What? Excited over this stuff?!? Just call me Geo-man. No big surprises here. I just find it fascinating that this treasure can be got. This, to my mind, is about as accurate a measurement of quality of life as you can get from a bunch of numbers. It's damn good, too.
You may find that those countries near the top have an intact social lifestyle that values (profits from) their environment, and historically has taken steps to protect it. Their social capital reflects well. Other nations may have valuable resources (mineral, timber, precious metals) but have recently or otherwise sold the future for a better (?) present. History is the best judge; yet the EPI index is a great gauge, for the direction many nations will go.
For those who'd prefer otherwords:
"The 2008 Environmental Peformance Index (EPI) ranks 149 countries on 25 indicators tracked across six established policy categories: Environmental Health, Air Pollution, Water Resources, Biodiversity and Habitat, Productive Natural Resources, and Climate Change. The EPI identifies broadly-accepted targets for environmental performance and measures how close each country comes to these goals. As a quantitative gauge of pollution control and natural resource management results, the Index provides a powerful tool for improving policymaking and shifting environmental decisionmaking onto firmer analytic foundations."
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