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By Dr Gideon Polya
Monday, 1 September, 2008

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Dr Gideon Polya published some 130 works in a 4 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds". He has recently published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”; see also his contribution “Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality” in “Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics”. He has just published a revised and updated 2008 version of his 1998 book “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History” as biofuel-, globalization- and climate-driven global food price increases threaten a greater famine catastrophe than the man-made famine in British-ruled India that killed 6-7 million Indians in the “forgotten” World War 2 Bengal Famine (see recent BBC broadcast involving Dr Polya, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others). When words fail one can say it in pictures - for images of Gideon Polya’s huge paintings for Peace and for Mother and Child see “Truth , Beauty & Saving the World – Science, Art & Nuclear, Greenhouse & Poverty Threats”).

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Olympic Gold Medal Tally Green-ness Index – India #1, Ethiopia #2, Indonesia #3

Beijing Olympic Banners

Using this data I have set out below the Total Gold Medals, the Total Medals, the “Gold Medals per Million of Population” [Gold], the “2005 annual per capita fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution in tonnes per person per year” [CO2] and the “Gold Medals per capita x annual tonnes of fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution per capita” [GoldxCO2] for all the participants in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. For clarity, I have grouped the countries in 4 categories. Please note that the LAST number given for each country is “Gold Medals per million people x annual tonnes of fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution per capita” [GoldxCO2].

Group A (countries with 2 or more Gold medals) included China (51 Gold, 100 Total Medals, 0.039 Gold Medals per Million of Population [Gold], 4.07 tonnes CO2 per person per year [CO2], 0.159 GoldxCO2), US (36, 110, 0.120, 20.14, 2.417), Russia (23, 72, 0.162, 11.88, 1.925), the UK (19, 47, 0.319, 9.55, 3.046), Germany (16, 41, 0.194, 10.24, 1.987), Australia (14, 46, 0.697, 20.24, 14.107 ), South Korea (13, 31, 0.268, 10.27, 2.762), Japan (9, 25, 0.070, 9.65, 0.676), Italy (8, 28, 0.140, 8.03, 1.124), France (7, 40, 0.115, 6.59, 0.758), the Ukraine (7, 27, 0.146, 7.30, 1.066), Netherlands (7, 16, 0.429, 16.44, 7.053), Jamaica (6, 11, 2.222, 4.22, 9.377), Spain (5, 18, 0.121, 9.60, 1.162), Kenya (5, 14, 0.152, 0.28, 0.043), Belarus (4, 19, 0.408, 6.26, 2.554), Romania (4, 8, 0.180, 4.45, 0.801), Ethiopia (4, 7, 0.053, 0.06, 0.00318), Canada (3, 18, 0.094, 19.24, 1.809), Poland (3, 10, 0.078, 7.38, 0.576), Hungary (3,10, 0.307, 5.98, 1.836), Norway (3, 10, 0.656, 11.40, 7.478), Brazil (3, 15, 0.016, 1.84, 0.031), Czech Republic (3, 6, 0.294, 11.02, 3.240), Slovakia (3, 6, 0.555, 6.96, 3.863), New Zealand (3, 9, 0.763, 9.37, 7.149), Georgia (3, 6, 0.596, 1.01, 0.602), Cuba (2, 24, 0.175, 2.91, 0.509), Kazakhstan (2, 13, 0.130, 13.04, 1.695), Denmark (2, 7, 0.371, 9.38, 3.480), Mongolia (2, 4, 0.749, 2.75, 2.060), Thailand (2, 4, 0.031, 3.65, 0.113), North Korea (2, 6, 0.087, 3.21, 0.279), Argentina (2, 6, 0.051, 3.71, 0.189), Switzerland (2, 6, 0.279, 6.13, 1.710), and Mexico (2, 3, 0.019, 3.75, 0.071).

Group B (countries gaining only 1 Gold Medal) included Turkey (1 Gold Medal, 8 Total Medals, 0.014 Gold Medals per Million of Population [Gold], 3.30 tonnes CO2 per person per year [CO2], 0.046 GoldxCO2), Zimbabwe (1, 4, 0.077, 0.97, 0.075), Azerbaijan (1, 7, 0.117, 4.62, 0.541), Uzbekistan (1, 6, 0.037, 4.39, 0.162), Slovenia (1, 5, 0.505, 8.34, 4.212), Bulgaria (1, 5, 0.129, 6.78, 0.875), Indonesia (1, 5, 0.0044, 1.57, 0.0069), Finland (1, 4, 0.192, 10.00, 1.920), Latvia (1, 3, 0.441, 3.66, 1.614), Belgium (1, 2, 0.096, 13.10, 1.258), Dominican Republic (1, 2, 0.111, 1.95, 0.216), Estonia (1, 2, 0.775, 14.17, 10.982), Portugal (1, 2, 0.099, 6.15, 0.609), India (1, 2, 0.00091, 1.07, 0.000974), Iran (1, 2, 0.014, 6.96, 0.0974), Bahrain (1, 0, 1.326, 36.58, 48.505), Cameroon (1, 0, 0.39, 0.023), Panama (1, 0, 0.309, 4.56, 1.409), and Tunisia (1, 0, 0.100, 2.21, 0.221).

