Written by: basten.gokkon on April 28, 2010 @ 11:07 am
The Kingdom of the Netherlands or, simply, The Netherlands or, as we usually call it, Holland is a kingdom which consists of the Netherlands itself and six islands in the Caribbean Sea: Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles.
The Netherlands lies on the delta of three major rivers: the Rhine, Maas and Scheldt.The Netherlands is best known for its tulips, windmills and clogs. And for its low altitude and vulnerability to flooding. Less well known is that it is the world’s eighth largest exporter of goods and capital and the world’s third largest exporter of food. Surprisingly unknown is that The Netherlands has won 15 Nobel prizes: for chem., physics, medicine, economics and peace.
http://www.nh-hotels.com/hotel_images/cities/noordwijkerhout.jpg
http://www.swarpa.net/~danforth/togo/graphics/windmill.jpg
The Dutch are a surprising people who live (all 16 million of them) on 41, 258 square kilometers and with about 20% of its area and 21% of its population located below sea level, with 50% of its land lying less than one meter above sea level. But the Dutch have managed to transform their densely populated living place into such a success that the world’s planners and architects flock here to find out how.
I have introduced you only the tip of the iceberg about The Netherlands, but now I will further talk about their innovations which the Dutch are also famous about.
Since the Dutch are living in a small area yet densely populated and under the sea level, they need to continuously make big innovations and definitely for a long-term period. The biggest and has been the typical of the Netherlands are the Zuiderzee Works and the Delta Works (dams, sluices, locks, dikes, and storm surge barriers.) For me, this innovation is just as crazy as the fact that there’s a country that lies under the sea level. I mean, until I started my education in Dutch Studies at the university, I never knew that we could drain a whole lake and turn it into polders. This is definitely a crowning achievement.
The Zuiderzee Works (Zuiderzeewerken) are a man-made system of dams, land reclamation and water drainage works. The basis of the project was the damming off of the Zuiderzee, a large shallow inlet of the North Sea. This dam is called the Afsluitdijk. It was built in 1932-1933. The dam closed the Zuiderzee and separated it from the North Sea. As result, the Zuider sea became the IJsselmeer — IJsse lake.
http://1.1.1.2/bmi/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Zuiderzeeworks.png/220px-Zuiderzeeworks.png
Following the damming, large areas of land were reclaimed in the newly freshwater lake body by means of polders. The works were performed in several steps from 1920 to 1975.
The Delta Works are a series of constructions built between 1950 and 1997 in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta from the sea. The works consist of dams, sluices, locks, dikes, and storm surge barriers. The aim of the dams, sluices, and storm surge barriers was to shorten the Dutch coastline, thus reducing the number of dikes that had to be raised.
http://1.1.1.3/bmi/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Deltawerken_na.png/250px-Deltawerken_na.png
Along with the Zuiderzee Works, they have been declared one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
This doesn’t stop here. The windmills are also being renewed and modernized. As we all know, the windmills are being used to create electrical energies for people to live. But, they still keep some of the old ones because Dutch people are also known for their loving and respect for history. The Dutch are proud of their conquest of water. Their struggle to keep dry has helped them develop a can-do attitude. And since controlling waters needs many parties to contribute together, they have managed to learn how to work as a team.
Next, let’s talk about Groen Links. Groen Links or Green Left is one of the many things that I’ve learned from my study at the university. I remember being impressed and surely proud that the first idea of the environment loving, Green Peace, comes up from the Dutch people. They need to take care of the environment and also find new ways to protect the environment from dangerous activities. If the sea levels are getting higher because of the heat that melts down the icebergs, The Netherlands would definitely be one of the very first countries in this world to disappear.
GreenLeft describes itself as “green” “social”, and “tolerant”. It places itself in the freedom-loving tradition of the Left-wing political parties (the Communist Party of the Netherlands, Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and the Evangelical People’s Party). The party has over 21,901 members which are organized in over 250 municipal branches. The party congress is open to all members. It is a member of the Global Greens and the European Green Party.
http://1.1.1.5/bmi/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/GroenLinks-TKMST.png
GreenLeft wants to solve environmental problems, especially climate change, by stimulating durable alternatives. The party wants to use subsidies, taxes and emissions trading to stimulate alternative energy as an alternative to both fossil fuel and nuclear plants. It is opposed to drilling for natural gas in the Waddenzee and it wants to close all nuclear plants in the Netherlands. Moreover it wants to stimulate energy saving. It wants to invest in clean public transport, as an alternative to polluting private transport. Investments in public transport can be financed by not expanding highways and imposing tolls on the use of roads (called “rekening rijden”). The party wants to stimulate organic farming through taxes and subsidies, as an alternative to industrial agriculture. Moreover, GreenLeft wants to codify animal rights in the Constitution.
