On December 7, the first of the three Dutch princesses will reach legal adulthood. 🎉 However, there won’t be any post-birthday hangover for this 18-year-old: Princess Amalia is to attend her first Council of State meeting the day after her birthday.
As the highest general administrative court in the Netherlands, the Council of State acts as an independent advisor to the Parliament on matters of legislation and governance.
Preparing for her future
According to the Dutch constitution, Amalia has a seat in the Council of State from the moment she turns 18 — that’s what we call job security.
She’ll be joining the Advisory Department of the Council where her mom, Queen Máxima, already holds a seat.
Neither the Queen nor Amalia have any substantive involvement or even voting rights in the Council of State. The idea is for Amalia to learn about Dutch legislation and constitutional law so she can prepare for her future role as Queen of the Netherlands. 👑
The Council also has an Administrative Jurisdiction Department and Amalia’s dad, King Willem-Alexander, is the Chairman of the Council of State.
First day on the job
On December 8, Amalia will go to the Kneuterdijk Palace in The Hague (the location of the Council of State) together will King Willem-Alexander.
Much like any first day, there’ll be some introductions — here just in the form of speeches. Amalia herself, the King, and the vice-chairman, Thom de Graaf, will all give a short speech at the meeting.
Less like other peoples’ first day on the job (unless you’re a landscaper of course), Amalia will then plant a royal lime tree in the French garden of Kneuterdijk Palace.
What do you think of Princess Amalia’s new role? Tell us in the comments below!
Say bye-bye to your office’s disposable coffee cups— or at least prepare to do so. The Netherlands is planning to introduce a ban on single-use cups and plastic ready-to-eat food containers.
Steven van Weyenberg, State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management, announced in a letter to the parliament plans to ban disposable cups from January 2023. In 2024, the ban will be extended to disposable plastic containers for ready-to-eat meals. Start the countdown y’all! ⏳
The outgoing Dutch cabinet already discussed these plans with the businesses involved, such as the event industry and horeca, reports RTL Nieuws. A draft scheme is currently being tested until December.
Seven billion disposable cups per year
What’s the scope of this move, you ask? The state secretary reported that the Netherlands discards seven billion disposable cups and food packaging on a yearly basis. 🤯 So yes — this ban will have a massive impact.
He also hopes for benefits similar to those that were reaped when free single-use plastic bags were banned in the Netherlands. Since then, the number of these bags that end up in landfills dropped by 70%.
Baby steps
Unfortunately, disposable cups and ready-to-eat food packaging won’t just disappear overnight. Instead, the plan aims to gradually reduce the use of single-use plastics by 40% from 2022 to 2026.
The ban on disposable plastics also comes with some exceptions: cups that are reusable or can be recycled are included in these exceptions. For example, a minimum of 75% of disposable cups must be collected for mandatory recycling in 2023.♻️ This number will go up by 5% every year, up to 90% in 2026.
From 2027 onwards, this will also apply to the packaging of ready-to-eat meals such as salads and microwave meals.
What do you think of this step in combating waste in the Netherlands? Tell us in the comments below!
Tens of thousands of people gathered yesterday at a demonstration in The Hague to protest the current coronavirus measures in the Netherlands.
The protesters expressed dissatisfaction with the use of vaccination certificates and QR codes (corona passes), waving banners with messages such as “#KlaarmetRutte” (done with Rutte) and “Unvaccinated Lives Matter,” reports the NOS.
The organizers of the protest, Samen Voor Nederland (SVN), estimated that 50,000 to 100,000 participants were present. The police, however, said that there were about 20,000 people at the event. Social distancing who? 😓
The coronavirus protest took place on Sunday, November 7, 2021. Video: DutchReview/Supplied
Members of an extreme right-wing group called Voorpost also joined the protest, waving the controversial Prince’s flags — orange-white-blue flags which were used by the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands.
Thankfully, the protest ended peacefully and no arrests were made by police. 🙏🏼
A similar protest against the coronavirus measures took place only a month ago in Amsterdam, attracting around 25,000 people.
