Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Europe is miles ahead of the U.S. on many environmental issues. Holland and Denmark are leaders in that area. But most of the world is addicted to materialistic consumerism.

Thanks also for plugging the Story of Stuff, I’ve been a fan since it first came out, and Andy blogged it here a few months ago – http://blog.gohuman.com/index.php/business/the-story-of-stuff/ – We certainly support what Annie Leonard is doing with that.

You’ve also inspired my next blog – look for it in a day or so!

Cheers.

Changing the societies trends of overspending and ‘over’using is nearly impossible because of the attachment to things.
I live in Holland and as you might know. It is a small country and one of the most populated. It is very important here to economize. Also, its a place where you see lots of people travel by bicycle. I can’t drive and go always by bike. My husband does have a company car. It does save on the environment but also is good exercise. We also have in Holland a day in the year (not enough but is still a good attempt) when everyone is encouraged to not use cars.
What about the plastic that people use? Doesn’t that have to do with oil products as well? This is the place of windmills to generate electricity. More and more people are going for green energy. All our trash is being split up. We have 4 different trash cans. One for recycling plastic (the newest addition), paper, fruits/veggies to return to the farmers, and the rest.
Maybe these are good ideas to start with for the U.S.
Check out on http://www.youtube.com: Story of Stuff … very interesting! This process might have to change in order to sustain what we have left on this earth.