Now here are some of the results that the Dutch people have created to protect their environment.
1. Floating Apartment Complexes
The Citadel in the Netherlands is Built for Changing Water Levels
http://cubeme.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Citadel-Floating-Apartment_Complex_Koen_Olthuis1.jpg
The Citadel is the world’s first floating apartment complex. Designed by Dutch architect Koen Olthuis of Waterstudio, the structure will be the luxury home to 60 lucky people in the Netherlands.
The apartment complex part of the ‘New Water’ development will be built on a floating concrete foundation. Each unit will have a garden terrace, modern interiors and stunning views. In addition there will be docks for your yacht, floating roads and various greenhouses to garden in.
The Citadel’s cooling system will function around cooled water pumped though the building, using 25% less energy than a traditional building.
The Citadel will simply rise and fall with the changing water levels, making it impervious to flooding, tides, and sea waters inching upward as a result of global warming.
2. Picnic Table Pyramids
The ‘Rest’ Air Restaurant in the Netherlands
http://1.1.1.5/bmi/images.trendhunter.com/phpthumbnails/21344_1_230.jpeg
While most of the information I could find on this exhibition was in Dutch, I thought it was still worth posting. This massive triangular stack of wooden picnic tables is an art project titled ‘Rest’ by Miguel Brugman and Martijn Engelbregt in Wageningen, Netherlands.
The project represents an, “air restaurant where food, social cohesion and the care nature and environment meet each other,” according to Trendbeheer.
It seems as though ‘Rest’ may actually have been an actual ‘diner’ of sorts for a short time, however they are apparently ‘no longer taking reservations’. Fine by me, I get shaky just seeing those people sitting under a huge mountain of stacked tables.
3. Transfused Two-Wheelers
Dutch Master Mixes Street Style With Casual Riding
http://www.trendhunter.com/images/phpthumbnails/47675_1_120.jpeg
The Dutch people are also famous with their riding bicycle ritual. When you come to the Netherlands (I hope so, one day) one of the first things you should buy is a bicycle. The bicycle itself will have its own certificate so that if it’s stolen, the police will find it easier. My brother who has once visited the Netherlands, told me that the streets for people to walk and for bicycle are way bigger than the street for cars.
Core77’s new Dutch Master bicycle is close to one of the smoothest and careful made things I’ve ever seen in my life. There is no sacrifice between the look and the ride in this very skillfully amalgamated bike.
If you’re looking to coast through the streets and enjoy the scenery, the Dutch Master is equipped for such a task. However, if you want to kick it up a notch and give her some power, the Dutch Master will not back down.
It’s a perfect combination of high end parts (Brooks seat, BMX Crankset, Sturmy-Archer front and rear drum breaks, hand-built wheels with Swiss DT spokes).
4. Treintaxi (Train taxi)
Treintaxi, uw directe verbinding met het station ( Train taxi, your direct connection to the station)
http://homepage.mac.com/ovsite/images/ns/treintaxi3.jpg
Treintaxi (train taxi) takes you to and from the station in an easy and comfortable way. You share the taxi with others and therefore travel at a reduced rate. Treintaxi serves a certain area, which is shown at the Treintaxi stand at the station. Tickets can be used in every city where Treintaxi is available (59 cities throughout The Netherlands). A separate ticket must be purchased for the return trip. The exact geographic regions covered by Treintaxi services are determined per town. This frequently includes both the town center and the surrounding areas.
Those are just some of the many innovations that I personally find very interesting and absolutely innovative. But the real and noble innovation is how the Dutch people work together to protect and keep their country away from annihilation. I mean, you need to do a hell of a hard work to attract people (all of the citizens) to come and work together to make a better living place. Then again, some might find all those hard works are just what people would do if their country was in unknown yet predictable danger. I definitely do not agree to this because such feeling and consciousness don’t grow easily. The fact that the Dutch people live under the sea-level that if it keeps on rising, this country would be gone, is just the trigger, but self-consciousness really takes a great roll in this situation.
God made the world, but the Dutch made Holland — Dutch saying.
I may sound so in love with this country, I do. I may sound so desperate to live in this country, I do but not that desperate. Hee hee. I mean, it is a nice place to live and some various studies show that the Dutch people are very happy living there, but I’d rather focus on my own country.
