Germany vs America. Round 1. The Environment.

McDonald's "trash can"

So one of the biggest difference I've noticed between Germany and America would have to be environmental awareness. In a normal German house there are like 5 different types trashcans. Yes. Five. One for paper, one for glass, one for plastic, one for food, and one for everything else. In America there might be 2 in a normal household, and that's only if your family decides to recycle. Even in fast food restaurants, you don't just throw everything away. You leave your tray on a shelf and the workers sort through it all later.
They also recycle almost all of their bottles. When you buy a coke or juice or something in Germany you pay like 25 cents more because it's in a bottle, but then when you've finished drinking that coke or juice you can bring it back to the store and get your 25 cents back. And since no one wants to throw away 25 cents on a daily basis, everyone brings back their bottles and they all get recycled. It's a good system.
I've also seen way more alternative energy sources. There are windmills all over the place and tons of huge solar panels. My host family even has solar panels on their room and my host mom was telling me that they generate so much energy with them that they are able to sell it back to the energy company. So instead of paying an energy bill every month, they receive an energy check.
Gas is also really expensive in germany. It costs my host family about $150 to fill up a tank of gas, but the cars are so efficient that that tank of gas will last them about 600 miles or so.
Being vegetarian is really popular here and one of the political parties in Germany actually wants to establish a day of the week where you can't buy meat.
And of course I know that there are environmentally conscious Americans and Germans that litter, but overall I have to say that Germany is much more environmentally friendly.

Germany: 1 America:0