Group C (countries gaining no Gold medals but which nevertheless scored Bronze and/or Silver medals) and Group D (containing countries which gained no medals at all) have Gold scores of 0 and GoldxCo2 scores of 0. However for comparative purposes I have listed below their numbers of non-Gold medals as well as “2005 annual per capita fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution in tonnes per person per year” [CO2] (NA means not available).

Group C (countries gaining no Gold medals but which nevertheless scored Bronze and/or Silver medals) included Armenia (6 non-Gold medals, “2005 annual per capita fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution in tonnes per person per year” [CO2] 3.22), Sweden (5 non-Gold medals, 6.53), Croatia (5, 4.77), Lithuania (5, 3.87), Chinese Taipei (4, 12.53), Greece (4, 9.67), Nigeria (4, 0.82), Austria (3, 9.55), Ireland (3, 10.98), Serbia (3, 4.85), Algeria (2, 2.71), Bahamas (2, 13.46), Trinidad and Tobago (2, 35.51), Colombia (2, 1.36), Kyrgyzstan (2, 1.03), Morocco (2, 1.19), Tajikistan (2, 1.06), Chile (1, 4.14), Ecuador, (1, 1.79), Iceland (1, 10.74), Malaysia (1, 6.49), Netherlands Antilles (1, 50.20), Singapore (1, 30.25), South Africa (1, 9.56), Sudan (1, 0.29), Vietnam (1, 0.96), Afghanistan (1, 0.03), Egypt (1, 2.09), Israel (1, 10.36), Mauritius (1, 3.26), Moldova (1, 1.65), Venezuela (1, 5.99), and Togo (1, 0.44).

Group D (containing countries which gained no medals at all) included Albania (0 Medals, “2005 annual per capita fossil fuel-derived CO2 pollution in tonnes per person per year” [CO2] 1.22), American Samoa (0, 10.34), Andorra (0, NA but cf Spain 9.60), Angola (0, 1.74), Antigua/Barbuda (0, 8.53), Aruba (0, 10.46), Bangladesh (0, 0.28), Barbados (0, 5.16), Belize (0, 3.32), Benin (0, 0.30), Bermuda (0, 9.53), Bhutan (0, 0.14), Bolivia (0, 1.35), Bosnia-Herzegovina (0, 3.94), Botswana (0, 2.23), British Virgin Islands (0, 3.87), Brunei Darusallam (0, 17.84), Burkina Faso (0, 0.09), Burundi (0, 0.05), Cambodia (0, 0.04), Cape Verde (0, 0.68), Cayman Islands (0, 8.68), Central African Republic (0, 0.08), Chad (0, 0.02), Comoros (0, 0.15), Congo [Brazzaville] (0, 1.47), Cook Islands (0, 3.12), Costa Rica (0, 1.42), Cyprus (0, 11.30), Côte D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) (0, 0.37), Democratic Republic of the Congo [Zaire] (0, 0.04), Djibouti (0, 4.09), Dominica (0, 1.54), El Salvador (0, 0.92), Equatorial Guinea (0, 9.20), Eritrea (0, 0.17 ), Fiji (0, 1.50), Gabon (0, 3.55), Gambia (0, 0.19), Ghana (0, 0.30), Grenada (0, 2.71), Guam (0, 0.30), Guatemala (0, 0.90), Guinea (0, 0.14), Guinea-Bissau (0, 0.27), Guyana (0, 2.07), Haiti (0, 0.21), Honduras (0, 0.99), Hong Kong (0, 10.88), Iraq (0, 3.76 ), Jordan (0, 3.24), Kiribati (0, 0.31), Kuwait (0, 32.84), Laos (0, 0.17), Lebanon (0, 4.22), Lesotho (0, 0.10), Liberia (0, 0.18), Libya (0, 9.27), Liechtenstein (0, NA, but cf Austria 9.55), Luxembourg (0, 26.79), Macedonia (FYROM) (0, 3.94), Madagascar (0, 0.14), Malawi (0, 0.07), Maldives (0, 2.19), Mali (0, 0.06), Malta (0, 7.59), Marshall Islands (0, NA but cf Micronesia 1.10), Mauritania (0, 0.85), Micronesia (0, 1.10), Monaco (0, NA but cf Italy 8.03), Montenegro (0, 4.85), Mozambique (0, 0.11), Myanmar [Burma] (0, 0.30), Namibia (0, 1.32), Nauru (0, 13.51), Nepal (0, 0.11), Nicaragua (0, 0.79), Niger (0, 0.10), Oman (0, 9.90), Pakistan (0, 0.77), Palau (0, NA but cf Micronesia 1.10 ), Palestine (0, NA but cf Jordan 3.24), Papua New Guinea (0, 0.79), Paraguay (0, 0.61), Peru (0, 1.12), Philippines (0, 0.89), Puerto Rico (0, 9.97), Qatar (0, 61.94), Rwanda (0, 0.08), St Kitts/Nevis (0, 3.42), Saint Lucia (0, 2.22), St Vincent and Grenadines (0, 1.70 ), Samoa (0, 0.77), San Marino (0, NA but cf Italy 8.03 ), Sao Tome and Principe (0, 0.52), Saudi Arabia (0, 15.61), Senegal (0, 0.46), Seychelles (0, 11.36), Sierra Leone (0, 0.20), Solomon Islands (0, 0.35), Somalia (0, 0.09), Sri Lanka (0, 0.60), Suriname (0, 4.04), Swaziland (0, 1.00), Syria (0, 2.70), Tanzania (0, 0.11), Timor Leste (0, NA but cf Indonesia 1.57), Tonga (0, 0.44), Turkmenistan (0, 10.06), Tuvalu (0, NA but cf Kiribati 0.31), Uganda (0, 1.75), United Arab Emirates (0, 33.73), Uruguay (0, 1.75), Vanuatu (0, 0.46), US Virgin Islands (0, 147.68), Yemen (0, 0.83) and Zambia (0, 0.22 ).

