Today, we drove South to the province of Zeeland to visit the small artificial island of Neeltje Jans, which is where the Delta Works houses their informational center on their infrastructure and is right in the middle of the system of storm surge barriers that comprise the Oosterscheldekering (Eastern Scheldt Storm Surge Barrier). This was an amazing experience, and although I am studying electrical engineering, not civil engineering–this feat of human ingenuity was still fascinating to me. While at the site, we had a guided tour of the indoor museum and an outdoor tour of some of the island and surge barrier, as well as a ferry ride into the Oosterschelde to see the ecosystem and landscape the barrier protects. After that, we had time to see some of the more fun attractions, including the aquarium with reef sharks, a sea lion show, and a storm wind simulator.
I would love to go into depth about the process of constructing the Oosterschelde and how this project was on a scale that was beyond unprecedented at the time, but I will adhere to the goal of discussing sustainability. One interesting detail is that the Oosterschelde was originally supposed to be a closed-off dam, lacking the retractable sluice-gates that the current structure has, but due to protests from fishermen, students, and scientists, this plan was scrapped shortly into construction. This shows a much different philosophy compared to the damming of the Zuiderzee, in which the ecological effects of the project were entirely ignored. This can largely be attributed to the period in which each project was sanctioned–the Zuiderzee works shortly after the flood of 1916, and the Delta Works shortly after the flood of 1953. The design allowing for the natural movement of the tides is extremely important, even if it comes at a greater cost to the taxpayer.
Another interesting detail related to sustainability is that this project was designed to last for around 100-200 years, but after factoring in climate change and sea level rise considerations, this lifespan will be much shorter. This will necessitate a new installation in the old one’s place or the removal of the current Oosterscheldekering without a replacement. Either way, this is a huge cost for the Dutch–one that taxpayers will most certainly feel. All this is to say that climate change has a very tangible economic cost on individuals, one that should motivate them to take action.
Finally, I suppose I should address social sustainability. The Oosterscheldekering helps to protect the province of Zeeland, which isn’t a super huge economic center for the Netherlands and isn’t home to its major population centers like Utrecht, The Hague, Rotterdam, or Amsterdam. The Dutch government could have told the small farming and fishing communities who live there that they weren’t going to protect the land and that they all needed to pack their bags. However, they invested extremely large quantities of resources to protect these people and to ensure that even those in the margins had the same protection against the elements as those in the center of Dutch society. This is important for all nations moving forward in the fight against climate change. It seems that in the United States, there is a sort of prevailing mindset that it is okay for certain groups to be affected, as long as it isn’t “us”. Some figures talk about how rising sea levels simply mean more beachfront property (which is wrong, by the way) instead of thinking about how people who currently have homes in low-lying areas will be affected. When there are great wildfires in California or droughts in the Southwest, we often seem to blame the victims themselves for living in those areas. This will destroy us in the long run; we need every single person in this fight to stand a chance.
