and now this - from Sweden

[OWC Jamie]

Fritz wrote:
what a bunch of tree huggers

Not really.
The incinerators generate tons and tons of toxic ash that get buried in landfills potentially compromising ground water for an eternity of monitoring for future generations.

Burning garbage spews sulfur and nitrogen oxides into the air at a rate between that of natural gas generators and coal burning generators.
You might not want to open the book on how much global warming carbon they belch.

[lost in space]

billb wrote:
[quote=Fritz]
what a bunch of tree huggers

Not really.
The incinerators generate tons and tons of toxic ash that get buried in landfills potentially compromising ground water for an eternity of monitoring for future generations.

Burning garbage spews sulfur and nitrogen oxides into the air at a rate between that of natural gas generators and coal burning generators.
You might not want to open the book on how much global warming carbon they belch.
That's our situation where I live.

[Speedy]

billb wrote:
[quote=Fritz]
what a bunch of tree huggers

Not really.
The incinerators generate tons and tons of toxic ash that get buried in landfills potentially compromising ground water for an eternity of monitoring for future generations.

Burning garbage spews sulfur and nitrogen oxides into the air at a rate between that of natural gas generators and coal burning generators.
You might not want to open the book on how much global warming carbon they belch.
The ash is buried in impervious clay lined sites. Same for landfills. This has been true for many decades.

Scrubbers on the incinerators take care of the sulfur and NOx compounds. Not much progress on the CO2, though.

[M A V I C]

steve... wrote:
I can't vouch for the accuracy: Groceries Prices in Sweden are 11.12% lower than in United States

Apartment rent is less.

I can. That's all not true. We stayed there for a few weeks in 2013. We had a house, planned to buy our own groceries. They were MUCH more expensive than in the US and had much less of a selection, even in July. This was for stores in the city and the suburbs.

And rent was also not less, at least not compared to Seattle.

billb wrote:
It's a dark gloomy frozen version of Seattle.

Not really, not Stockholm and the southern part of the country at least. Maybe farther north.

billb wrote:
75% of women are overweight here in the states
50% in Sweden.

Obesity is on the rise there. It was a noticeable difference between 2007 and 2013.

[OWC Jamie]

M A V I C wrote:
[quote=steve...]
I can't vouch for the accuracy: Groceries Prices in Sweden are 11.12% lower than in United States

Apartment rent is less.

I can. That's all not true. We stayed there for a few weeks in 2013. We had a house, planned to buy our own groceries. They were MUCH more expensive than in the US and had much less of a selection, even in July. This was for stores in the city and the suburbs.

And rent was also not less, at least not compared to Seattle.

billb wrote:
It's a dark gloomy frozen version of Seattle.

Not really, not Stockholm and the southern part of the country at least. Maybe farther north.

billb wrote:
75% of women are overweight here in the states
50% in Sweden.

Obesity is on the rise there. It was a noticeable difference between 2007 and 2013.


https://weatherspark.com/averages/28951/...olm-Sweden
https://weatherspark.com/averages/31576/...ted-States

Nights are longer and colder in Winter than Seattle.

[August West]

I can. That's all not true. We stayed there for a few weeks in 2013. We had a house, planned to buy our own groceries. They were MUCH more expensive than in the US and had much less of a selection, even in July. This was for stores in the city and the suburbs.

And rent was also not less, at least not compared to Seattle.

I'd venture a guess that a few week stay is a significantly different comparison to residency.

[OWC Jamie]

August West wrote:

I can. That's all not true. We stayed there for a few weeks in 2013. We had a house, planned to buy our own groceries. They were MUCH more expensive than in the US and had much less of a selection, even in July. This was for stores in the city and the suburbs.

And rent was also not less, at least not compared to Seattle.

I'd venture a guess that a few week stay is a significantly different comparison to residency.

If you don't go any further than the hotel gym and pool probably not.

[Ombligo]

The daughter of a very good friend moved there about a decade ago, they love it. She said the people were much friendlier and accepting then where we live (okay, it wouldn't take much); the government much more progressive, and the lifestyle very comfortable.

That said, the taxes are higher, but you get more for what you pay. Gasoline is more, but cars are not needed as much, get better mileage and are smaller. Housing is a bit more costly for what you get, but the lifestyle is simpler.

She also said Medical care was much better in all regards (so much so, that she wanted to bring her elderly father to live with them - he declined).

It also has a low crime rate, and respected educational system.

She did quite a sales job.

[August West]

The most recent "happiest" countries were predominately scandinavian at the top. Don't recall exactly, but it might have been a UN annual report.

[OWC Jamie]

The 'World Happiness Report' takes people's opinions of their lives and weights it with their own determinations of what should be valued in terms of GDP per capita, health , life expectancies, social services and freedoms.
Is it really so surprising that given those constraints, the most ethnically cleansed nationalistic countries in the world float to the top ?