What I know and believe is that my country, Indonesia, especially the citizens need to have this self-consciousness in themselves to build a better Indonesia that we’ve been dreaming to reach and have.
Indonesia is one of the archipelago states (There are also Japan and the Philippines.) We need to respect the sea and the environment. Even when I was a kid, I sang a song which we all know – Nenek moyangku seorang pelaut …// My ancestor was a sailor. As we all know, Indonesia lies on volcanoes that are drowned by water, so that means the islands are the parts from the volcanoes that aren’t drowned by water. The danger that we’re facing is just the same like the danger that the Dutch people are facing. Unfortunately, we’ve all known about this danger, but our self-consciousness hasn’t been well built. Some people may have started several movements to help our environment, but for me, ‘some’ is just too little, moreover most of them are already well-educated and well-informed. We need to spread the news evenly, directly, and until every inch of this country.
Learn from our history, do it now and make a better future. Who says we can’t predict our future?
– Basten Gokkon.
Link blog : THE NETHERLANDS : SMALL COUNTRY, BIG AMBITIONS
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References :
1. Book “Focus On The Netherlands”
2. Groen Links
3. Trend Hunter
Catogories: Peserta
you shown a very cool pict, indeed
fayza
the famous saying goes “God created the world but the Dutch created Holland” is absolutely appropriate correct… and Dutch really impressing me in all aspects of its innovation. always_me
Wah citadelnya sama dengan di postingan saya. Belanda emang keren gan.. yosuakristianto
yooo mate, nice post. you deserve to win the competition:D Alia Ganni
dengan info artikel ini bisa nambah wawasan tentang negara Belanda…bener2 keren!!!! debbie ambarita
wow!nice post!! =D
never thought that such small country has lots of greatness.
i feel so lucky to be able to step my feet on it. eka
wow. cool! you gave me lots of infos! i love the quote: God made the world, but the Dutch made Holland Fiqi Violet
very good, indeed! The Netherlands is known for being innovative and this article has really brought it up. Well done and great article.
Alex
I like your article. yess, God made the world, but the Dutch made Holland. although I’m in the last semester, but I’ve got a lot of new information that I get from your articles. and the picture that you display very good, makes me want to go to Dutch, hehe.
Nina Hadianti
good gedaan, Basten
as a contractor I’m very interested to build houses like cidatel, because it is very artistic and I’ll dedicate to my future wife..hehehe alen
informatif togar lumban raja
wow..it’s a good blog..
i think what you write in here is very useful.
i agree that we must protect our country facing the same problem as in Holland. after all, we are surrounding by sea just like Holland. but unfortunately, there’s too many human resources that been waste just like that..
i hope that indonesia will maximize the human resources because i think there’s many people in indonesia that will make indonesia a better place. just like in Holland.
arrgghhh… and i want to go to Holland too and meet the rest of my family there… Tamara
good luck basten, you’ve got a very good perspective bethanny putri
My friend has explained such an informative text for those who are curious about De Lage Landen-The Netherlands. By reading this, your eyes will be wide opened about Dutch society and culture. The Netherlands, indeed, is a unique country. Veel succes! sakinakinoy
Wow. This is a good one. Very simple yet informative and valuable. Really love that last statement you made and definitely true. Good luck, man! Johnnas Abbaz
nice post.
je schrijft niet te lang. kort en bondig
gambar (foto) dan tulisan saling mendukung satu sama lain, sehingga pembaca bisa mengetahui secara visual apa yang dimaksud oleh penulis.
veel succes basten ^^ putri ayu ningtyas
Wow, geweldig artikel dat u er van hebt. Maar als een student rechten, ik ben eigenlijk een beetje teleurgesteld dat je niet iets over de erkenning van de Nederlandse taal zelf in verband met wet erkenning graven. Hoe dan ook, het is een genoegen geweest om dit te lezen. Cheers!
Els
Ooops, sorry if my language is messed up. But really, it’s hard for me to learn such language, but I tend to work my butt on it just because I love this country (and also this article).
Els
Soooo… pardon the mistakes.
Cis, what a narcissism quote! “God made the world, but the Dutch made Holland”. pradiptakurniawati
Cool website, learned a lot from this one! Keep it up.. Tony
setidaknya kita belajar banyak dari negeri yang telah menjajah Indonesia selama 350 tahun, kenapa negeri yang katanya kecil berhasil menguasai Indonesia… suzannita
very nice pictures.. i like it very much…. chrisbryon
it was nice posting, basten. diannisa larasati
Huaa. Bagus banget ten! Semangat yaa. Artikelnya bagus, punya urutan yang bagus. Maksudnya ada pembukaan, terus isinya juga berguna–inovasi yang disebutin keren deh, dan pernyataan2 terkahirnya bagus banget. Gue suka banget pas bagian Groen Links. Menjaga lingkungan emang perlu bagi semua negara, ngga peduli gimana keadaan negara itu. Good luck, IMHO, you really deserve to win!
