The Environment

I've lived in the U.S. for about 8 months, but I still can find cultural differences between Japan and America. In my conversation class, I always discuss them. I really like to discuss something, so conversation class is my favorite class. Today, I discussed the environment. Before the class, I had to make a conversation card about it, so I searched some information and interviewed with my RA, Delaney. Then, I found big differences between Japanese thoughts and American thoughts. In Japan, almost all people know about the Kyoto protocol. I think it was held in Japan, so we knew it. Some years ago, America refused to join the Kyoto protocol, because president Bush said that America will concentrate on economics more than environmental problems. It was a big news in Japan, but Delaney didn't know it. I was really surprised. In Japan, students have classes to study about environmental problems, so I know what is happening to the earth generally. However, Delaney didn't know about it, because she has never taken such classes. After the last session, when I go back to Japan, I was really surprised, because I could hear or watch TV commercials about reducing energy and the environment even if they are about cars, air conditioners and washing mashines. However, I can't watch such TV commercials in America. If I were born in Spokane and grew up herre, maybe I wouldn't have considered about the environmental problems, because there are lots of trees and wild animals. Even if I drove a car to go everywhere, I wouldn't think that I'm polluting the air. After I talked to my RA, I learned a lot of things about not only environmental problems but also American society. The topic was really interesting for me, so my classmates and I couldn't stop discussing it during the class, so my lunch time was late.