After Nixing Plans to Bury CO2 Underground, Rotterdam Shifts Its Climate Gaze Skyward

[marmar]

from the Next City blog:



After Nixing Plans to Bury CO2 Underground, Rotterdam Shifts Its Climate Gaze Skyward

Rotterdam | 11/13/2013 10:30am |
Rachel Keeton | Resilient Cities




Brenda Dirkse, a member of the city council here, has lived in Rotterdam all her life, and when it came time to buy a home she knew exactly what she wanted. “I always consider myself lucky to live on the third floor,” she says. “My apartment gets better light, has a cheaper mortgage and has absolutely no chance of flooding!”

Depending on the coming decades, that last point may end up being its best feature.

When choosing a house in this city, many familiar factors come into play. But one part of the decision-making process is distinctly Dutch: how high off the ground to live. In Rotterdam, 90 percent of the city’s inhabitants live below sea level, and some parts of the city are as much as 7 meters below sea level. Because of its location at the delta of the Rhine River (along a northern distributary called the Nieuwe Maas) Rotterdam is exposed to flooding from three sources: the North Sea, the Rhine River and heavy rainfall.

This triple-threat of vulnerability is what led city leaders to take an active stance against the potential devastation of climate change. Left unchallenged, rising sea levels would mean the end of the city. So in May 2007, Rotterdam initiated one of the world’s most ambitious and comprehensive municipal-based programs to not only mitigate, but actually reverse the effects of climate change in and around the city. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://nextcity.org/resilientcities/entry/after-nixing-plans-to-bury-co2-underground-rotterdam-shifts-its-climate-gaz

[pscot]

1. If history is a guide, the 3rd floor may not be high enough

The Rhine delta used to reach the sea somewhere between Le Havre and Brighton.