No insult intended but the cultural divide between a European perspective and an American one really shows here.

The European tries to go to the heart of the problem by checking potential health factors. To solve the problem at hand he considers long underwear or a down jacket, versatile and small carbon footprint items that don't weigh much and have a long lifetime.

The American uses an electric heating blanket which is certainly made of synthetic material, uses extra electricity from the outside instead of conserving one's own warmth (higher carbon footprint), might break long before the clothes become unwearable and thus require replacement. Said blanket also requires extra space and is only useful to cover you but is not a clothing item. It will also work only where there is electricity.

If you relate this example to real world mentalities you have a pretty good picture of the differences in thinking between a classical American and a classical European perspective. Really interesting!