PUTNEY — I have been back from northern Europe for two weeks. I spent the month of April traveling, and had the great fortune to have friends or contacts in the countries I visited.
I know many people cannot travel, but I wish more Americans could experience the deep chasm between the United States at this time and the countries I visited.
Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, and Iceland all have many differences, but in traveling through these countries, I made certain clear and outstanding observations.
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Each of these countries is using renewable energy on a large scale.
In Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands, large, slow-moving wind turbines are part of the landscape. We were able to get up close to these turbines, and were unable to hear any of the supposed noise that is a “hazard” which opponents claim exists. There is much rooftop solar, as well as large arrays.
Iceland uses all-geothermal power due to the country's seismic activity.
These countries are absolutely imperfect, but are all moving in the right direction on greening their energy use, unlike the U.S., which is busily moving ahead into the 19th century.
We are being left in the dust.
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In the countries of northern Europe and in England, you can live without a car and have a rich, full life.
In Denmark and the Netherlands especially, the bicycle infrastructure makes commuting, biking with others socially, or using a bike for errands all perfect options.
Because the countries have separated some bike lanes from the road with a safety barrier, everyone can ride safely, even the smallest children. Other bike lanes are not separated, but drivers know to pay serious attention to bikes. Families and groups of friends picnic off the bike paths on weekends.
The commute in Copenhagen is mostly bikers; rush hour there is actually quiet and peaceful, an amazing contrast to any large or medium-sized U.S. city. One of my friends in the Netherlands lost her leg in an accident, so she uses a hand cycle with an electric boost to go everywhere - towing a trailer with her dog behind!
In the cities I visited - Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, Hamburg, London, and Manchester - the transit systems go anywhere; they are fast and clean, and they are used by the vast majority of citizens.
Trains will take you most places, although some have been replaced by super-cheap air travel, which is a definite issue related to climate change. High-speed rail is being built all around the world, but the U.S. has made a decision to stick with our antiquated system of driving everywhere. The future is multi-modal.
Back to reality: I can't get to Burlington for an evening meeting without driving, as the one train per day arrives at 8:30 at night!
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The fact of universal health care in these countries is very apparent when you walk among people in cities and in rural areas there. People look healthier than they do in the U.S. in any place except elite suburbs.
The many challenges that Americans face every day in affording health care are nonexistent in these countries. Even the far-right parties that are pushing racist limitations on immigration are not going near universal health care, as this would be an absolute third rail. I have never met a soul in Europe who thinks that the U.S. health-care mishmash - which costs so much for some, leaves so many behind, and forces so many others to access medical care only in the most costly emergencies - is a good or even sane system.
Nobody can believe the concept of health care forcing families into bankruptcy is accepted.
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And also:
• People in Europe would never accept the paltry amount of vacation time U.S. workers are forced to live with.
Four to five weeks per year is standard vacation time in northern Europe, so families can actually spend quality time together.
Parents actually get meaningful leave when a new child joins the family - up to 16 months in Sweden, at 80 percent pay.
• People are paid to clean the cities every morning. Keeping cities livable seems to be a financial priority.
• Homelessness and the kind of poverty we see every day in our towns, in cities and rural areas across the United States, is just not as it exists here.
Everyone I could ask in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Iceland, and the Netherlands all said about the same thing: that in their countries, they have people who work hard and who are not as wealthy as others, but they see nothing like the sort of poverty present in the U.S., and no food insecurity.
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For any Americans who read these words and question where the money for these human and environmental advances comes from, remember the massive, multibillion-dollar tax cut for the very-highest-income Americans and for corporations that were not paying their fair share already.
The billions of dollars that this tax cut provides to those with no need for another dime - like the Trump family - could be a great down payment for all the above services. A huge, amoral amount of the taxes we pay to the federal government goes to the military-industrial complex. Much of this money goes to waste and fraud as well as undeclared, destructive wars.
These countries have made a choice to make sure that the government works for the people, not for the 1 percent and the largest corporations. We have the resources to create a society that works for all our people.
We need to expand our vision to an understanding that, when Bernie Sanders speaks about health care for all, free public college, and the other benefits he has discussed as a senator and as a presidential candidate, this is not pie in the sky.
This vision is reality in many parts of the affluent world - the U.S. is the outlier, not the norm. Improving a country does not mean that the very top tier have more and everyone else struggles even harder than before.
The United States is the wealthiest country in the history of the world. It is time to demand economic and environmental justice.