So strong is the cycling culture that doctors often advise patients suffering from work-related stress to try cycling to work. Indeed, environmental consciousness in the public sphere is all-pervasive. Local Agenda 21 groups in the various cities are routinely consulted before municipal corporations undertake projects with environmental implications. Even at the national level, public participation in environmental lawmaking is well-established. Household energy use fell by a modest but significant five per cent between 1990 and 1994.
Some commentators crow about the 'decoupling' of economic growth and environmental pressure.
For in this country where most people work four days a week and job sharing is commonplace, there have been no fallbacks in public and social service provision and the Gross Domestic Product remains one of the highest in Europe. For, when discussion turns to sustainability, it's still a case of two cheers rather than three. And here's why. So while Amsterdammers can be justifiably proud of how clean and green their city is, their purses are hoovering resources from far-flung areas of the world whilst leaving the environmental costs behind. Whilst Dutch architects have come up with prototype houses that can cut energy use by 60 per cent, the Dutch consumer's use of primary aluminium, the extraction of which burns up obscene amounts of energy, is actually increasing.