Today, we had free time until 12:45pm, which was extremely relieving and refreshing for my poor sleep schedule the past few days. Matt and I decided that we wanted to go get coffee at a cafe and also walk around in the morning, so we left the hotel around 10am and walked towards a random cafe we’d found online. After having a baked good, we walked around the entire city towards the Port Pavillion and shoreside of downtown Rotterdam.

Throughout the city, we saw a few interesting sustainability measures taken by the government. First of all, a lot of the city had WaterTaxi spots, where boats would carry people around the shore from one stop to another. This takes advantage of the naturally occurring water ways in the city and has a much lower carbon footprint than other forms of transportation (besides bikes). There was a lot of emphasis on the idea of boat usage around the shore, as we walked past a ship museum which showcased a lot of ships and some parts of the old port. This showcased the reliance of the city on port activity and how the locals used their natural surroundings to survive and flourish without making large alternations to the terrain. All of these ideas of working with the environment instead of against it, sustaining a healthy relationship between the city and the habitat.

Finally, we went to the Watersnoodmuseum, which showcased the disastrous flood of 1953 that caused many of the dykes to break in the outskirts coastal areas of the Netherlands. This museum really highlighted the importance of how much the dam and delta controls are crucial to the existence and safety of the Netherlands. Especially as climate change starts to increase the issue of flooding, scientists assume that by 2100, water levels will at least rise by two meters. This is a significant amount which may put the entire country at risk. To fight this issue, advancing these dam and dykes, while also focusing on tackling climate change is crucial. Therefore, we must focus on this issue and push forward to fight climate change and reverse it’s effects.