🇳🇱 Dutch Cities are Better for the Environment | American Couple Reacts to Dutch Culture

[@TheXshot]

We have single family housing as well. Basically my whole extended family live in single family housing. Sure, in Amsterdam there's not as much choice due to space, but you should have a look at otger towns/cities in the Netherlands. There's also many suburbs

[@gertvanderstraaten6352]

Okay, my brother is married to a Texan and they live there half the time, half the time here. The last time I was there we were sitting outside on a warm November night and I noticed that about once every 15 minutes or so there was a medium-sized plane flying low enough to be seen clearly. He said that was the plane from Austin to San Antonio and added that as there is hardly any public transportation, this was how they get around. I think that's bad and sad.

[@rinynewton8297]

Your high bills is probably down to thin walls and cheap building materials! Sorry😢 but it's a fact.

[@thedutchhuman]

A wooden building with some insulation, or a brick building like here in the Netherlands with floor, wall and roof insulation, double glazing etc. It may well be that many houses in the usa also have roof insulation, but I think it has to do with where you live (hot or cold area).

[@jasper46985]

​​@@thedutchhuman 'Double glazing' sounds crazy sus!

[@Exoticgirl1]

​@@thedutchhuman...double glazing betekend "dubbel geglazuurd" in het engels. Ik vind het wel grappig 😊

[@gertvanderstraaten6352]

@@jasper46985 There's triple glaziing too...

[@jasper46985]

@@gertvanderstraaten6352 🥺🤭

[@petrabierlee2151]

We say hi to strangers and often say have a nice day, nothing weird about that.

[@n.q163]

I think that the guy in the video is trying to explain that in the Netherlands you have neighbourhoods with more types of homes. For instance, I grew up in an typical neighbourhood in the Netherlands. I grew up in a detached house. But in my street there were also rows with houses and an old farmhouse converted to an villa. At the beginning of my street there were appartements for younger people and seniors. I cycled alone to my school since I was 8 years old because the traffic is slow in neighbourhoods and there is always a school in your neighbourhood. Grocerie stores are also almost always in a neighbourhood with an little shopping centre. So everything is close by. I think it's more about that we have more types of homes to choose from and that that makes our neighbourhoods more diverse. Amd we also had 2 cars like almost everyone outside of the city centres. It's a bummer that the guy from the video only shows Amsterdam and the life there because Amsterdam isn't a great reflection of how the Netherlands and living here really is. Here we like to say that you have Amsterdam for the tourist and the Amsterdammers, and you have the rest of the Netherlands for the Dutchies. Sorry for the long comment. 😄

[@richardhltrp1791]

i dont have 2 cars .. dont even have a license and live far from the center ! im 53 and always worked uproad building greenhouses ( can't get more Dutch than that right ) the public transport is cheap and very good . shops are a 3 minutes walk away ( if you walk slow ) and if i need a car ride (late at night) ill take a taxi and if i need to go far ill take a train / bike combo . its so easy to live car free !

[@gertvanderstraaten6352]

@@richardhltrp1791 Lol, I don't have a license either.

[@richardhltrp1791]

@ 🤣

[@n.q163]

@richardhltrp1791 I do have a licence but I don't use it at the moment. My parents had two cars because it was easier to go to work than take the bus. We also went to Germany for groceries. Now I live in the Hague on my own and I don't need a car at all. But if I move back to Apeldoorn, then I will definitely buy a car. I was trying to paint a picture that you can have a car(s) like a lot of people do and still cycle a lot. It's about the choice that you have.

[@rinynewton8297]

Lovely video but.....I am telling you, if you go to the Netherlands some time, you would not want to go back home! 😂 of course being Dutch, the Netherlands is the best! 😊

[@jasper46985]

For sure

[@gertvanderstraaten6352]

Also being Dutch, I will argue 'meh'.

[@TheDemouchetsREACT]

So we hear! 😅 Y’all are always fun to chat with, so you may be right.

[@LalaDepala_00]

​@@gertvanderstraaten6352Try living anywhere else. When I was young I thought the Netherlands was boring. Then I lived in other countries for a while and realized how good we have it in the Netherlands.

[@daviddevos3518]

You can still have a car. It's not like it's forbidden or frowned upon.

[@robertboender5816]

The problem with building single family houses is the affordability and maintenance of the road infrastructure. If there are, let's say 50 houses on a square mile and they have to pay for it you can imagine that building more multi family housing makes thing more affordable. Now infrastructure is paid by building new suburbs .

[@LalaDepala_00]

The Netherlands is a family-oriented society. I would never want to have kids anywhere else. I feel safe for them. The coldness of people here depends where you live. I live in Brabant (the south) and it is normal here to have a chat and smalltalk. Amsterdam is like New York, people can be colder in the big cities.

[@vast001]

Our foods contains less sugar in comparison to the US foods. We still give a hand signal when we want to turn left or right on the bicycle. You pay a premium for housing in Amsterdam and in the western part of the Netherlands. We build or houses and apartment buildings very different then your flimsy US houses. We have mixed zones, with living, schools and some businesses (like grocery stores and other stores) in the same area. One of my old school teachers cycled 10-15 km from his home to the school. One teacher walked as he lived one street away from the school.

[@thedutchhuman]

#08:58 the video you saw in amsterdam about how they live does not apply to the rest of the netherlands, outside the center of amsterdam there are modern single-family homes or apartments and therefore also in the rest of the netherlands or they must fall under ''Protected townscapes and village views''. That is why I said before, every traveler always stays in amsterdam and thinks that the rest of the netherlands looks like that too...not so, while there is much more to see (also modern) outside the capital.

