From a Dutch mind-set, climate change is neither a hypothetical , nor a drag on the economy, nor an ideology. For the people of the Netherlands climate change is an opportunity – to let water in, where possible, to live with water rather than struggle to defeat it – with added economic value developed through investing in resilience.
People in the Netherlands believe that the places with the most people and the most to lose economically should get the most protection.
To the Dutch, what’s truly incomprehensible is New York after Hurricane Sandy, where too little has been done to prepare for the next disaster.
The idea that a global economic hub like Lower Manhattan flooded during Hurricane Sandy, costing the public billions of dollars, yet still has so few protections, dumbfounds climate experts in the Netherlands.
See:
“The Dutch Have Solutions to Rising Seas. The World is Watching” | Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times, 15 June 2017
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