

United States – 12%

South Africa – 11%

Mexico – 10%

Canada – 8%

Spain – 6%

Japan – 6%

Italy – 1%

Scary to think of the States falling behind South Korea, China, Australia, France, Britain, and Germany in the green space race. Scary to think that if we fall too far behind on renewable energy production, we might one day soon find ourselves stuck paying exorbitant prices for solar panels and wind turbines being pumped out of foreign factories. Scary to think we might look back and have to wonder why, when we had the chance, we didn’t take the lead on building a socially, financially, and biologically sustainable world.