Filed under: Everyday Life | Tags: Denmark, entrepreneurship, France, happiest country, NHL, optimism, Pittsburgh, positive minds, US economy
Ask the French to rank the greatest American virtues and I’d be surprised if you don’t find “optimism”, “entrepreneurship” and “positive minds” in the top five. This was clearly in the “Plus” column of my check list as I had to decide whether I should move here two years ago. And this is actually part of what I found in Pittsburgh (surprisingly enough, now that I know the hard times this city had to go through in a recent past): positive people, devoted to hard work and innovation but also having fun cheering the Steelers and the Penguins,and more importantly, always expecting a better tomorrow. In short, a positive change considering the Parisian gloominess at that time.
I’m not sure whether it’s me or the Pittsburghers who changed the most but today however, the rosy picture is turning gray. May be because of the never-ending presidential campaign – which keeps bringing up unsolved issues -, I feel that Pittsburghers and America are turning negative about almost everything: scared about globalization and the rise of Asia, scared about shrinking oil resources and rocketing gas prices, scared about their ability to afford good health insurance and education in the future, scared about GM layoffs, mad after the Pentagon contract with Airbus (and not Boeing), bitter about the Canadian dollar parity, and so on so forth…
Where have optimism and entrepreneurship gone? To Denmark? That country just has been rated as the “happiest country in the world” by the Lancaster University. But Denmark has no oil resources, no car industry, and faces the same challenges against Asia. So why would they be more happy?
Let’s face the facts: the US economy is and remains the strongest in the world, by far. It is twenty times the economy of the “rising India”, eight times the Chineese economy …and seven times the economy of France! The US are hosting the most successful companies, the most innovative thinkers, and attract the smartest students of all countries in its best-in-class universities! Taxes in the US are lower than in most developed countries around the world and – although it is becoming old and might need some investment – the country enjoys an efficient and modern infrastructure. This country is launching humans into space while other hardly can maintain functional propeller-planes. It enjoys freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and rock-solid institutions against any kind of power abuse. More importantly, American citizens created peanut butter, Sex and the City, and the NHL Stanley Cup. So what’s the matter?
I’m flying to Paris tomorrow and will spend the next week in “the 90th happiest country in the world”: France. I hope it’s going to cheer me up as I return to Pittsburgh 
Filed under: Environment, Fun stuff | Tags: American way of life, Global Warming, grassfire.org, restriction of carbon emissions, Steve Eliott
No, that’s not a joke as I first thought it was when listening to the news this morning. The guy – Steve Eliott is his name – got interviewed for 2 or 3 long minutes at the morning radio news for his organization’s initiative to invite American citizens releasing the more carbon dioxide they can on June 12. “Let’s make it a great big belch!“. Not only is the objective to protest against carbon restriction measures – that endanger our “good old American way of life” -, but according to Eliott, “it might be good for the planet to increase our carbon footprint, since there are less trees naturally rejecting carbon at night”. Grassfire.org – Eliott’s conservative grass-root organization (as he presents it) – proudly claims on its website that it collected more than 10,000 citizen’s signatures against restrictions on carbon emissions and that more than 100,000,000 pounds of CO2 are set to be released (yes, you must commit to a number when joining the belch day!).
So let’s have some fun tomorrow, turn the air-con on high and drive like crazy! Let the people in Washington know what we think of that Global Warming crap and supposedly endangered polar bears!
But I suggest you send the gas bill to Grassfire.org and let THEM know what it costs you – not the polar bears – to increase your carbon footprint on such a “great belch day”
Have fun! (I can’t wait getting my speed ticket! So exciting!)
PS: HERE are two people who might not join the party. Sorry for them.
