Pollution

We all know about pollution. It is produced by factories, cars, cow's digestive systems and much more. It is detrimental to our health and is slowly destroying our planet. But how much pollution is there actually? How does one even calculate such a broad concept?

Source: ForeignPolicy

The Yale and Columbia Universities have come up with the Environmental Performance Index to give the public (and those in charge) an idea of how polluted their countries are and what areas in specific are lacking (or are doing really well).
Do you want to know how healthy [insert country] really is? How safe the drinking water and what about the air quality? No need to wait any longer, they've assembled it all in a very pleasing format, entirely available online.

The EPI keeps track of the Environmental Health on the one hand and the Ecosystem Vitality on the other, both with various subdivisions. Next to recording the current status, however, they also compared it to the last recorded data and show the trend...

As you undoubtedly know, Green Village Ventures has offices in both Kathmandu (Nepal) and Mumbai (India), so it is only logical that we decided to take a look at how they ranked in the Yale Columbia study.

 India

EPI Rank: 125
Pilot Trend EPI Rank: 95
Population: 1,170,938,000
Land Area (sq. km.): 3,279,681
GDP Per Capita: $3,240

Out of the 132 countries being ranked, India holds the glorious 125th position, being followed in the group of the "Weakest Performers" by only Kuwait (126), Yemen (127), South Africa (128), Kazakhstan (129), Uzbekistan (130), Turkmenistan (131) and Iraq (132)... Not such a good score for the "Biggest Democracy on the Planet". It got this lofty position by having an average score of 36.2 on all the points (for reference, Switzerland, the world #1, has a score of 76.69 and Iraq, the most polluted country, as a score of 25.32).

When splitting the EPI into the separate objectives, India holds the 119th position in the Environmental Health division, and the 94th position in the Ecosystem Vitality division. The seeming inconsistency between the "total" position of 124 and the "split" positions of 119 and 94 can be easily explained by the fact that a lot of developing countries have a higher Ecosystem Vitality (due to, amongst others, the as-of-yet underdeveloped industrial complex) and a lower Environmental Health (the industry that is present is often close to the population centres and the rules and regulations regarding pollution are dodgy at best); the developed ("old world") countries suffer the opposite, with much of their ecosystems gone but their industries highly regulated.

 

India doing "badly" in both groups is a clear indicator of its slow (but sure) changing nature and its very peculiar position in the world right now. It is clearly no longer part of the underdeveloped world but has not yet reached the "civilised" level of Environmental Health yet either. This combination is particularly clear when considering one particular aspect, i.e. its air and the effects on the human health.

India - has - the worlds - most - toxic - air. Read it twice if you please.
There has clearly been a prominent rise in India's industrial capacities and in the purchasing power of its citizens, whereas there has not been an equal rise in environmental stringency, forcing the up-and-coming industrial giants to curb their emissions or at least filter out the worst particles...
Not to mention the plethora of cars/buses/rickshaws/mopeds/motorcycles/...

Source : Dreamtime (via WadingThroughWords)

Luckily, India has still retained one aspect of "underdevelopedness", and that is its Forests. India shares the 1st place with 82 other countries for its "Forest Growing Stock", with 74 other countries for its "Change in For[e]st Cover and has a 35th place regarding it's "Forest Loss", giving India the overall Forest position of 21.

Sure, sharing a first place isn't exactly glamorous, but at least it's on the podium.

The Indian trend (towards the "Civilised" Model of low Ecosystem Vitality and high Environmental Health) is visible when you look at the detailed country profile. It is clear that India is slowly moving towards a better Environmental health (+13.4), be it slightly at the detriment of the Ecosystem vitality (-7.7).

Nepal

EPI Rank: 38
Pilot Trend EPI Rank: 14
Population: 29,959,364
Land Area (sq. km.): 147,607
GDP Per Capita: $1,075

 A quick glance can tell you that Nepal is a lot smaller, a lot less densely populated, a lot poorer and  scoring higher in the present and as a trend.

Nepal is positioned in the higher half of the EPI rankings, in the group of the Strong Performers, scoring less good on the Environmental Health (106th) but doing excellent on the Ecosystem Vitality with a 5th place.

One has to consider this info in conjunction with the country's basic data, however, and specifically the low GDP per capita. It should be clear that, unlike India, Nepal can not yet be considered as a "developing" country but rather as an underdeveloped one. One should therefore not jump to conclusions and call Nepal a very "environmentally conscious" country; one should rather admit that Nepal hasn't had the "opportunity" to mess its environment up, explaining the good score.
If one considers the "virginal" state of Nepal, one can clearly see the challenge for the Nepali (and all (N)GO's involved) to make sure that the country does not make the same mistake as everyone else and manages to slowly develop its economy while maintaining its Ecosystem and keeping a close look on the Environmental health. It is therefore slightly worrying to see the Water Resources data in the above table, which seem to indicate the less-than ideal road ahead.


This Caveat is slightly softened by the good Trend of Nepal, however. One can see a lot of green in the above able, in which specifically the low Environmental Burden of Disease (& Child Mortality Rate) bears mentioning.

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If you are American and more interested in your own little backyard, you might want to check the Environmental Protection Agency which recently assembled all "pollution data" on all the States of America, allowing curious citizen to find out, for example, exactly how much filth that nice, cute, little, family run factory around the corner produces.

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By the way, did you know that exactly 6 years ago, former US President George W. Bush acknowledged America's "Oil Addiction" and came up with a strategy to replace 75 % of US oil imports by the year 2025. 
(Source : MNN Daily News)