When I first moved to the United States, I was struck by the free, not to say wasteful, use of resources. 

Buildings cooled down to freezing temperatures required my carrying around sweaters and scarves at all times.  Colleagues would take their cars to pick up a sandwich down the street or circle a parking lot for minutes to finally secure a spot close to a store entrance.  At the same time, they would bemoan their increasing weight, because they didn’t have time to exercise and their shrinking disposable income, because of mounting energy prices.   

I also will never forget the day I first set foot into Schnucks, a St. Louis grocery store.  I was overwhelmed by the size of the shopping carts, four times bigger than those in Switzerland; the store’s square footage no grocery store in Europe could afford, except in remote suburbia; and the sheer number of products.  I was sweating before I had started shopping, and I was a wreck by the time I had checked out!  Negotiating the store’s size and comparing countless products to purchase some basic items, such as milk, bread and cereal, made me wish I could skip shopping altogether. 

On the home front, things were different, too.  Composting was mostly done by garbage disposal and everything else went into big garbage bags.  All in all, I was bewildered and nearly paralyzed.  Why?  Because I had grown up so differently, I started to wonder if I had done so on the same planet.   

Back in Basel, Switzerland, we owned one of the cheapest cars available, the now iconic 2CV by Citroen. I rode my bike everywhere and in every weather: sun, rain or snow.  We would compost all organic waste and carefully separate glass, paper, plastic bottles, aluminum cans and more for recycling.  Yes, it was work, but garbage, or should I say, resources, weren’t free.  Actually, garbage bags were a serious expense, as one didn’t just pay for the bag but a fee for the future garbage one produced.  In other words, a 3.5 gallon garbage bag cost about $1.  Anyway, you get the idea. 

My account could end here, and I would look really good.  Yet, the truth of the matter is, I have become Americanized as well.  While I still very much care for the environment and abhor the senseless waste of resources, I cannot claim the American lifestyle hasn’t had an effect on me.  I could easily take the MetroLink, a light rail service, to run parts of my errands.  I also could walk to work most days, because I live walking distance from work.  You guessed it, I don’t!   

And most of us won’t change much about our lifestyles until our wallets hurt really badly.  I am afraid that’s what got the masses in gear in Switzerland. They are not better people, they just have been pushed harder…financially.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe change is possible and much is underway: the development of new energy sources, the push for better urban planning, and the renewed focus on more local, seasonal consumption to name just a few.  But, we still are creatures of habit.  Just look at me.

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