It is common knowledge that Spain is much more “green” than the U.S. They recycle more, use less gas, grow organic food, etc. and we do nothing but waste... Really?
Katie over at Espana Profunda had to answer to a commenter of hers after she had the gall to mention something positive about the U.S. She said, gasp, that we are doing a lot to be “green” in the states. There are more Toyota Prius hybrids here than anywhere, recycling is commonplace, organic food is easily found and very mainstream, farmers markets are in many local neighborhoods, energy legislation makes us build more efficient buildings, and makes cars pollute less. In fact, the only reason the whole world now builds cleaner cars is because California made Detroit then Japan then Europe - build them.
That picture above is a blue recycle bin. Every house in Los Angeles has one, along with a green one for garden clippings and a black one for trash. The blue bin takes any type of recyclables, cans, paper, plastic, cardboard, plastic bags, even styrofoam now, all together. No need to separate – they do it. So, as suspected, the trash bin is emptier with each passing year.
This is not what is comfortable to contemplate in Europe though. Everyone knows that the U.S. is the evil waster of all energy. Europeans don’t have refrigerators, don’t drive cars, don’t have trash, don’t burn heating oil, don’t have golf courses, don't drive diesels, and don’t have air conditioners. Yeah right.
Spain also has a long way to go in many "green" categories. Organic food is a joke. It's too expensive and delegated only to a few hippie vegetarian establishments that alienate ordinary meat-loving Madrilenos. Recycling is difficult – it’s much easier to throw everything away. Developers in Madrid are building more and more suburbs obligating the work force to drive farther to work (many times alone) from bigger and bigger “chalets”. Sounds like another place I’m familiar with …
I know it is true that modern society and its conveniences were, by and large created (or mass produced) by Americans, and those conveniences caused a lot of unforeseen problems in terms of energy use and pollution. But, and I’m just guessing here based on observations, I’m pretty sure Americans will also be helping on a lot of the next solutions.
Just be prepared though, because just like with everything, these future answers will probably breed yet another bunch of unforeseen circumstances.
5 comments:
It's nearly impossible to answer the question your title poses, but it's definitely valid to make observations on this subject. I think my main qualm with Spaniards/greenness is, that while their lifestyles are pretty efficient, I get the feeling that it's not something they think about terribly much because there's a great deal of legislation in place to make Europe efficient--it's just a way of life. But in the U.S., where we have a Neanderthal as president, the more progressive citizens are taking the initiative to be green because the government (generally speaking) is not.
Hi Katie.
Having a good president or Neanderthal doesn’t matter for everything. We are able to act on our own. In Los Angeles/California, green is always strived for. The “Governator” has passed new greenhouse gas legislation, recycling and conservation is very commonplace. Pick up any building magazine like Dwell, and green is foremost on their minds, etc.
I’m just frustrated that to most Europeans the US equals energy wasters and nothing else. The only thing they think of is Bush and Kyoto.
hear hear! a country is much more than its president...
Over here in Spain, recycling still has a long way to go, but where I live (Navarra), they have a pretty good system. When we lived in Málaga, things were much worse and we had to go quite a long way to get to the recycling bins. In Cáceres, where my in-laws live, it's such a pain that most people don't bother. I remember when I was a kid in California and we used to recycle some stuff, and I'm sure things have improved with time, while here it's a relatively new thing. But I still think governments are the big players in this game. They should be concentrating their efforts on finding ways to get industry to pollute less, and investing in research on alternative fuels.
Hi Theresa.
I can't quite remember when every house received a blue bin for recycling but it has been for quite some time. The program started somewhere between 1990 and 1995.
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