Under this methodology of all 193 UN Member States – an expansive model of 17 categories, or “goals,” many of them focused on the environment and equity – the U.S. ranks below Thailand, Cuba, Romania and more that are widely regarded as developing countries.
In 2022, America was 41st. Interesting to see where it will be after this term of office, which looks set to be working against many of these aims.
Cuba is a second world country, wtf are you smoking!?!
It’s first in our hearts.
It’s not an uncommon view:
Cuba, which was considered Second World but remains Third World economically. - https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-third-world-country-definition-examples.html Some countries in the Eastern Bloc, such as Cuba, were often regarded as Third World. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World
That said, developing world is now the more commonly used phrase since it has fewer political connotations, and anyway, this study is specific to Sustainability targets.
The Great American Decline
Until it is more profitable in the short term to build sustainability, America won’t do it. Profits over a liveable planet.
Not even that…
Fossil fuels will get protected and subsidized beyond economic sensibility because they are American industries… Aka because they donate to our politicians like crazy, and they fight hard to spread scientific skepticism.
And lots of pollution/destruction is pure stagnation and laziness, not economic sensibility. Expect to see more after the EPA is gutted.
So don’t even pretend this is always the profitable path, after a certain point it’s just pure propaganda and corruption.
Fossil fuels are already protected and subsidized beyond economic sensibility for the profitably of oil barons and corrupt polliticians. Until the oil barons cannot afford bribery and still turn a profit the USA will be hooked is what I’m getting at. They’d rather keep the exploitation going until collapse happens than find a way to transition to cleaner energy sources.
Edit: I’d also like to add, it isn’t just fossil fuels setting the USA back, it’s also the development pattern. Even if everything went electric today with green energy, the USA would be wasting tons of that energy due to cultural and devlopmental patterns. This isn’t just an oil issue, it is also a land use, zoning, gabage/waste and 100s of other things that are just so damm profitable we can’t stop.
It is beyond that. There are several states where fossil fuels are important to the local economy and voters there will vote against anything killing these industries.
The SDG has been a failure.
It was a great idea, would have taken a significant step in the right direction, and created 12 trillion in global GDP.
But people suck.
