Our changing climate has brought an explosion of extreme weather and natural disasters in unprecedented numbers to unexpected places. Sizzling heat waves, torrential floods, severe hurricanes, and out-of-control forest fires have taken lives, destroyed property, ruined crops, wiped out forests and had a devastating effect on our wildlife and natural environment.
We have taken some actions to slow down extreme weather events and minimize their impacts, but have we done enough?
Earlier this year, I took a river cruise with extra time in Amsterdam, visiting cities and countryside in the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. What I observed was a strong commitment to clean, renewable energy unmatched by anything I’ve seen so far in the U.S. and more noticeably, here in North Carolina.
For starters, my hotel room in the Hyatt Regency looked out on a well-tended, irrigated, rooftop organic herb garden. The hotel restaurant used the herbs grown there in delicious dishes and salads. (This was also true later on my ship, which had a similar garden on the top deck.)
Second, plastic was kept to a minimum. All disposable paper products — tissue, soap wrappers, and room utensils — were made of unbleached bamboo or paper, using no plastic or bleached paper whatsoever. Glasses and coffee cups were made of glass or porcelain, not disposable plastic.
Most stores often did not provide bags. If a customer requested a bag, it was usually paper, not plastic. Sometimes a customer had to purchase an inexpensive, reusable cloth bag that residents always took with them when shopping, not just for groceries but for everything.
The most widespread commitments to environmental awareness, though, were in the areas of public transportation, wind energy and electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure. Nearly everywhere I visited, cities had forms of clean energy transportation, mostly electric streetcars — “trams” — that interconnected with each other, as well as with underground subways that went everywhere smoothly and quickly.
Passes/tickets were conveniently purchased from machines at stations above and below ground, could be used one time, for a day, or much longer, and were transferable between both tram and subway.
In addition to public transportation, walking and bicycling were also common forms of transportation. The cities I visited had bicycle and pedestrian lanes along most streets.
Unlike the U.S., where some of us use our leisure time to walk or bike for exercise, people in the cities I visited regularly rode bikes or walked to work or to shop. This was especially true of Amsterdam. The result was lighter automobile traffic and an all-around healthier lifestyle.
Windmills were also a common sight in the Netherlands and Germany. Windmills dotted the hills and waterways powering homes and reducing nonrenewable energy consumption. In the Netherlands, wind powers about 5.7 million Dutch households, resulting in the lowest rates of average electricity consumption in Europe.
At the end of 2022, Germany had more than 28,440 onshore turbines in operation across the country. Germany hopes that increasing wind and solar power will increase Germany’s energy independence.
As of mid-2023, the U.S. came in second only to China with 96.4 GW of installed wind energy capacity, but the most recent wind energy usage statistics (2022) show wind energy in the U.S. accounting for just 10.2% of our overall energy use. Also in 2022, NC ranked just 35th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in wind energy production.
Electric (EV) and hybrid vehicles, more environmentally cleaner than gas-driven vehicles, were the popular choice in the Netherlands and Germany. I rarely saw large vans or pickup trucks and even the RVs were smaller.
But EVs can’t be a common form of transportation without the support of EV charging infrastructure. In the Netherlands, and to a lesser extent in Germany, charging stations were plentiful and conveniently located.
In addition, both the Netherlands and Germany give incentives and tax breaks for buying an EV. While EV manufacturing and sales projections are accelerating in the U.S., we’re lagging behind other European countries, Canada, and China. North Carolina ranks 25th out of all 50 states with 3,149 total public chargers, or one charger for every 3,398 residents.
Here in Wilmington, EV chargers are hard to find.
Although the Biden administration is encouraging a stronger commitment to clean energy use, manufacturing, and infrastructure, along with that, our federal and state legislators must create more supportive government policies and make the strategic investments needed in infrastructure for an effective commitment to sustainable environmental solutions.
A stronger commitment to clean energy is necessary or we will not only be behind the rest of the world, we’ll be doing more damage to our beautiful environment and playing catchup with the future.
Marlene Barney is a retired high school English teacher, freelance writer and poet, and environmental advocate. She lives in New Hanover County near Carolina Beach with her husband and terrier-Schnauzer, “Rex.”
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