Work days

Since we left Maine one week ago, the boys and I have traveled and toured and visited, then visited some more. But in fact, it is work that had brought us here.

Every seven years I have the amazing benefit of a sabbatical from my work with Maine Sea Grant at UMaine. This sabbatical is a six month opportunity to focus on a project that I've designed. This time it's  research on the topic of how to engage people in planning for the impacts of flooding - and the Dutch know a thing or two about planning for flooding.

So my work here focuses on interviews with Dutch colleagues who have experience in this field. They are academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners at the Technical University of Delft, University of Twente, Deltates research institute, the Water Boards, the Delta Program, and others. 

The interviews are opportunities for them to tell me their experiences and stories. My hope is that I can bring back home some of the lessons learned by the Dutch to help people in the coastal communities of Maine get ready for the flooding that is anticipated as the sea level rises in connection with climate change. 

In the last two days I've had four interviews. Two of these were held with Bauke Kothuis and Trudes Heemes, Post Docs at TU Delft. Trudes and I met at the TU library- with a grass roof, conical stairway, and many hundreds of parked bicycles.

Peter van Veelen is a member of the Faculty of Architecture and previously a planner for the city of Rotterdam (which has an area of the city that is not protected by a primary dike - one of the only such places in the country).

Trudes and Bauke have studied Dutch perceptions of how to deal with flooding and shared with me the Dutch "myth of dry feet". This is their way of describing the multi-generational belief the Dutch have held that the government will always protect them from flooding, so that individuals need not worry or take responsibility. Obviously this notion is something of a liability when in the last dozen years the government has been trying to raise awareness of flood risk and to encourage the public to take action. For me, it's fascinating stuff....

And while I'm interviewing, the boys continue to travel, tour and visit. Today Katja took the boys to what she referred to as a "tower thingy" - a mansion built in the 1600s on a canal near The Hague. Another first for the boys - and thanks again to Katja!