Stefan H

I got inspired by the stubborn Texel farmer with 300 cows and owner of a company on Texel specialised in  moving sand, demolish buildings, paving, mowing and transport. You may remember him from his quotes on the Monday evening when we presented the plan to the locals: "Why would you open the dikes? That’s just crazy! The land is owned by farmers and is in their   possession for generations! You…

To sum up, we propose a part of the meta-design that will include all sub-systems. TexelLab In our system we propose the construction and exploiting of TexelLab, which is based on the idea of de Ontdekfabriek in Rotterdam and somewhat like the Science Centre  in Delft, in order to mainly involve children and let them make their own sustainability. Constructions, small systems, games, etc will…

Tourist Information On Tuesday 13/01/2014 we intervied local people on the island to understand their interaction with the tourists, their main interests and activities and ask about what they think of our proposal. Hanneke Keyser is working at the VVV tourist information point at Den Burg and was willing to answer our questions: Q: What is the age of most tourists? A: We have tourists of all…

Things we have learnt during the time we were on Texel (Monday until Wednesday) which have influenced our design proposal for the sub-system Leisure&Knowledge:   1. Monday afternoon presentation to the whole group and discussion with Carolin: we got some critical questions about our proposed design (4 points). The focus should be on either the sustainability route or the innovation centre, but…

Since the Leisure and Knowledge is only a small part of the complete sustainable Texel project from ESD course, these is most likely to be potential interaction with other sub-systems which might be positive but can also create a tension or be contradictory. Here potential interaction are summed up. In the week on Texel it will become clear how much will overlap and if there are contradictory…

If you haven’t seen the video yet, click  here . I saw one of my friends on Facebook enthusiastic posting this on his page saying how good this would be to generate green energy. And it sounds quite good, replacing all the asphalt roadways with these hexagonal energy panels that harvest energy from the sun and can even make road signs on the way or melt ice when there is snow. It sums up all kind…

For all these changes, there are actions required. Here we'll name each action, who should do the action and a short explanation on the results and effects. While the actions are divided in the four ideas, many of them are linked and almost all will affect each other.   1. 'Sustainable route' Since the sustainable route is a non-guide touristic route the main action required is setting it up and…

In order to have a successful Leisure&Knowledge system we have to make a short-term and a long-term program for transitions in all our proposals. Sustainable Route There not many steps that need be taken for the sustainable route as it will basically start from the current attraction points and sustainable activities and gradually expand. Technologies  The creation of the app and the…

Restoring ecosystems not only provide environmental benefits, but also economic . Two years ago showed the makers of Tegenlicht in the broadcast ' Green Gold ' that greening deserts is quite possible . They followed the US-China cameraman and ecologist John D. Liu. He fell under the spell of the restoration of landscapes when asked to film the greening of the Loess Plateau in China. The images of…

1. "The island of Texel towards a sustainable energy future" (20/12/2014): http://www.capgemini.com/blog/sustainability-blog/2013/12/the-island-of-texel-towards-a-sustainable-energy-future-0 2. "Hierarchy of Societal Needs" (1/12/2011): https://gaianomy.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/hierarchy-of-social-needs-by-gaianomy-at-last/ 3. "Criteria of Sustainability" (1998): http://www.holocene.net…

Texel is an island in the north of Netherlands which is the largest and most populated among the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. A lot of tourists of different ages visit the island every year for its nature, its character and the different activities offered. The island is the base of various researches about the environment and the different animal species. The Royal Netherlands Institute…

This is the title of the promotion research by Daphne Geelen that is laying on my desk. I am wondering what to write for the weekly column, what is interesting to share with you? Who will read my article? Do I want to change people with what I write? It is not easy to change people we have learned this week (and from own experience we already know this). For a more sustainable or balanced world…

In this chapter the current schools and the future sustainable schools are compared with eachother. The transition from normal primary schools to a school that are examples of sustainability for the pupils and the inhabitants.   1. Technology To make a school energy neutral is not simple and innovative technology is needed to accomplish this. There are some examples that show that it is possible

To achieve the sustainable route on Texel certain steps had to be made to realize this. The current sub-system is different from the future sub-system. In this paragraph these two are compared to see what the differences are and to identify possible obstacles.   1. Technology At this   moment the technology of apps are pretty far developed. Apps for museum or events present you information or the…

If the Center of Innovation will be a future 'campus', there obviously will be some changes. Since there currently is no 'center', the whole center will have to be built from almost nothing. Building it from nothing gives certain advantages, mostly in efficiency and economy. The downside is also that it will have to be built from nothing, so initial costs and effort will be high. Now let's look…

When comparing the current and future sub system of leisure, there are some changes. Important to mention is that the expectation of future tourism is positive [1], so it is there will be more tourist each year. Now let's compare on four levels: technology, actors, culture and behavior, relations between elements and rules and regulations.  Effect of five main development directions for the…

In the Netherlands, there are a huge amount of rules and regulations to which almost everything should comply. Not only on national level, but also local and European. Next to the rules and regulations by law ( deontic ) there are the more moral 'rules' ( normative ). In this chapter, first the rules and regulations are split up in orders of magnitude: from European to local. Next moral rules -if…

So at the moment there are four different actions regarding leisure and knowledge.  1. A " sustainability route " This touristic route across Texel has a sustainable island theme. By visiting different activities and projects one can gain the knoowledge of Texel as a sustainable island. 2. A more active role of schools   Knowledge is the key to sustainable development , and the best way to start…

