cost of buying a car. The residents of the windswept island of Aero
receive much of their heat and power from the island’s solar power sta-
tion, which is the world’s largest. Across the country farm, manure,
and kitchen garbage are collected at special processing plants, which
turn these wastes into fertilizers and clean-burning methane for some
of the nation’s power plants. These measures are helping Denmark
meet its commitment to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 21 percent
from 1990 levels by 2010, making it a world leader in addressing the
causes of global warming.
FINGERS IN THEDIKE
When it comes to dealing with the consequences of global warming,
however, the world increasingly turns to the Dutch. In the future,
many low-lying cities may wind up following the lead of Rotterdam,
the great port city at the mouth of the Rhine in south Holland.
Because of its location, the Rotterdam region has always been vul-
nerable to flooding. But nobody realized just how vulnerable until
February 1, 1953. Late that night a massive storm struck the South
Holland coast, sweeping into the river mouths and smashing through
dikes. A wall of water swept into South Holland and Zeeland, engulfing
cities and towns. More than eighteen hundred people drowned. Fifty
thousand homes and 200,000 head of cattle were swept away. The
Dutch government vowed never to allow such a tragedy to happen again.
The solution was the Delta Project, the world’s most daring flood
protection system. In times of severe storm activity, a series of huge,
movable gates can be raised to block all of the entrances to the river
delta, including the mouth of the Rhine downstream from Rotterdam
harbor. It took 45 years and more than $5 billion to complete, requir-
ing the construction of several artificial islands, a 2-mile long movable
storm barrier in the Zeeland marshes, and a pair of 60-foot-tall, 600-
foot-long doors that can swivel shut at the mouth of the Rhine, pro-
tecting the city from another flood like the 1953 event. In normal times,
the various gates and doors remain open, allowing rivers and ships to
flow to the sea. Engineers compare the Delta Project to the building of
the Great Wall of China or the Apollo space program.
32 Colin Woodard