Our next adventure brought us to the windmill district of Zaanse Schans, a quaint, windmill-ridden town ridden with picturesque views of canals, ducks, sheep and Henri Willig’s historic cheese farm. We noted how the company, at least the historic plant we visited, used sustainable practices when producing their cheese, such as maintaining the natural environment around the animals instead of disrupting it for grazing paddocks, using a variety of animals instead of just one, and encouraging local farming instead of outsourcing to larger corporations.

After leaving Zaanse Schans onto our next town, we passed many large wind turbines, a common sight in the Netherlands. We learned how the windmills we had just seen in the historic town were the rudimentary predecessors of the wind turbines we see today. The three arms, we found out, were to maximize material and energy production efficiency whereas the four arms of the windmills were because of construction ease and structural concerns due to available materials. It answered a question we never thought to ask! Wind turbines today are able to gather incredible amounts of kinetic energy from the air, especially when offshore or when faced with steady winds. This is a marvel that found its humble origins in the windmills we saw. 

We continued our day into the historical city center of Enkhuizen where we learned about what life was like for Dutch inhabitants hundreds of years ago, from their smoked fish to their sugar and salt-free black licorice (an acquired taste). Here, sustainability came through in the form of self-sustainability, where town inhabitants provided many goods and services for themselves rather than outsourcing to other areas, which would require transportation. Although this may have been a coincidence of the time, it was a good model for the realistic implications of what self-sustainability may look like for an area. 

Of course, this location, like all the others, saw dozens of baby ducks swimming in the local waterways! Amsterdam in May lends itself to many an adorable surprise. As we settle into the ease of public transportation and gain a general familiarity with Amsterdam, we are greeted with new experiences and excitements every day.