What\u00b4s great about successful Americans is that they partly define success as the ability to donate funds to make the world a better place. This is hardly the case in Europe where rich people believe that their duty is to pay their taxes if nothing can be done to avoid them and let the state worry about the rest (to be fair in Europe the government does work better than in America as far as income redistribution is concerned). Now where the European rich lead is where Europe leads as a whole and that is in environmental awareness. I was recently at a conference of extremely successful Americans and just as middle class Americans shock middle class Europeans for the size of their cars, rich Americans shock rich Europeans for the size of their jets. Why is it that Americans are so reluctant to do something about the environment is something that I will never understand. Smaller cars, smaller jets, all do the job.<\/p>\n