European shades of green: in addition to our trade imbalance, America has a huge deficit of smart environmental policies. Here's where more imports makes sense.(GREEN ECONOMY)

"OH, AND ONE MORE THING," SAID Sebastian Paauw, organizer of a recent trip I took to the Netherlands, "we're not going to rent you a car, but we'll give you a bike."

True to his word, he promptly provided me with a bicycle. And while the cheese, wine, and charmingly narrow streets and alleyways made me feel pretty European, my new, cosmopolitan identity didn't quite click till I was gliding about on my sloping, bright-red three-speed.

But I'm a Californian, and a southern Californian at that. So I'm plenty used to lands where automobile intertwines with ...