Dutch people’s tendency to view the environment not as something to protect, but as something to protect from, was also reflected in the country’s environmental record. The Netherlands’ enormous ports, acres of gas and chemical plants and seemingly endless sprawl of greenhouses meant that, per capita, its carbon emissions were almost double those of France. As the home of Europe’s largest airport and biggest oil refinery, the Netherlands was failing to meet Kyoto emissions reduction targets, and had particulate air pollution roughly 50 per cent higher than the developed-country average. For a
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