Standing in front of a modern windmill soaring more than 100m into the sky, it is hard not to marvel at the wonder of it all.

The three giant blades rotate, catching the wind to convert into electricity, enough to power more than 2,000 homes.

What is there not to like about wind energy?

It is free, blows every day, there is no carbon emission to warm the earth, and you'll never run out of the stuff.

Why can't there be more of these propelling wonders to supply us with the energy we need?

The question is blowing in the wind as I stand in a vast expanse of farmland on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee in the Netherlands where four of these are being built.

At that moment, Paris, where a climate change summit is taking place, seems like a dying planet away.

While the negotiators there attempt to save humanity from the catastrophic consequences of global warming, ordinary people here have found their own answers.

The project I am visiting is owned by DeltaWind, a cooperative of almost 2,000 local residents who have come together to invest in windmills.

Ms Monique Sweep who runs the co-op tells me it is a grassroots initiative to protect the environment and raise awareness about renewable energy.

It is not a bad business either, paying 6 per cent dividend a year to its members.

Can I join? I asked. Yes, but I will have to be a resident here.

For the Dutch, it always has to be a community thing, as I am finding out in my week-long visit here at the invitation of its government to look at its clean energy projects.

In the Netherlands, the people take matters into their own hands, and act on what they believe in.

Wind is nice, but wait till you hear about what they are trying to do with the sun.

The city of Utrecht wants to be carbon neutral by 2030 and to have at least 10 per cent of its needs met by renewable energy in five years' time. That's wind, sun and biogas, which is obtained from organic waste.

But it is solar panels we have come to see and the authorities tell us they plan to have 10 per cent of rooftops lined with these panels by 2020. (In contrast, less than 1 per cent of Singapore's electricity supply is from solar power).

Prices have dropped over the years and the estimate now is that the panels will pay for themselves in eight years - after which it's free electricity, more or less.

Not sure if your home is suitably sited for solar power?

There is a website showing all the houses in the city and how well placed each one is in relation to the sun.

I also meet Mr Sander Willemsen who runs a volunteer group called Energie-U, formed with the sole purpose of promoting and encouraging residents to install solar panels in their homes.

It offers advice on what panels to buy, how to install and maintain them, and is an outstanding example of Dutch grassroots in action.

In the province of Brabant, there is an even more ambitious plan to introduce zero energy houses - where electricity from renewable sources is enough to provide all the energy needs.

They are thinking big here - aiming to refurbish 800,000 homes by 2050.

That means solar panels, geothermal heating, biogas, special insulation, and whatever it takes to make these homes energy-efficient and non-dependent on fossil fuel.

To succeed on such a scale, the authorities pulled out all the stops: changing the laws, working with developers and financial institutions, changing the mortgage arrangements, etc.

The entire building industry in the province was persuaded to invest in the technology to build these zero-energy homes.

One official says this "nothing changes unless everything changes" approach is the only way to make a significant impact.

If only the leaders meeting in Paris had half the commitment, planet earth might be saved yet.

But for the mother of social activism in the Netherlands, meet Ms Marjan Minnesma of the action group Urgenda.

She has just returned from the Paris meeting, after walking all the way there (it's a symbolic thing, she says, to promote non-polluting transport) and has been making headlines in the country when Urgenda brought the Dutch government to court for not doing enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and won the case.

It was an audacious action, with huge implications for the government and businesses responsible for these emissions.

Not surprisingly, the government has appealed against the verdict and the case is now before the country's Supreme Court.

Why such an aggressive approach, I ask.

Her logic is a simple one:

Climate change will cause severe harm to the world's population and governments have both a moral and legal obligation to protect their citizens from danger.

If they do not, the people should be able to force them to do so through the courts.

Whether you agree with her or not, you have to admire the strength of her conviction.

The Netherlands does not have all the answers to the challenges posed by climate change.

Indeed, German windmill technology is superior and the Chinese dominate in solar panels.

But the Dutch excel in getting the community involved, working together to find solutions that work for them.

In contrast, in Singapore, the people expect the Government to do most of the running. It has invested in research on solar power and encouraged developers to build green buildings.

But the results have been unimpressive and the country is still almost wholly dependent on fossil fuel.

And the Singapore public is as yet unmoved and largely uninvolved.

Perhaps the Dutch are more keenly aware of the dangers caused by climate change.

A people living in waterlogged land, much of which is below sea level, had to think of all sorts of ingenious ways to keep the water out.

More important, they developed a strong communitarian culture which was necessary when the odds were so great.

That's how they built the most advanced dike protection system in the world, and it is the same approach they are taking to become less dependent on fossil fuel.

If more people elsewhere do likewise, there might be hope yet for planet earth.