The following were my biggest concerns while trying to get across town during what turned out to be the worst storm of the decade in the Netherlands:
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Don’t get blown off your bike.
Don’t get blown into a canal.
Don’t be pushed onto oncoming traffic.
It may seem odd or stupid, but journey to and from the otherside of town featured some very scary moments where I nearly got into some terrible messes, and was indeed knocked clear off my bike. (read my story on trippist)
While the European Union recently announced some fairly lofty goals for reducing greenhouse emissions by 2020, it is very clear that whatever happens, this continent is going to suffer some very crazy weather. Some very dangerous weather.
Scanning the headlines last night, and all day today, I couldn’t believe the damage. People crushed, people blown into the ocean, into car accidents, into trees. Sure its no Tsunami or earthquake, but for a Europe that normally feels so ontop of things and ready for danger and prepared for whatever disasters, you really get a sense of how fragile everything is after a storm like this one.
No trains ran in Germany. The beautiful Hauftbahnhoft station closed down, as a huge chunk of it broke. Same here in the Netherlands. Container ships abandoned and sinking in the English channel, an oil spill in Rotterdam harbor. The list goes on and on.
We’re already paying the price for the reckless development of our ancestors, not to mention our current generation of working people. Considering all the havoc, any government that does not have a serious plan for cutting emissions and developing in a more sustainable and less polluting way, is not only stupid and dangerous… they are criminals. (no matter what continent we’re talking about)