Dutch Debate Climate Change Defense: Tulip Island
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 12.16.07
"God made the world and the Dutch made the Netherlands," goes the Dutch saying. The people of the Netherlands have a long history of engineering the land to meet their needs. Now with the land prices skyrocketing due to population boom and demand for their agricultural specialties, the Dutch are debating whether an island like the palm island built off of Dubai would make a nice addition to maps of the northern European coastline.
Will it work? Is it the right thing to do? And what does a tulip island and cannabis have to do with each other? Find out answers to these questions and more, plus link the video, over the fold.
The proposal was introduced into the Dutch parliament by Joop Atsma, a Christian Democratic party member. Minister President Jan Peter Balkenendes' vision for a 50 km (30 mile) long tulip off the coast has prompted jokes, including a blogger who argues that a cannabis leaf would be a more appropriate shape for the island, and legitimate opposition, including from independent environmental groups such as the North Sea Foundation, which claims that the idea threatens one of the "most fertile seas in the world."
A Dutch marine contractor, Van Oord, is behind the palm-shaped island built off of Dubai by shooting more than 100 million cubic meters of sand into what was previously watery depths. But can the idea really work on a North Sea coast? A Van Oord spokesman is quoted by Reuters as saying that the storms and waves of the North Sea make delicate island design an impossible task. A tulip or a cannabis leaf might be a good trigger for debate, but the reality will be an island with a strongly reinforced seaward coast.
The Dutch responded to a poll that they are more afraid of flooding than of a terrorist attack (imagine that!). With scientists predicting that global warming may raise sea levels off of the low countries by up to 85 cm, established geo-engineers like the Dutch will naturally look to technological solutions to keep their feet dry.
But is this just another price too high for the environment? According to the Environmental Data Compendium:
The relatively warm and nutrient-rich inshore waters (of the Dutch Coastal Zone) have an important function as a nursery for various species.
Furthermore, rare fish species are concentrated off of the coast of the Netherlands. Add your voice to the debate in the comments section here on TreeHugger.
Via ::Reuters and Spiegel (German)
Image via ::NEWS.com.au
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
The problem the anti-island brigade has with the idea is based on the implicit assumption that building it would necessarily damage the marine ecosystem.
But why make that assumption? If you know exactly how the project would have this effect, then you would know what to avoid doing. It's the impact that matters, right?
Why could you not do this as a demonstration project that can serve as a showcase for the best, ecology-preserving, geo-engineering technologies? Sure, it would cost more in the short term, but it could also propel the development and design of methods to do this in other places around the world, where land ecosystems are threatened by overcrowding.
Time to start thinking up new ideas folks, and to let go of the tired old political arguments and false dichotomies. If you really want to do something about the earth, let go of your old orthodoxies and either (so-called) "side" of the eco-political spectrum.
land barons' greed has reached ludicrous heights [or depths!] with this silly designer island fad... i have to wonder how long those fancy islets off dubai will last, if they're only human-placed sandbars... sandbars tend to shift, in case those idiots haven't noticed...
and landfills most often settle AND shift... so, unless they're going to build those fancy buildiing plots on granite blocks, from the rock-base of the seabed up, i predict the first big north sea norther of the season will have the inhabitants scuttling ashore like rats off a sinking ship... deservedly so!
sheesh!
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A few comments from a Dutchman:
1) The tulip shape is not meant seriously, it is a joke-like reference to the logo of the Dutch ministry of economical affairs.
2) The proposal of the island has nothing to do, with climate change, but only with a perceived shortage of land.
3) In the western part of the Netherlands there is a cluster of big cities (big for the Netherlands that is ) that is called the Randstad. Only in the Randstad there is a real high population density and a shortage of building area. In the rest of the country there is room enough.
Recently a new railway line between the Randstad and the North-west was voted down by our parlement.
4) Due to the European agricultural subsidies the farmers in the Netherlands are overproducing. Without these, subsidies there would be no demand for extra agricultural land.
Another comment: the high prices for houses and land in the Netherlands also have a lot to do with government policy. Where houses can be build is strictly controlled by the government, very much limiting building activity. If an area is giving free for housing development, building is carried out by project developers who make enormous profits. Building your own house is almost impossible in the Netherlands. Furthermore, the interest on loans for buying a house are deductible from taxes, this drives up house prices even more. This tax break was originally meant to support common people in buying a house, but in practice it mostly subsidises the richest people, since they can deduct from a higher tax-rate. Ending this ridiculous system is politically impossible because no party wants to hurt the vested interests.
"if they're only human-placed sandbars... sandbars tend to shift, in case those idiots haven't noticed...
and landfills most often settle AND shift... so, unless they're going to build those fancy buildiing plots on granite blocks, from the rock-base of the seabed up..."
By the way, the islands in Dubai are constructed with a base of large rock. The sand is then sprayed on top. I don't think the engineers are that naïve.
speaking as someone from the netherlands.:
we're pretty good at this kind of stuff so the risks of the land sinking and shifting is not really a problem.
I cannot comment on the environmental implications. but I have heared that there are plans not to build houses on there, but to build a tidal plant, and a whole lot of windmills.
but it probably won't even make it I spoke to a couple of fellow student who study civil engineering (which in holland also means the building of waterworks) and they say it is a mad plan. there are way better places to build islands (like the ijsel or marker lakes, who were formarly known as the southern sea).
What a bummer that I just sold my house in Den Haag and moved to Wisconsin, the safest place in the US for natural disasters. Frankly, the sand island sounds like a horrible idea. Better to invade Belguim...!
So some one has 1 less fish on their plates, big deal. I say build it and they will come. Holland needs more space!