Actually, for anyone living in an actual city, bikes and cars are generally roughly equivalent in terms of trip time. For example, I have an 8km commute on the outskirts of Paris - it takes about 45mins, regardless of whether I run, ride a bike, take public transport, or drive a car. (Ok, to be more precise, in includi the time to change into sports gear for the bike / running. Without this the bike takes about 30mins. Running does actually take 45 mins run time.)
I think the biggest difference in mindsets between the US and Europe (other than the isolationism/socialism divide and religion) arises from their different scales.
Europe is far more densely populated. The cities are generally much closer to each other. There often isn't the equivalent of American "suburbs", instead there are more (and smaller) cities. Most people living in cities get around by walking or use the public transit.
Well, for what it's worth, I'm actually Australian, and our cities are very similar to those in the US. What I said holds as much for Perth or Sydney as it does for Paris and London. The key is that traffic congestion reduces average car speed to something roughly equivalent to what you do on a bike, ie 15-20km/hr...
This is off topic but I always find statements like the above rather bizarre. Why must humans insist on living in places where the environment is hostile to human life?
I guess its because I grew up in a place where heating is very rarely necessary, without cooling of any kind and have spent most of the last three years traveling around countries where you could theoretically walk around naked all year if you so desired but I increasingly find it bizarre how attached people are to living in locations that are ill-suited to humans.
Most of Eurasia is like that with several hundred million people living in regions with harsh winters.
Where would you re-settle four hundred million people?
Would they want to be unwelcome guests anywhere else?
As a species we lack fur, so we are really vulnerable to cold.
>Where would you re-settle four hundred million people?
No one is talking about resettling anyone. My question was just about why people individually choose to remain in places that feature temperatures well outside of the range compatible with our species. Others have covered it pretty well. Some combination of habituation, laziness and disliking hot summers basically.
People have been living in those cold climates long, LONG, before modern heating systems. More than "laziness and disliking hot summers" I would say that humans will settle wherever are resources that can support them, period.
An individual might move but that doesn't affect the topic we're talking about.
Also, moving is not easy: you have to learn new languages, acquire skills you did not have use for previously, and get a work permit.
(And for the hilarious part, we often see people from warm countries moving to more temperate ones because those are economically and politically better off)
> This is off topic but I always find statements like the above rather bizarre. Why must humans insist on living in places where the environment is hostile to human life?
Because by an unlucky twist of nature (physics and chemistry combined) the richest soils are found in temperate regions, so the lands that historically were capable of sustaining a high population density are in the colder regions, the ones where you need heating at least in winter.
Even now, with advances chemistry and fertilizers we'd not be able to sustain the worlds population if we all moved closer to the equator and gave up on regions that require heating at least in winter.
I grew up a bit farther than 45 degrees north of the Equator. I've been living in the tropics, about 22 degrees north, for 3 years now. I love my life here, but I still prefer the weather back home. You can always put on more clothes and/or walk more quickly, but you can't wear negative clothes.
Well, first of all just "moving" is a hassle. Then people, for whatever reason, tend to be attached to what they call "home." And third, probably, because we like it.
Does it matter why? Humans have been living in harsh environments since long before the beginning of written history, and I doubt it'll stop any time soon.
