Environmental Conservation in Europe

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One of my deepest impressions in Europe Trip is to taste the strong sense of environmental protection there. Environmental conservation in Europe is not only a slogan that the governments advocate, but also a guideline that the public follow in their daily life.

To be honest, environmental protection in Europe is much more advanced than that in Canada. It is partly because the natural resource in Europe is limited, compared with that in Canada; it also because the progress of European civilization is more mature than that of Canada. The economy in Europe has undergone the period of rapid development. Now European governments have emphasized on how to keep economic development and environmental sustainability in concord as their priority.

Generally, it is easy to launch mandatory regulations to force corporations to meet environmental requirements; but it is very difficult, sometimes not realistic, to cultivate the public’s sense of environmental protection, for it is a very time-consuming process to change the public’s consumption preference. But in Europe, I excitedly found that the public were involved in the battle to fight against climate change and resource waste voluntarily and actively. Energy efficiency is a key idea to save natural resource in Europe. Public traffic systems are well developed and the public are encouraged to take trains as their main transportation. All the cars on the roads are economical size. Pick-ups, which are very common in Canada, can’t be seen in Europe. Bicycle is also a main mean of transportation. It is easy to rent a bike in Europe to ride around cities. Especially in Amsterdam, not only tourists from all over the world choose bicycles as their main tour tool, but also the local residents take bicycle as their daily transportation.

Energy conservation is implemented in every detail in Europe. When I went to washroom every time, I found lights were always off. Washroom Users remember to turn off lights after they leave washrooms. To switch off lights is just a very tiny habit and most people don’t form such habit, for they think it is not a big deal. But if everyone forms such small good habit, lots of energy waste will be avoided. Another example is garbage recycling. In Europe, the public consciously classify their garbage in different garbage bins.

When I looked around some supermarkets in Europe, I found lots of products were imprinted a green logo label, which indicates that the product is environmental-friendly. Even though the price is a little higher than any other competitors, the public are still willing to pay the price premium for environmental protection. Even though there is no explicit data to show how the green label drives the sales of product, the popularity of the green label has shown that the green label will have a very potential market in the future in Europe.

Paris: a movable feast

A boeing 777 landed on the Charles de Gaulle Airport in France. After more than ten hours flight, I finally arrived at Paris. Even though I had tried my best to imagine what Paris looked like before I headed off to Paris, but the real Paris was still greatly beyond my imagination.

My strong longing for Paris is from Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, ‘If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris when you are a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast.’ When I hanged about in the streets of Paris, I kept my eyes open widely to catch every moment and thought that maybe I was experienced the same scenery with Hemingway did more than eighty years ago.

After being arranged in a hotel in down town, I couldn’t wait to look for the historic heritages in Paris. Notre Dame de Paris was my first destination. Since my first time to read the novel Notre Dame de Paris wrote by Victor Hugo fifteen years ago, the dream to visit the world-famous cathedral has deeply kept in my mind. Notre Dame, located in the city center of Paris and adjacent to the Seine, is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. The sculptures and stained glass show the heavy influence of naturalism. Viewed from the summit of the towers of Notre-Dame, the whole Paris looks like a romantic and historic picture.

The Champs Elysees is one of most famous streets in the world, lined with cinemas, café and luxury specialty shops. Walking around the crowed and vibrant street at the agreeable night, I couldn’t believe that I was still in the chilly winter in Edmonton the last night.

Time seems to stagnate when I walked around the streets in Paris. I forgot every agonizing thing in Edmonton. I just used my heart to taste the movable feast. I am not the same lucky as Hemingway, who took several years of his young time in Paris, but I am still lucky, for I have the chance to experience the transitory excitement and rejoicing in Paris.