Environmental policies in the Netherlands

Yesterday in my European politics class, a group presented on the Netherlands. They spent about half of their presentation on environmental policies in the Netherlands. It made me really happy. They're doing so much for the cause of the environment. It's partially "selfish". A good amount of their country is under sea level and if global warming continues and the level of the ocean rises they'll be under water. It just makes me upset that the United States, a country who could do SO much for the environment, is being selfish in a negative way. We don't care about countries like the Netherlands or even our own coastal regions like Charleston and New Orleans which would be directly effected by the rising level of the oceans. Why can't we care more? What will force us to change our ways? The End of Oil is a great book to read. It might scare you a little. But it really makes me think... what will America do if the end of oil came sooner than people want to admit? We're going to be stuck. I'm afraid that we'll have to revert back to the Middle Ages type of life because we'll have no way to power any of the things that we have grown used to.