Today, we had the chance to explore the Neeltje Jans Delta Park, a sort of hybrid museum, aquarium, and delta works that highlights the importance of the construction of the Delta Works projects done in the Netherlands to protect against the flooding of the area due to high water levels. After a tour highlighting the project and what it had to offer in terms of both sustainability and the protection of the Dutch landscape, we had the chance to explore the rest of the park, which helped in further reinforcing the messaging and importance associated with maintaining and developing projects to protect the Netherlands’ people.

On our way through the Dutch countryside on the way to the park, I was truck by how many windmills lined the massive fields we drove past, and I found myself wondering how much energy all of these together must produce. I find that the arguments against windmills due to not being visually appealing to be totally redundant, as the views I was able to enjoy today were absolutely gorgeous. Further, I find that having these large reminders of renewable energy being something thousands of people pass every day is incredibly important for keeping sustainability fresh on the minds of the populace. It is so easy to compartmentalize and forget where our energy comes from, making non-renewables something people can enjoy without thinking about the dire environmental consequences. Windmills change this, and clearly this works given how much this drew my attention to the issues associated with renewable energy.

Next, we arrived at the park and, after a short time bouncing on a trampoline, we started our tour of the facilities. This began with a video describing the process of constructing the massive storm barriers, done in response to the 1953 flood we investigated yesterday, which really underscored how big of an undertaking doing this was. The construction, done over several decades and continually improving until today, seemed to be a painstaking process, involving the import of large rocks from neighboring countries (given the absence of a quarry in the flat Netherlands), the creation of massive “mattresses” to allow for pillars supporting the barriers, and the placement of the various barriers with the naked eye (and only allowing for ~10 cm margin of error!) After the video, our guide took us through a more detailed look at the project, describing how the immense devastation of the floods sparked action from the government, as the conditions needed to cause the flood were natural and could happen again. I also found the parallel he drew between this flood and Katrina to be quite interesting, as the government in Louisiana put the US Army Corps of Engineers to implementing similar measures and, consequently, the Engineers drew from the Dutch for help. I find intercountry projects such as this lead to more productive, lasting results and illustrate why international relations are so important to governments. As we progressed through the tour, we learned how a complex system of boats, pulleys, and video cameras helped guide the construction of the Delta Works, leading to a gradual process that culminated in a ceremony seen off by the Dutch queen. This naturally made me consider the impact of this project in terms of sustainability, as the protection of the people, landscape, and agriculture in the Dutch countryside is an extremely important goal, but land reclamation and projects such as these conversely seem to also damage the ecosystem of the areas they occur by hurting biodiversity and drawing on resources for construction. I suppose its easy for me to criticize this environmental cost when I am not in the direct path of the natural disasters, but the point still stands that there is a trade-off for decision makers to consider.

We then had the chance to see the barriers up close, and I was shocked at just how large they were. I was also impressed at the water line where the gates closed, and the water line from the 1953 flood, being so high up, and I can see how there could be massively destructive flooding in the future if this project was not put into place. Also, the effects of climate change and rising sea levels, something we investigated during the climate frisk yesterday, could worsen this issue and will require attention at some point in the future (something our tour guide corroborated). Given that he stated that the barriers can’t be seriously added onto in a meaningful way, some other solution will have to be put into place in order to rectify the issues associated with the sea level rising and falling in conjunction with weather disaster events. We then took a boat tour to see a sandbar where a number of seals lived, and I once again was impressed by the extent of the area’s beauty. I also had the chance to explore the storm simulator, which produces winds similar to those experienced during the 1953 storm. I legitimately felt myself being pulled off my feet by these winds, and I am shocked there wasn’t even more devastation in the wake of the storms that took place.

Overall, I found the park to be informative about the effects of natural disasters and how the Dutch people have worked to combat these. I really enjoyed having the chance to explore the causal chain from the flood museum we visited earlier in the week to the solution of the delta works, and I am excited to see what other areas of sustainability and natural disaster defense the Netherlands has to offer.