Environmentalism Quite Popular Internationally

As a rule, Americans don’t devote too much of their time to learning about trends toward environmentalism elsewhere in the world, even if those trends may be spreading like wildfire.  I mentioned recently that The Netherlands is the focal point to a new-found appreciation of walking and bicycling.  In the U.S., about 1/10th of 1% of all bicycle sales are electric; in Amsterdam, it’s 37%.  Why?  It’s an attempt, and a successful one at that, to get cars off the road.

There are other important differences between the Dutch and Americans, one of which is the former’s appreciation for classical music.  Here’s a wonderful performance featuring a young girl with a fabulous voice, performing an aria of Puccini: “O Mio Babbino Caro” to a packed audience in an outdoor theater in Maastricht (pictured above); this is something that would be exceedingly rare in the U.S.