Claiborne Beurle is a summer intern for OneGreenThing. She is going into her second year at the University of North Carorlina at Chapel Hill, which she will spend in Paris at Sciences Po, and completed a summer study abroad program this month. Below she shares reflections on sustainability abroad.
As I’m wrapping up two weeks spent in the Netherlands, I’ve found myself reflecting on the stark contrast between US approaches to climate action and those of the Netherlands.
I spent two weeks studying human rights in The Hague, a day visiting the EU in Brussels, and even a weekend in Amsterdam. Now, my study abroad group is on to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
However, The Hague is a city of about 515,000 people, which utilizes public transport, bikes, and walking. There, tram tracks run through grass instead of pavement, and fields are largely left to grow full of wildflowers and tall grasses. Outside of the International Criminal Court, the lawns are not mowed but rather left to grow flowers and grasses. These small actions foster more diverse ecological environments. The Hague is almost just as green as it is stone.
Around The Hague, electric charging stations line every street and advertisements highlight the country’s goal of all-electric vehicles by 2025. I was left wondering how a country can function so environmentally conscious while in America, we’re fighting for basic recycling and composting.
The Dutch government aims “to reduce the Netherlands’ greenhouse gas emissions by 49% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, and a 95% reduction by 2050” (Government of The Netherlands.). This ambitious goal, established in the Climate Act in May 2019, seems much more tangible there than some of our own goals in the US, even the US’s goal of 56% of car sales in 2032 to be electric ( BBC).
The Netherlands is largely considered one of the most progressive leaders of climate change. In a class I took this past semester, we were lucky enough to spend a week taught by a UNC grad now working in The Netherlands water infrastructure industry. The Netherlands is especially complex as 29% of it is below sea level, yet this complexity has shaped its proactive implementation of sustainable infrastructure. In my class, we discussed The Delta Programme which “protects the Netherlands against high water and flooding, ensures there is enough fresh water, and contributes to climate-resilient and water-robust planning for [the] country.” (Delta Programme). The Delta program, focused primarily on water, has implemented flood mitigation systems like basketball courts that act as basins to hold water until it can drain without damaging nearby land, and they’ve ensured that all citizens have access to clean water.
Spending a weekend in Amsterdam also offered a glimpse into broader national sustainability. We learned about the first dikes to prevent flooding in the city, and very interestingly, how the city adapts to building’s foundations shifting as a result of the city’s marsh foundation. Rather than knocking down slanted buildings, they simply fill in gaps with bricks and wood to ensure stability. They seemed to focus less on creating something big and better and instead on using what they already had and making it work. This is certainly a mindset needed for sustainability work.
In The Netherlands, it wasn’t hard to take sustainable actions, recycle properly, or mitigate waste; it almost became a habit. Spending the day in Brussels, however, was an immediate contrast. Although still relatively sustainable-minded, the country didn’t seem to push its environmental goals as much as The Netherlands.
Now, I’m in Bosnia, a country still recovering from its relatively recent war. Just 30 years ago, there was a genocide, and today tensions are still high with perpetual threats of war and many divisions. I came here with low expectations of sustainable practices, but what they do have does seem to resemble the United States. They have limited recycling and few electric vehicles but an abundance of nature.
To me, this makes sense. Many Bosnian adults’ childhoods were shaped by the war — they lost their friends and family members and are lucky to be alive. Thus, they are a nation working on rebuilding, trying to alleviate religious and racial divisions, and trying to navigate the dynamic international setting. I understand why, right now, sustainability is not at the forefront of their agenda, but I wonder why, in places like America, it remains on the back burner.
One thing I have seen in Bosnia is solar trees around the city, something I have yet to see anywhere else. Traveling while taking note of sustainability measures and environmental consciousness has given me a whole new set of joys and discoveries. The friends I'm traveling with frequently laugh when I discover something unique and sustainable and can expect that we’ll stop to examine it. The solar tree and the many canals of The Netherlands have been just one example of this.
My service superpower is The Adventurer, and at first, I wasn’t quite sure how this applied to climate action. This study abroad, however, has demonstrated to me the importance of the adventurer. We began our time in Bosnia with a lengthy hike which ultimately took us to remnants of the war, through local communities, through an abandoned bobsled track, and lots and lots of nature. I believe in these small steps to encourage the others around me to fight for climate change, I’ve already noticed that sometimes I’ll be so curious about something I see that the people around me are also curious. I hope I can continue using this superpower in more of my travels, and one day perhaps I’ll do a trip fully devoted to sustainability.
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