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Comment by Freak_NL | Hacker News Reader

Being Dutch living in one of those barely visible dark blue stretches of below sea level literal low-lands makes one rather aware of our precarious national position as far as rising sea levels are concerned.

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I read something that said you guys are sort of in luck as long as Antarctica doesn't go. Apparently the gravitational forces from ice in Greenland pull the ocean higher. So as the ice melts the ocean around Greenland will fall while farther away it will rise. There is a zone around Greenland where it's a wash. And the Netherlands is in it.

The east coast of the US, Florida, and the Gulf coast are totally hosed though.

We have all the knowledge, and even a special government branch in place here to fight the sea, I am sure we'll be fine

> a special government branch in place here to fight the sea

Ah that ought to do it.

Unless you're being facetious, you might want to read up on things like the Delta Works[1], the Zuidersee Works[2] or the smaller project of Maeslantkering[3].

If there's one country that has had long experience in dealing with the threat from the oceans, it's the Netherlands. And these kinds of projects don't really lend themselves to organizations that require profit for their investments.

(I'm not dutch, but I have biked across the 32 km long causeway of Afsluitdijk[4] and parts of the Delta Works.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Works

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuiderzee_Works

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maeslantkering

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afsluitdijk

Mostly it’s just kind of funny because “fight the sea” is sometimes used as a metaphor for futility. And also climate change and sea level rise is a global problem. I do know the Dutch have a lot of experience with this, the phrasing just came off as funny. And I am not under the impression a for profit org would do any better. I just think fighting the sea is going to get very hard by 2100.

I mean it’s been working pretty well so far, it would seem.

Except floods do happen, and are going to happpen more due to global warming, and the prognosis is that half the country is under water by 2100 (I live about -5 NAP myself).

Right, but the Dutch are probably the best poised to deal with it because it has been happening long before global climate change.

This one is a different beast. Our governments have been ignoring it until now (new government in 2022) but I doubt its going to be enough, we cannot deal with this problem on a national level. If a country like China slacks with this, we get hosed.

Not really. I’m saying the Dutch are probably the best prepared to deal with the worst case of continuing climate change at the current rate (assuming China, India, US don’t do anything).

Or, fine, may not be the right word, more like, a lot better off than a lot of other countries.

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