What do you think about the coronavirus protests? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Approximately 40,000 people marched from Dam square to Westerpark in Amsterdam last Saturday, taking part in a worldwide climate protest scheduled on the Global Day for Climate Justice.
Calling for more measures to limit the effects of global warming, participants had various demands in addressing this pressing issue, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reports NU.nl.
Joining counterpart protests across the globe, including other major European cities such as Glasgow, Brussels, and Paris, Amsterdam’s protesters went all out in an event that featured performances, speeches, and marchers dancing their way to the meeting point. 🙌
“We are very concerned about the climate, the consequences of climate change on people worldwide, and the slow-moving politics in that regard,” a spokesperson of the climate march told the NOS. “The beautiful promises of the Netherlands are by no means enough to achieve the climate goals,” they added.
Thousands of protesters gathered in the Dutch capital. Image: DutchReview/Supplied
Time is ticking
Participants of these worldwide events are demanding action from the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) which is taking place in Glasgow until November 12.
In a testament to the urgent issue of climate change to all generations, Saturday’s participants in Amsterdam included many young people, as well as parents with children holding signs calling for governmental action. 📢
The signs held in Amsterdam addressed concerns such as “I want to grow old in Amsterdam, not in Atlantis” and “What does my future look like?” — something we also can’t help but wonder, judging by how countries have dealt with climate change up to this point.
Do you think the worldwide marches will affect decisions and measures made by governments during COP26? Tell us in the comments below!
Rapidly rising sea levels are just one of the many effects of climate change that a myriad of countries around the world are battling against.
However, some floating homeowners in the Netherlands are using age-old technology to explore the possibility of life on the water. Could floating homes be the norm in the future?
Floating homes are in Dutchies’ DNA
Living on the water comes naturally to Dutch people as they have already been doing it for thousands of years. The Netherlands is one of the lowest-lying countries in the world and half of the landmass is literally below sea level. Dutchies have always been adept at water management and for years the Dutch utilised systems such as dykes to achieve enormous feats.
For example, in 1932 the Afsluitdijk was completed which transformed part of the North Sea into one of Europe’s biggest lakes. There are many other examples like this but over the past few years, the approach has been changing. Instead of trying to keep water out, architects in the Netherlands are realising it’s time to work with the water.
Wienger Uffink, a floating homeowner in the Netherlands explains to Al Jazeera: “The world needs to change. We can’t keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing for the last hundred years. We wanted to make a statement and show that it is doable.”
Floating home neighbourhoods in Amsterdam
IJBurg
IJBurg is an area about 20 minutes east of Amsterdam Central Station where homes have been built on six man-made islands. It was designed by Marlies Rohmer and built in 1997 as a solution to the Netherlands’ housing crisis. No less than 24 years later, this neighbourhood is home to nearly 23,000 people and is being hailed as a solution to rising sea levels.
Aerial view of IJBurg during construction. Image: Debot/ Wikimedia Commons/ CC3.0
Unlike other land reclamation projects, IJburg was raised upon the water instead of the water being drained to reach land. “This extraordinary approach to land reclamation was chosen because of, among other reasons, the standstill principle, which states that the creation of new land areas should not impact the quality of the surrounding water,” Urban green-blue grids explains. Many IJBurg dwellers appreciate the closeness to nature that living on the water affords.
But it’s not an area built solely for pragmatism. They wanted to build a unique area with architectural diversity as developers did not want uniform houses that resulted in a homogenised community. When walking around IJBurg, it is easy to notice the variety in homes that boast different materials, shapes and colours.
Homes on the farthest island of IJBurg. Photo: Freya Sawbridge/Supplied
Schoonschip
Schoonschip is another floating home neighbourhood in Amsterdam but it is much smaller than IJBurg as it was only built in 2010. The houses were built on land and then transferred to the dock by boat.
Sascha Glasl, cofounder of Space&Matter — the architecture firm that designed the project — tells Fast Company: “Cities are growing, and everyone is going into high-rises and trying to put more buildings on land, but there’s a lot of water in cities, and it’s smart to make use of that too.”
