USA! USA! USA!

I don't know if this story makes me oddly sad or oddly proud.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - When it comes to squandering the earth's natural resources, residents of this desert land of chilled swimming pools, monster 4x4s and air-conditioned malls are on a par with even the ravenous consumption of Americans, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
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The average person in the Emirates puts more demand on the global ecosystem than any other, giving the country the world's largest per-capita "ecological footprint," WWF data shows. The United States runs second.

Yay! We're not the worst!

Well, sort of.

Due to the country's small size, carbon emissions and consumption in the Emirates are a tiny fraction of that of the United States, and Loh said most efforts to cut greenhouse gases need to concentrate on America and other large industrial countries.

Oh, well. He he. I guess we are technically the worst.

Then there's this. Can you imagine someone from the current administration 1) being this realistic or 2) saying something like this at all?

Even so, the Emirates government has been embarrassed by the WWF report, which it says is flawed. The federal environment agency is devising strategies to cut emissions, including a public campaign that may offer economic incentives to those who turn down their air conditioning, Saad al-Numairy, an adviser to agency, said Monday.

"We have an action plan," al-Numairy said. "But we are a multicultural country with 180 nationalities. It's not going to be easy."

Well, good for them. Can you even imagine the US government being "embarrassed" by a similar report?

Or, for that matter, being embarrassed at all? No, me neither.