[@TheDemouchetsREACT]

What areas should we check out?

[@thedutchhuman]

@@TheDemouchetsREACT It depends on where your interests lie. If you like history and centers, I would say: Groningen (lots of bikes, students and a nice center) Urk (fishing town formerly an island) Utrecht (nice center on the canal) Zwolle (nice center, old buildings and fortified town from 1040) Giethoorn (on a boat through the settlement) Boertange (fortified village from 1530) Etc etc etc If you like museums: Dutch open air museum in Arnhem Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen Marinemuseum in Den Helder Madurodam in Scheveningen etc etc etc For modern you can go to: Almere (a modern center) And for modern you can also look at the new neighborhoods that are built around the old cities spread in the Netherlands. The modern infrastructure with shops nearby and public transport that is immediately included in the zoning plan. And maybe other Dutch (or tourists) on this channel also have tips. One likes this and the other that....there is enough to see. Don't go in winter of course, spring is a nice period. 🙂

[@tomverheijden712]

​​@@thedutchhuman Maastricht is also a nice and cozy City. And it's just a quick jump to Germany or Belgium.

[@gerbentvandeveen]

There fit 50 people in a bus. That's 49 less on the road. 1000 people in a train, 934 cars less. Yes, I have a car. But olso 2 bikes.

[@Angelod-x9b]

You should look at Giethoorn thats a nice little Dutch traditional village or you can check vinkeveense plassen thats also a fun Dutch place.

[@jasper46985]

I think its also better for safety to have better road-/street- design

[@kevintje25]

That 5 min car drive is a 10 min bike . And there we would take a bike for its to short for the car yous

[@jdktoo]

yes, dutch cities are 50 feet under sealevel. very economic.

[@daluzsoares]

her hair has been done well again and she is sweet, I would like to show her around on the back of my bike but I let her husband do that and I don't think my wife would agree with it either but I would like to let her enjoy the bike instead of her favorite car!!😁

[@TheDemouchetsREACT]

You & this bike 😂

[@gerbentvandeveen]

Oke, 5 minutes from a store. Walking of bike? You still need a car? I, have a store at 1200 feet, JUMBO. 1800 feet a AH. At 1500 feet a Lidl.

[@gerbentvandeveen]

There are a lot of list. Ware the Netherlands is a number 5 of 7. The USA at 23 ore longer. Of the World . It's tr.......

[@insAneTunA]

Here is a little reality check. The Netherlands just had a record traffic jam on the highways that was 1100km, that is two and a half times the length of the entire country. And the Netherlands is heavily polluted with forever chemicals from factories and toxic chemicals and nitrogen pollution from farmers, that includes the land and the water and the air in regions where there is a lot of agriculture, and the region where the steel factory and heavy industry is located. Most people are not even aware how heavily polluted the land and the water and the air is. And a large number of people even deny it completely. But the pollution from farmers is so bad that people in the regions where there is a lot of agriculture live on average two years shorter compared to people who live in regions with much less agriculture. There is a shortage of a million homes on a population of 18 million people. Real estate is very expensive and those who can't afford to buy a house have to be on a waiting list for an average of 12 years before they can get a rental home. Currently a far right government is in control, pretty much a Trump light version. The tax agency under the previous government falsely accused around 80.000 people for committing fraud, mostly people with a migration background, the government was aware of the false accusations but instead of doing something about it the government tried to hide that, but it became public anyway, and the people who were falsely accused were supposed to be compensated, but after several years they are still waiting for that compensation. People with a low level education go to jail for the same crime more often compared to people with a higher level of education. Large corporations always get away with a settlement. Energy and fuel prices are ridiculously expensive. The Dutch people have to pay tax for their water. Even even at an average size village there live around 700 people per square km, but for the entire country that number is 433 people per square km, which is a lot compared to other countries. Which means that there is always somebody nearby who will annoy you. And therefore real estate is very expensive and hard to get. You can't eat the eggs from your own chickens because there is too much risk that they are too heavily polluted, and you are not allowed to butcher your own chickens or any other animal for that matter. Cities are already banning cars and trucks and mopeds with internal combustion engines, and also wood burning fireplaces and stoves. And the number of cities that put those bans in place is growing. People with a solar panel system have to pay the energy companies when they produce more energy as that they consume. About 10% of the population lives below the poverty level, but recently the government came up with a so called new calculation method and now they miraculously reduced that number to 7%. If you become unemployed for whatever reason you have to deal with very strict rules and regulations that are enforced by a government agency that you have to comply with. If you violate their rules there will be serious sanctions. If you become ill for the long term you also have to deal with a similar government agency who have their own medical team, and they decide if and how much hours you are supposed to be able to work. If you don't comply there will be serious sanctions. And they will check your social media accounts to see if you are doing something that is against their rules, and even investigators are used to check you in real life. The government is slowly but surely banning cash money. Cash payments to your own bank account above €10.000,- are not allowed. And cash payments in stores above €3000,- are also not allowed. And the government even has plans to lower those amounts, and eventually to ban cash money completely.

[@51bikerboy]

Have you ever been outside the Netherlands or northern Europe. If you did you probably not noticed the difference in road quality, house quality etc.

[@insAneTunA]

@@51bikerboy My point is that these type of videos only focus on what is good. So I mentioned a few examples that are not so good, and I didn't even mention everything. If the roads are your only priority then the Netherlands is a perfect country. For those who live in reality it is not all perfect.