But designing a floating village is not an easy feat and requires immense planning precision. “You have to calculate everything you put on the boat and how heavy it will be. If you put in too much weight, the house will sit too low,” shares another floating home architect, Jorrit Houwert, with DW.
Schoonship is also a demonstration of environmentally-conscious homes. Before the build commenced, architects made a green, orange and red list of materials. The green list included environmentally sound options. The materials on the orange list were to be used only if it was really necessary due to costs or technical reasons, and the items on the red list were banned. This resulted in many of the homes incorporating eco-friendly materials such as cork.
Homeowners in Schoonschip also got permission from the government to create their own electricity company. They each have a battery in their house with just one connection to the main system. In this way, if one house doesn’t use much electricity in the month, it balances out over-usage by another house.
How much do floating homes cost in the Netherlands?
Like anything, you can pay top dollar for big and stylish homes but surprisingly, some of the homes are very affordable. In Schoonship, the homes range between €300,000 to €800,000.
In IJBurg, a 12 bedroom apartment recently sold for €1,000,000 but there was also a three-bedroom house that sold for €400,000.
IJBurg during autumn. Photo: Freya Sawbridge/Supplied
Floating homes are catching on in other European cities
The awareness that we need to change how we build homes is catching on around the rest of Europe. Baca Architects have plans to build a floating village in the London Royal Docks and Copenhagen has up-cycled sea container homes for students to live in amidst their own housing crisis.
Architect Carl Turner explains the appeal: “You either protect the house or protect the land. Creating large-scale flood protection zones is expensive and in itself potentially harmful to the environment. Once breached, homes are left defenceless, as opposed to floating homes that can simply rise with floodwaters,” he tells the Guardian.
Do you like the idea of living on the water? What about if boats replace cars? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
Feature Image: Nick Vernij/Unsplash Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in December 2019, and was fully updated in November 2021, for your reading pleasure.
The Netherlands recorded exactly 10,272 positive coronavirus test results between Wednesday and Thursday morning this week.
The last time we saw the daily number of cases go above the 10,000 mark was on July 18, reports NU.nl.
As if this new broken record wasn’t “impressive” enough, there have only been 15 other days with more recorded positive results than this since the start of the pandemic — yes, this thing actually has a beginning…though we find those times hard to recall.
A fivefold increase
Approximately one month ago, the average daily number of coronavirus cases was 1,700. The number we’re seeing now is about five times as high! 😱
The bad news doesn’t end there. The number of ICU admissions, as well as coronavirus-related deaths, has also been soaring.
An emergency asylum seekers shelter recently established at Gelderse Harskamp army camp in Ede has announced that it will close tomorrow due to fears that a planned demonstration by two extreme Dutch groups may lead to violence.
The right-wing extremist Dutch People’s Union (NVU) and Anti Fascist Aktie (AFA) announced two Saturday demonstrations in the shelter’s area. The NVU’s demonstration will be carried under the slogan “Happiness seekers not welcome” according to an NRC report.
The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) fears for the safety of residents and employees. As a result, the decision was made to keep the location’s gates closed. This will temporarily prevent access to and from the shelter.
The fear is very real at the shelter, with a COA spokesperson telling the NRC that “the safety of residents and staff cannot be guaranteed.”
Flashback
This planned demonstration is being considered by COA and the police with a previous violent episode in mind. In the same area back in August, tensions escalated, fireworks were set off, car tires were burned, and the police were forced to use dogs to disperse the crowd.
The NVU and the AFA received permits from the municipality approving the two demonstrations at separate locations over concerns that participants from the two opposing groups will clash with each other.
A further fear is that residents and staff of the centre may get caught up in the violence. “The ideology of the two groups is so different that we cannot rule out the possibility that a dangerous situation could arise for the people who want to leave the camp on Saturday,” a letter from the COA to residents and staff said in preparation of tomorrow’s crowds.
What are your thoughts on these planned protests? Tell us in the comments below!
Starting November 5, there will be a light show every night at Boijmans Museum Depot van Beuningen, the world’s first publicly-accessibleart storage facility.
