Amsterdam

     There are a few places in the world that I have visited that from the moment I arrived, I felt comfortable. San Francisco. New York City. Vienna, Austria. There was just something about those places where I was calm and in awe from the get -go. Amsterdam was the same way. Old World charm with New World feel. A city with canals around every corner and people on bicycles everywhere you turn. (And if you aren't careful at the intersections, you are liable to get run into by a beautiful woman on two wheels.)

     Of course, my interest in Amsterdam was geared more toward the history of the city, it's canals and dyke system as well as the effects that the rising seas are having on this City in the North. (Of course I had no interest in the Red Light District or the "Coffee Shops". I don't even know what those things are.) If you ever wanted to understand what just a few feet of sea level rise could do, all you have to do is look at the pictures below.

     Amsterdam is a city of water. The canals are the essential ingredient that creates the charm and beauty of this Northern gem. But, if you look...
at the picture, you can see how high the water is. The city if mostly flat and low-lying, which means that any rise in sea level is going to affect the sewer systems, storm drains and (if the water rises high enough) the streets and streetcar tracks. Thats not good in any city, much less one that in many places sits below sea level. Only the massive dykes and flood controls in place keep the flood waters back. But as the seas rise, Amsterdam becomes more and more vulnerable.

     This is a view from the edge of the canal on Stadhouderskade across from the Rijkmuseum. If I stood down at the waters edge, my head would be just above the top of the wall. That makes it about 5 feet high. A two foot rise in sea level would wreak havoc on the city, flooding basements and the like. And that would be without factoring in the tides. High tides would flood the city every day. Imagine having to wade through the muck and funk to grab a bottle of wine from the cellar. While the dikes and flood control systems are helping today, if the waters keep rising, eventually they to could be too strained and fail in keeping the North Sea out of this charming city.

http://aon.mediaroom.com/Impact-Forecasting-launches-first-fully-probabilistic-catastrophe-model-for-flood-in-the-Netherlands

     The chart above shows the forecast for catastrophic floods in the Netherlands. With the ground slowly sinking, coupled with sea level rise, Amsterdam could be an abandoned city by the end of the century. At least, subways and basements will be submerged and more houseboats will be floating down the main thoroughfares. I have a feeling that waterfront property would not be at such a premium, since everywhere would be on the water.

     Having just discovered how cool Amsterdam is and with the realization of its bleak future, isn't it my duty to share that fate with others? So they might visit this place and realize what we as a species are facing with Climate Change? If we do nothing and keep pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and warming the planet, Amsterdam will sink beneath the waves faster than the oil from the BP Deep Horizons oil spill. That means the Van Gogh Museum, The Hague, all of the "Coffeeshops", the infamous Red light District...all gone. The Oude Kerk, The Stopera, the Anne Frank House... lost forever.

     This is the city of Rembrandt. They city where Quentin Tarantino wrote "Pulp Fiction". All fated to disappear. All we can do now is slow the inevitable, because slowing it down is the only thing we are capable of doing at this point.

All Photos taken by: John Murray September 2014