Yesterday, we started bright and early at 6 AM, so that we could drive to the Floraholland, the largest flower distributor in the world and largest building in Europe. Through this experience, we saw their sustainable practices such as using electric carts and utilizing reusable flower pots.

After the Floraholland, we bussed over to the Schoonschip. This community was designed to help mitigate the Netherland’s housing crisis and created 45 new housing units without using up existing land space. The name of the community literally translates to clean and beautiful ship, representing the sustainable methods and practices used by the community. The community even considers how toilet waste is used, and they are piloting a program that converts human waste to biofuel! Additionally, the community produce more electricity than they consumer; the excess electricity generated is enough to power an electric car to drive around the world 25 times. They also use extremely thick walls to insulate their buildings.

This community is apparently extremely socially sustainable due them not needing land to build their homes. Interestingly, they have a conflict resolution committee, but they have never needed to use it showing the strong social and community bonds in the Netherlands.

Our tour guide also explained the history of this community. During WWII, a Nazi occupied factory was covered with fake houses to prevent any bombings. In an attempt to help Amsterdam, the Allied forces attempted to bomb this place, but they actually missed, in part due to the concealment, bombing the real communities instead.

A picture of a part of this community are below:

After our tour of this socially sustainable community, we went to the Rijksmuseum and explored art work of cultural and historical significance to the Netherlands. Interestingly, they had a whole section in the gift shop revolving around America, showing the global influence that America can have.

Pictures from the museum are included below: