As far as the eye can see, Petten’s ocean view is blocked by a mas-
sive artificial wall, a 42-foot-tall earthen hill reinforced with stone, con-
crete, and steel. Only by climbing the stairs to the top of this seawall
can one see the surf crashing near its fortified base. Looking down the
seawall’s ridge south of town, some visitors have a moment of dizzi-
ness, as their minds try to adjust to what their eyes are telling them.
The houses, grass, and trees on the inside of the wall stand on ground
that is lower than the head of the beach on the wall’s exterior. On
stormy days, the wall is all that stands between Petten and disaster.
With a quarter of its territory below sea level—and much of the rest
threatened by coastal or river flooding—the Netherlands takes climate
change very seriously. While many other countries have ignored scien-
tific predictions that global warming will bring rising seas and chang-
ing rainfall patterns, the Dutch have been preparing themselves for the
worst. Dutch engineers have raised the height of the Pettener seawall
several times since 1976, doubling its height in an effort to stay ahead
of storms, erosion, or rising seas.
Nationwide, the Netherlands plans to spend an extra $10 to $25 bil-
lion over the next century to upgrade dikes, pumping stations, and sea
defenses. Dutch companies are even preparing to make big money
helping other nations respond to what most here see as the inevitable
consequences of pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
“It’s better to be safe than sorry when you live below sea level,”
explains Peter C. G. Glas, director of inland water systems at Delft
Hydraulics, the company that designs much of the country’s extensive
water management infrastructure. “We’ve had a tradition over the past
century of being frightened of the water, and rightly so. We had the
energy and the economic means to keep building up these dikes, so
that’s what we’ve done.”
CONSENSUS FORACTION
When it comes to responding to the threat of global warming, Western
Europe provides a striking contrast to the United States. While
Americans remain generally ambivalent about climate change and
take a wait-and-see attitude toward its potential impacts, Europeans
26 Colin Woodard