Jeffrey Ros
Willie Wortels unite!
Last week, me and some thirty-odd other students went to Texel in order to finalize our vision on a sustainable Texel in 2065. Our aim was to present this vision about what Texel would look like in 2065 and how inhabitants and tourists would live and interact with Texel by that time. Of course we were not there just to tell the Texelers that there is a chance that by that time, their cows and sheep will be connected to the internet to be readily available for a dinner request. Or that Texel would own a floating university. Or that a disastrous flood will likely destroy half of Texel in about 20 years.
These all sound like just some random future hoo-ha that anyone could come up with, and maybe that is true. However, we did present this story, and many other potential scenarios, to Texel. And we did it with a reason. We have realized that the Texelers are a really ambitious group of people living in a unique community. Furthermore, Texel's municipality has decided in 2008 that its electricity supply should be 100% sustainable in 2020, and this seems to be supported and widely appreciated by the Texel community. However, we have also discovered that this might not become reality if things go forth as they are going right now.
There are a lot of interesting innovative projects going on in Texel that are directly related with sustainability (though not necessarily with energy supply). One example that comes to mind is Frank Gorter, who is supposedly known as the local "Willie Wortel" of Texel. He runs a farm that he aims to be sustainable as soon as possible. For that, he has already built his own wood gasification system and he raises his cattle without the use of antibiotics. That's pretty impressive! However, Frank has also made us realize that there is still a lot to improve when it comes to cooperation between different people on Texel. Because all of these projects are scattered around the island and lack a common vision or purpose.
And that is where we come in. Why did we put Texel through such horrible scenarios such as a devastating flood? Because generally, action is not taken until it is too late. And by envisioning such scenarios, hopefully we made Texel aware of the dangers that lurk out there in the sea. A positive climate for innovation is needed to propel Texel into a fruitful future without care for floods or other forms of crisis. If the Willie Wortels on Texels can unite and be supported to start more initiatives, this can lead to great things!
Thank you Texel for a wonderful experience!