You criticise American consumers for their wasteful ways. Is Europe so much better?
Actually I don’t criticise people, and I try never to call human beings ‘consumers’. What I do criticise are systems we rely on in our daily lives. As for Europe, I think we probably do try harder not to be wasteful, but we’re not as good at as we think we are. Our high-speed train, the TGV, is supposed to be the epitome of a light, modern, ecologically positive way to move. But it’s not. A total of 48 kilogrammes (about 100 pounds) of solid primary resources are needed for one passenger to travel 100 km by Germany’s high-speed train, ICE.