Every night, after the sun sets, you can catch a beautiful light show at the Depot — reports In De Buurt. A video installation called “Wasting life on you” by Swiss artist Pilotti Rist will also be projected from a colourful pole beside the museum.
Located in Rotterdam‘s Museum Park, the futuristic warehouse stores over 151,000 objects. You can check out pieces by Bosch, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Monet, and more! 🎨
In the highest percentage since April 2002, a 2.7% annual inflation increase hit the Dutch economy in October — mainly due to a hike in gas and electricity prices.
We can’t say we’re surprised, and we wish we could deliver better news. This latest inflation increase, recorded bythe Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), was mainly attributed to the rise in gas and electricity prices among other daily-life items. 🪙
CBS reported that consumers paid 3.4% more for goods and services in October 2021 than last year. Whereas, year-to-year gas prices jumped by 30.6% in the same month, based on a Nu.nl report.
Harsh winters and energy demand making it worse
The skyrocketing prices of power and gas were partially blamed on smaller reserves as a result of harsh winters and worldwide energy demand. All these causes must be kept in mind in light of the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Sounds like the perfect storm. 🌪
To sum up the grim picture, life in the Netherlands became 4.5% more expensive as of last month according to RTL Nieuws. From the heat we use to keep the Dutch cold away (31% year increase) to the fuel powering up our cars (almost 40% jump), things are getting very pricy. It’s even affecting the clothing industry, so better treat that winter coat gently. 🧥
At this rate, the inflation in the Netherlands is compared to the entire eurozone, which recorded a 4.1% total increase. Let’s just hope we’re not going for first place for the highest inflation. 🏆
What do you think of the latest figures released by CBS? Tell us in the comments below.
The question I often get from my students is: “How do I practise my Dutch?”This is usually followed by the observation that the Dutch are comfortable at speaking English and usually don’t think twice about switching to it.
So, apart from spending all of your childhood learning English — how can you get to that level?
My advice is to ask one or two Dutch neighbours, colleagues or friends, in particular, to practise Dutch conversation with. They then know not to switch to English and they will probably be very helpful — and hopefully patient — to help develop your speaking skills.
Don’t consider this as Dutch classes, but purely as informal chats about day to day stuff. Even if these chats are as little as fifteen minutes a week, they will really help you. You’ll see your Dutch improve in no time!
Flex your language muscles as often as possible
Speaking Dutch is like riding a bike! Image: D.Travnikov/Depositphotos
When I see students making steady progress at reading and listening, they often struggle speaking even a few sentences.
That is mainly because learning a foreign language is like riding a bike — to use a typical Dutch metaphor. 😉 You can read books that tell you how to ride a bike, look at other people riding bikes, but you won’t be able to master it unless you actually get physical — and get on that bicycle!
Don’t overthink the grammar
Definitely study the grammar and vocabulary, but don’t be afraid to make mistakes when putting it to use. Read Dutch texts out loud, even if you don’t understand the meaning of every word. This will help your mouth and brain get used to the actual movements when performing the sounds. And when you hit a proper Dutch ‘g’-sound, you are nailing it!
Put yourself in situations where you need Dutch
People can’t help but smile when you practice your Dutch. Image: Crew/Unsplash
The ironic — and somewhat sad reality is that students who diligently study Dutch grammar rules for hours on end, and learn twenty new words every day, are often not the ones who end up speaking Dutch confidently in public.
The ones, however, who were forced into a situation in which they needed to understand and speak, in a romantic relationship or job, for instance, were the ones making fast progress and were able to expand their conversation capacities quickly over time.
But even if you aren’t dating a Dutchie, and English is the main language on your work floor, it proves the point that practising your speaking with a native, a private teacher or fellow student should be at the top of your list. Yes, even higher than studying grammar and vocabulary!
So, even if you’re taking lessons and you use Duolingo every day — we all know that dreaded owl — the best (and only) way you’ll become fluent is by talking, speaking, chatting.
What tips do you have to practice your Dutch? Tell us in the comments below!
