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MelissaB

(16,420 posts)
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 10:02 PM Jun 2014

The Dutch--famously smart, famously frugal, and famously below sea level--are spending billions

Climate change is here. Its effects are happening. The Dutch--famously smart, famously frugal, and famously below sea level--are spending billions of euros shoring up their dikes and preparing for a rising sea.

We in the rich world can gear up for it. But the worst effects--and the first people to feel the impact--are in the tropics. These are the poorest people...the half of humanity trying to live on $2 a day...the hungry billion trying to live on $1 a day. Helping them in the face of global warming is not a matter of sympathy; it’s a matter of justice.

I believe anyone who denies that the climate is changing on this planet--and that it will have a devastating impact--is either ignorant or evil. I know evil is a strong word. But there are powerful and wealthy people who know in their hearts that climate change will wreak havoc on poor and hungry people...people they’ll never have to face in person. They know that human economic and industrial activities are contributing to climate change. And they are embracing lies about it--and discrediting caring people who are telling the truth about it--because of their own financial interest. These people are part of an evil on this planet in the 21st century that (if measured in the amount of human misery caused by their actions) may surpass even the most evil forces of the 20th century.

Posted by Rick Steves on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves?ref=stream


Make sure you view his photos with this post. The description one reads, "Huge boats are moving sand from far out at sea into shorelines to bolster the already massive dikes that enable the Dutch to sleep soundly (and dryly) at night."
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The Dutch--famously smart, famously frugal, and famously below sea level--are spending billions (Original Post) MelissaB Jun 2014 OP
have wondered for a very long time why the gulf states don't hire some of the niyad Jun 2014 #1
Won't work everywhere. HooptieWagon Jun 2014 #2
Florida should consider coastal seafood production Eleanors38 Jun 2014 #3
Hmmmm....interesting idea. nt HooptieWagon Jun 2014 #5
BP took care of that for Fla. and the rest of the Gulf Coast staes. dixiegrrrrl Jun 2014 #12
Hopefully, the oil is gluten-free. Eleanors38 Jun 2014 #15
I remember reading that a Dutch engineer is working with one of the states hit by Sandy.... djean111 Jun 2014 #4
Work with nature. Think oyster beds & redfish. Eleanors38 Jun 2014 #6
they designed a park like that and I believe just approved it- there will be a deep basin and drains bettyellen Jun 2014 #14
Poster rick steves has great travel shows on pbs lunasun Jun 2014 #7
Kudos to Rick Steves for making a profound observation. Uncle Joe Jun 2014 #8
It is true. oldandhappy Jun 2014 #9
This is why limos have tinted windows Stryst Jun 2014 #10
"either"? nt MisterP Jun 2014 #11
Only at your own peril should you... ReRe Jun 2014 #13
Interestingly, these famously frugal people truebluegreen Jun 2014 #16

niyad

(112,065 posts)
1. have wondered for a very long time why the gulf states don't hire some of the
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 10:06 PM
Jun 2014

dutch engineers to create some more viable protections.

 

HooptieWagon

(17,064 posts)
2. Won't work everywhere.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 10:26 PM
Jun 2014

For example, Florida's bedrock is porous limestone. Rising sea level will just bubble up from the ground in areas below sea level.

 

Eleanors38

(18,318 posts)
3. Florida should consider coastal seafood production
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 10:33 PM
Jun 2014

as a viable economic model for those who stay. Perhaps the Dutch as well.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
12. BP took care of that for Fla. and the rest of the Gulf Coast staes.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 12:53 AM
Jun 2014

They enhanced the value of shrimp by adding oil to them.

 

djean111

(14,255 posts)
4. I remember reading that a Dutch engineer is working with one of the states hit by Sandy....
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 10:45 PM
Jun 2014
http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2014/05/13/climate-change-dutch-netherlands-henk-ovink-new-york-rebuild-by-design/

“It's not easy,” Ovink told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. “It's very hard. It is a change between your ears and eyes. It is a change of culture and therefore a change of the heart, which is always harder than an engineering change, or harder than an investment decision. You really have to change the way we go about water.”

Ovink, a former Dutch water-management official, is now working on the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, serving as Special Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Adapting for higher oceans is not so much about “fighting” the water, Ovink says; it’s about working with it.


I think the idea is to shunt the water instead of trying to keep it out - I think there is a park in New Jersey that is set up like that, but i cannot remember where I read about it, sorry.
 

bettyellen

(47,209 posts)
14. they designed a park like that and I believe just approved it- there will be a deep basin and drains
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 01:29 AM
Jun 2014

so the run off will fill get collected there. That is in Hoboken, and they had asked for firms to propose designs. The mayor did end up getting some Sandy money, despite Gov Christie.

oldandhappy

(6,719 posts)
9. It is true.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 12:19 AM
Jun 2014

The powerful and wealthy people do not want to do what is best for all the people. They want only what is good for themselves.

Stryst

(714 posts)
10. This is why limos have tinted windows
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 12:37 AM
Jun 2014

So they don't have to see the evil they've inflicted on their own people.

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
13. Only at your own peril should you...
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 01:21 AM
Jun 2014

... underestimate the intelligence of evil, that is, if I understood your response correctly.

 

truebluegreen

(9,033 posts)
16. Interestingly, these famously frugal people
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 06:29 PM
Jun 2014

designed their flood control system with a 10,000-year flood in mind...ours can't even withstand a lousy Category 2 hurricane.

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