Americans rated least green

WASHINGTON — Americans rank last in a new National Geographic-sponsored survey released Wednesday that compares environmental consumption habits in 14 countries.

Americans were least likely to choose the greener option in three of four categories — housing, transportation and consumer goods — according to the assessment. In the fourth category, food, Americans ranked ahead of Japanese consumers, who eat more meat and seafood.

The new "Greendex" rankings are the first to compare the lifestyles and behaviors of consumers in multiple countries, according to the National Geographic Society.

It plans to conduct the 100-plus question survey annually and considers trends more important than yearly scores, said Terry Garcia, executive vice president of National Geographic's mission programs.

"This is not just a one-time snapshot," Garcia said. "Some of the most important information may yet be revealed."

India and Brazil tied for the top score: 60 points out of 100. U.S. consumers scored 44.9.

The survey, conducted online by the polling firm GlobeScan, asked a cross-section of consumers about their house, energy use, transportation, food, purchases of goods and other activities.

Brazil ranked high, for example, because the average household is physically small, most homes aren't heated, few are air-conditioned and Brazilians tend to use on-demand water heaters.

Results were based on 1,000 online respondents per country interviewed in January and February.

The margin of error per country in the survey is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points 95 percent of the time.

A separate GlobeScan survey showed consumers in Brazil, Mexico and China to be most concerned about global warming. In general, people in developing countries were more worried about harming the environment than those in developed ones, the survey found. They also live in smaller houses, are more likely to consume locally produced food and more likely to get to work by foot, bike or public transportation.

The consumer-choice rankings were adjusted for factors in which individuals have no control, such as climate and the availability of mass transit.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.