this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The water here in the Netherlands has been way too high for weeks now, and we've had some crazy ass storms. Even a cyclone or something? I don't even know what it's called.

Anyway it's going to require some crazy engineering if the Netherlands is to move into the 22nd century.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The Netherlands is in an interestingly unique position when it comes to rising sea levels. They've been fighting the sea (and winning) for centuries. I'm sure they'll be at the forefront for engineering future sea incursions.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

There recently was an article that discussed about what the Dutch could do. It came down to 3 suggestions:

  1. Building a dyke across the Waddeneilanden (killing off the entire waddensea but also protecting the rest of the land)
  2. Raising up the existing dykes and sacrificing cities and villages that are nearby the sea since the dikes really need to become much bigger.
  3. Giving up whole parts of the Netherlands, building floating cities and relying on higher parts of the country to expand and rebuild there.

What it is going to become, I don’t know but it will be really interesting!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As a fellow Dutchie: I miss the early 90s optimism. Nowadays, people are disillusioned and the hidden bigotry among which I grew up has become explicit up to the point of us having a fascist government.

I also miss not living in a neoliberal dystopia.

I am not sure that both are not connected.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I came back to the nl 2 years ago. I was really surprised! A lot of people complain or suddenly have angry outbursts, even though I have never met that person before. It's very rude to me and I prefer to have more casual conversations with strangers. It's like some people are all up in arms about something.

Like OK building a nuclear reactor? Fuck do I know. I have no opinion on the matter. Just do whatever works best. Every solution has its problems and I never read even a single book on it so what would I know. All I know is that electricity prices need attention.

And what you mentioned about people openly being racist and nationalist. It's awkward to me. I mean they receive social support and their kids go on holidays in Thailand and Aruba multiple times a year, without even having a job in their 30s. Sure there are plenty of issues surrounding migration but it's an oversimplification and counterproductive, besides simply being unethical, to think that getting rid of a minority is going to solve anything. It just seems like lazy problem solving to me.

And it's awkward because what are they protecting? If we are protecting Dutch culture, ok I can get on board with that. But what is it? For me the most Dutch thing is tolerance and openness, and being progressive. I think many people worldwide would recognize that as Dutch core values. So it's just weird to destroy that by trying to protect it.