Which Group did your country belong to and how well did it do?

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  • http://www.ecopoweredtech.com EcoNrgized

    Not commenting on possible motives, but I think there are too many biases in this posting that seem to make the top outliers overly eco-unfriendly and the bottom outliers overly eco-friendly.

    1st, India – winner of 0 gold medals, and China – winner of the most gold medals: Both are emerging as the worst possible environmental enemies but this fact is masked by the gold medals/capita which makes India seem overly concerned about humanity and the environment and China seem overly incompetent with respects to its ability to win gold medals. India did not send a capable Olympic team simply because it has neither the resources, interest, nor the cohesion to assemble an effective Olympic team. On the other hand China is simply too populous to rate high on any of the scores except for raw medal standings despite the huge amount of effort spent in producing Olympic athletes.

    2nd, Jamaica – top gold medal per capita winner, and Indonesia near the bottom of the pile for the same.
    These two countries have very little basis for comparison except that both are primarily recipients of exploitation by others mentioned in this posting. Jamaica’s high per capita gold medal rating is due not to resources spend on producing gold medalists but on the ability of the country’s natural environment to create good sprinters. A high per capita of naturally good sprinters should naturally produce a high per capita gold medal ranking. The countries CO2 excess is also a product of the exploitation by others and when combine with such a high per capita gold medal number makes it appear extraordinarily high on the profligacy list. On the other hand, the aforementioned exploitation so oppresses the Indonesian people that despite the countries abundance of natural wealth, very little of it ever trickles down to allow the population to seriously contend for Olympic Gold. So, Indonesia’s appearance at the bottom of the profligacy rating is hardly worth mentioning despite its poor environmental record (again most of its CO2 excess is incurred by countries that are currently subjecting it to crushing exploitation).
    In summary its good to remember that 1 divide by any number greater than 1 is always less than 1, and any number divided by any other sufficiently larger number is always almost 0. The devil is in the details and when your making a detailed analysis, you must not forget the details.

  • http://mwcnews.net/Gideon-Polya Dr Gideon Polya

    The Green-ness Index presented is simply the product of 2 variables and obviously can conceivably yield the same result with particular High Gold/Low CO2 and Low Gold/High CO2 combinations.

    It is merely a start at a more objective analysis of the global realities involved and the obscenity of massive, nationalist investment in irrelevant and flawed competition in a starving and dangerously polluted world.

    It also shows up the dishonesty of lying, racist, holocaust-ignoring Mainstream media that report such flawed competitions with extraordinary precision (e.g. event times to the nearest 0.01 second) but ignore the horrendous concurrent realities e.g. the “annual death rate” is 6.2% for under-5 year old infants in US-, UK-, NATO- and Australian-occupied Afghanistan as compared to 10.2% for Australian prisoners of war of the Japanese in World War 2 (for which war crime Japanese generals were tried and hanged).

  • http://www.ecopoweredtech.com EcoNrgized

    Chill dude, your bias is showing… I admire your tenacity for humanitarianism but we are on an environmental blog, yah?

    I was just pointing out that you’re punishing the environmental innocents while making some of the guilty ones slip away.

    Leave the innocents out of it or at least exonerate them. Don’t let your bias show you to be passing over some of the guilty ones at the same time as you’re flogging the innocents. It’s bad for you and bad for the environmental movement at the same time.

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