While there are many different leisure activities on the island, trying to make each one of them is very time and cost consuming. Mainly for this reason we will focus on larger branch of activities, the hospitality industry. Second reason for this focus is that businesses in this branch are open all year, while water sports, for example, is only available in high season. Focusing on hospitality…

Every new program has its receivers, which are some of the actors. In our case the actors are the players of a 'game' (the game of sustainability) that includes different activities and areas on Texel, which are all connected and related with each other. The game can be directly experienced through e.g. the proposed sustainable route, which aims at giving information to the participants about…

The last but most innovative action of our proposal consists of the creation of a fourth center on the island. The new “Center of Innovation” will be a complex of new buildings and uses combined with the existing at the south part of the island. This center will be dedicated to education about sustainability, technology, local sea life and research. In this way, we give a special meaning to the…

The future plan of Leisure and Knowledge for Texel has to be applied in harmony with the culture and mentality of the inhabitants so as to embrace it and contribute to its further development. This means new initiatives shouldn't change the identity of Texel and its inhabitants. It also shouldn't scare off tourists, which are a main source of income for the Texelaars. To achieve this each…

The primary schools on Texel can play an important role in the vision to become a sustainable island. The pupils from now are the working generation in the next decades where sustainability will be an important subject, also for Texel. Pupils learn by doing and by good examples. To start the building and the teachers should make the change. The school buildings should be energy neutral and have a…

The goal of making a sustainable route on Texel is to create awareness and is part of the vision to become a sustainable island. We want to think big with our vision and start small with the sustainability route. Since the Texelers do not like big changes, especially not from the mainland, and want to keep the open landscape; we do not add anything new. The route should be started by a local…

Het toerisme is met 25 % afgenomen. Het eiland wordt bestuurd vanuit Den Helder. De dijken zijn recht getrokken en systematisch verhoogd. Forenzen pendelen dagelijks met hun auto over de duinbrug naar Noord-Holland. De woonwijken bestaan uit verouderde Vinex rijtjeshuisjes met elk een eigen CV ketel en parkeerplaats. Den Burg is een typisch provinciestadje met een winkelcentrum waar alle…

This week my contract with my energy (and gas) supplier ended and I could look for a new (cheaper) one. I have to admit that my first thought wasn't to find the most sustainable one, rather a cheaper one. But when I was comparing the energy suppliers on the website www.energieleveranciers.nl it gave me the   option to search for 100% green energy. So I did. But then I wondered, how can I just get…

Hierarchy of societal needs (pyramid structure) The pyramid of hierarchy of the societal needs represents Economy from a sociological perspective. In this case, economy is related and interconnected with different institutions such as labor, capital, currency, etc. All these different meanings create what we call today 'Economy'. Gaianomy is a theory which tries to analyse the impact that changes…

Last week I read in the news that relative new windmills are demolished to be replaced by new windmills in order to get subsidy of the government. Where the government tries to promote green energy by investing 350 million euros into subsidy, it is used by greedy investors just to earn money. How can this happen?      No one with a 100% working brain would demolishing their own windmills

Trends, developments and initiatives show what is already happening on the Island of Texel and what the vision and ideas of the future are. Some ideas come from the mainland and are hard to apply, but some ideas are already applied by the inhabitants of Texel. The initiatives and trends are not always direct applicable for the sub-system leisure and knowledge, but indirecty influence it. Also a…

Problem statement The goal of 'Texel 2020', which wants the island to become 100% energy neutral until 2020 seems unrealistic, but the intention of Texel becoming sustainable is feasible and should be endorsed. The inhabitants have a very important role in every program that the municipality may have. However, in this case, they are not aware of what exactly is sustainability and which are the…

“For the business enterprise, sustainable development means adopting business strategies and activities that meet the needs of the enterprise and its stakeholders today while protecting, sustaining and enhancing the human and natural resources that will be needed in the future.” [1] Whereas Texel is heading towards a sustainable development, most companies and businesses haven’t still applied any…

It is clear already from our research question and ambitions that we want to create a network of activities to stimulate awareness. The outlines of this network are points of interest (scientific, educational, recreational, etc.) that will be represented as nodes to be connected. Every node of the network is planned to have a unique purpose; a different way of educating children and adults. After…

Leisure and Knowledge is an important sub-system responsible to highlight the character of Texel island. The nature and the activities on the island is what attracts tourists to the island. The main objective of leisure is fun and the main objective of knowledge is to gain knowledge and to educate.  First of all, the activities that are held now on the island are listed, what their function is…

To come up with a suitable solution for what we are trying to achieve, first the actors, technologies, interests, organizations and industries are analyzed. Most likely there will be relations between these aspects, so also these relations should be looked at.   Actors For this problem there are a couple of main actors involved: Texelaars, tourists, hospitality industry and the knowledge…

Highlighting sustainability (sustainable development) needs technological improvements as well as a change in people's mentality and behavior. This change will be done only if people themselves want to change. Therefore, they must understand the meaning of sustainability and its importance for our future. According to the definition of sustainable development, it is "a dynamic process which…

Except from our main ambitions and goals, that mentioned above, we set a program of small innovations to improve people's everyday life and make easier the task of informing and educating. We propose: (The island of Texel towards a sustainable energy future, 2014) - Reduction of energy consumption. Information about the energy consumption can be provided weekly to every house so as people will…