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They also looked at habitat conversion, marine captures, fertilizer use, and water pollution.
Dr. Bradshaw, Giam, and Sodhi found that Australia was the ninth worst countries in the world with respect to its environmental impact on the world.
The United States was even worst, according to the research team.
It is the second worst country in the world with respect to its negative impact on the global environment.
Page two lists the ten worst countries in the world with respect to their negative environmental impact on the world.
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1. Brazil
2. United States
3. China
4. Indonesia
5. Japan
6. Mexico
7. India
8. Russia
9. Australia
10. Peru.
The article summarizing the scientists' research is found in the journal PLoS One.
It is titled 'Evaluating the Relative Environmental Impact of Countries.'
It begins, "Environmental protection is critical to maintain ecosystem services essential for human well-being. It is important to be able to rank countries by their environmental impact so that poor performers as well as policy 'models' can be identified."
To learn more about the global carbon footprint study please read the May 6, 2010 Sydney Morning Herald article 'Australia's global footprint one of the worst.'
Dr. Corey Bradshaw, one of the authors of the study, is quoted in the SMH article.
He states, ''The wealthier you are, the more damage you do, on average. It's just a function of human nature. Growth is the be-all and end-all for all economies around the world, and if you're not growing economically, you're stagnant, and therefore that's a bad thing and governments get sacked. So we have a system built around increasing our consumption rates, and that's unsustainable in the long term.''