Verenia
artikelnya bagus. judulnya simpel tapi sangat attractive! dan emang menggambarkan isinya, penjelasannya bagus. you’re a good writer, Basten! keep it up. You know what you’re writing.
xoxo ara
dit artikel is heel goed gedaan! het is kort maar uitstekend! veel succes, Basten! aryani
Saya sudah membaca beberapa artikel. Menurut saya, artikel ini salah satu yang bagus. Ada beberapa yang menyangkutkan peninggalan2 Belanda di Indonesia, yang sebenarnya kurang mengena dengan tema blog. Artikel ini membahas inovasi2 yang ada di Belanda dan orang Belanda lakukan, juga mengenai dampak yang bisa kita lihat dengan membaca artikel ini. Pendek, mudah dimengerti dan sangat bagus. Semoga Anda berhasil! Windu
I was just browsing about some articles about Dutch and finally here I am. It was a great article. Well written. The Delta works still amaze me and your writings have explained it to me very well. Very unique innovations that you’ve chosen. Nice one. Will Cannon
Whoaa. Thanks guys! I never thought that this article would get such attention. Haha. Studying Dutch Literature really opens my mind and my eyes that even though this country is very little, it can make big things. I’m so sorry if I made some mistakes or this article is too short. But I did try my very best
Thank you again for the responses! But hey, I need some critics, too! Haha. basten.gokkon
It’s a very complete article. Very informative. At first I was being overwhelmed by the infos and got kinda confused. But after rereading it, it was very nice. Your statements are true. No matter what, we should take care of our environment. It’s our only world. Volkan
Delta Works katanya juga menginspirasi Civil Engineersnya negara Inggris OKTOGARINI ERNA
Just wanted to say you have a great site and thanks for posting! Protect Colorado
dang sweet story bro. limewire
” But the real and noble innovation is how the Dutch people work together to protect and keep their country away from annihilation…….., but self-consciousness really takes a great roll in this situation.” So true!!!! +10000000000000000
Hahahhaa. Matt Costello
The Netherlands is a country I would very much like to visit. I learned a lot about the Dutch Deltaworks System after Hurricane Katrina because representatives from that country came to New Olreans to speak about it, as they are also below sea level and had horrible flooding problems prior to Deltaworks. Fascinating system. JPalumbo
wow…rame…
your article, so good… yusnaeni
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher! college loans
That has been growing by leaps and bounds. love spells
Wah, ini bagus artikel nya. Lengkap sampe ke detail2nya, tapi ngga berlebihan juga sih. Info yang diberikan sangat pas. You’ve got very great resources.
sheera
Bisa banyak belajar dari artikel ini meskipun pendek. Great job
“… the streets for people to walk and for bicycle are way bigger than the street for cars” sayang disini kebalikannya yaa……..?hahahha.
Ayooo Indonsia..belajaar dari sejarah.haemmmmmmmmm Vava
We should learn a lot from other countries and so do the other countries. We’ve got lots of things that other countries don’t have. We’ve got the most varied culture in this world, what we don’t have is the willing to protect and develop our uniqueness.
But this little country is just very smart and the people have a great willing to build their country. It’s a very good article. This is a wakening one, other articles are good, too. Good luck to all. marga waworuntu
eventho Indonesia had been occupied by Netherlands for like 3.5 centuries, I still have this desire to continue my study there one day.
nice article, inspiring & very informative; thanks to you now I knw abt that whole floating apartment thingy heehe. and yeah we do need to take care of our environment. cycling is a good way to start it all, just like the Dutch & UI-citizens do so
oh btw, I think you deserve to win this contest *winks* good luck Ten! jaya
nice post basten! I’ve got lots of new informations from your article. Good luck to you
Fathima Dzata
thumbs up Basten! you deserve to win this contest! good luck
Naya
hollads idetify like an art, I have read a novel in Indonesia, the title is Edensor by Andrea HIrata. In the couple of the page (I can agree) with Andrea. .. ” whenever I see… art, art, and art in Hollands. Amazing…superb sukron
Great site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends! veterinary technician