Kultur 6

I've always thought it was cool how close together all the different nations of Europe are. The end of the Bild Zeitung article features a Bild writer talking trash to the UK, saying "We will destroy you at the world cup." Because our country is so large and independent, we don't have much of a "rivalry" with any particular nation. But it seems as though some countries in Europe do, at least when it comes to soccer or politics. There are so many different countries in such a small area that it could almost be compared to rivalries in college sports. I wonder if this is actually the case, and if so, which countries rival eachother?

Someone smart invented locks for a reason. The German policy of keeping doors closed is fine, but I think the best system is just to lock your door if you really don't want to be disturbed. This would avoid all the awkward knocking or even worse walking in on somebody when you shouldn't have.

The third article was not surprising to me. European nations, especially Germany, France, and Spain, are way ahead of the US in terms of environmentalism. Most of these countries rely on renewable sources (wind, solar, tide, etc) as a major part of their energy infrastructure. The US is just beginning to take a serious look at Renewables. We Americans are notoriously wasteful consumers. We account for a massive chunk (the exact numbers have escaped me) of the world's energy consumption and produce equally massive amounts of waste and CO2. Germans in general are much more environmentally conscious either by choice or by governmental mandate. Either way, the effect is the same. Their tricky recycling system is a big reason why their environmental footprint is so little.