For some people travel is a past-time and a chance to get away from it all. They love seeing new sights, exploring new lands and meeting new faces but I think no one will contest me when I say France is not for the faint hearted traveler.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying be prepared for frogs, snails and slime but instead just the fact that you’re going to find yourself among people who cannot speak a single word of English with quite controversial practices. But despite the communication/personality issues you may or may not encounter, you’ll find that the French in all irony can be quite the practitioners of a green lifestyle.
First let’s observe the controversies:
French Smoke and French Smog
The French have a thing about clean air – they strive for it, they love it and they are all against smog, and that’s all very green of it but the ironic fact of the matter is they also love their smoke. And let’s face facts, cigarettes aren’t eco-friendly nor health friendly, they too contribute to the air pollution. If you’re interested in the facts, then read up on it here.
French architecture and French Art
The French are excellent with the preservation of nature. They like to keep their buildings modest and all artificial additions (billboards etc) to a bare minimum as to not disturb the sanctity of the surrounding nature. But what I personally find quite sad is the graffiti that is drawn all over the town, sometimes there’s even spray paint on the plants! Some call it art, some call it vandalism and it’s really an individual’s opinion but the fact is, conventional spray paints are not eco-friendly – they are downright toxic and an air pollutant.
And now some things we could learn from the French
Eating habits.
The French take their food very seriously. They aim for balanced and healthy non-preservative/additive laden food. They eat 3 square meals a day and take very little carbonated drinks. It is really no wonder how they maintain a slim figure.
Exercise habits.
The French have great public transport in place, but so do many countries around the world. However many of us would still choose to drive whereas the French would choose to cycle or just walk. They are very conscious of their carbon footprints and I think it’s great.
So I suppose it’s fair to say the French are kinda sorta green?
