Australia in top 10 environment destroyers

A study by the University of Adelaide's Professor Corey Bradshaw places Australia in the top ten:

The 10 countries with the worst global footprint were Brazil, the US, China, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, India, Russia, Australia and Peru.

According to Professor Bradshaw environmental impact is a result of wealth:

The wealthier you are, the more damage you do, on average.

Odd then that Brazil, China, Indonesia, Mexico, India, Russia and Peru have such large footprints.

At the other end of the scale are the environmentally friendly:

Professor Bradshaw said the better-ranked countries were small places such as Cape Verde, Swaziland, Niger and Grenada.

''They haven't wiped out all their forests but they live well below what we'd consider poverty,'' he said. ''We have things to learn from these countries in terms of consumption and in reducing our consumption.''

Cape Verde, Swaziland, Niger and Grenada do have much to teach us: people living in poorly performing or failing economies can't afford to buy many of the goodies we take for granted and also tend to die young – Niger's life expectancy is 52.6. They would like to consume as much as we do but simply don't have the money.