Amsterdam residents can pick up a free book on the city's history of slavery
Last year, on behalf of the municipality of Amsterdam, the International Institute of Social History explored the city’s historic role in the global slave trade and published its findings in a book entitled Amsterdam and the History of Slavery. Now, all residents are offered a free copy of Read More...
Rival Dutch cities create tile-removing competition to expand green space
In the Netherlands, an age-old rivalry exists between the Dutch cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. This rivalry can turn ugly, especially when the city’s voetbal (soccer) teams play each other. Recently, however, the rivalry has been channeled in order to spur excitement about a new initiative Read More...
Stylish floating Amsterdam village produces and shares all its own energy
The city of Amsterdam is known for having beautiful homes along picturesque canals, but in the industrial north part of the city, a floating neighborhood has been completed that is unlike anything we’ve seen before. The visionary neighborhood is called Schoonschip (Dutch for “clean ship), and Read More...
GreenPee is a planet-friendly public urination solution
With Covid-19 cases decreasing, the city of Amsterdam was excited to start moving out of lockdown, but more people out and about meant the resurgence of an old problem: public urination. Fortunately, the city found a green way to address this unwanted behavior with GreenPee hemp-filled public Read More...
The Optimist View: Cultivating a Circular Economy
“There is a great need for the introduction of new values in our society, where bigger is not necessarily better, where slower can be faster, and where less can be more.” – Gaylord Nelson On one of our regular family Zoom calls, my aunt asked me “what habits have you adopted during Read More...
Amsterdam is ditching our broken economic system for the doughnut model
This is one of those stories that you might look back to in a few years and remember as the starting point of a huge change in our world’s history. When we first covered this story years ago, it was already showing tons of promise. So, what are we talking about here? In 2018, we shared a story Read More...
Amsterdam’s classy canal boats are going electric ahead of diesel ban
Transitioning from vehicles powered by fossil fuels to electric vehicles doesn’t mean we have to lose the classic aesthetic of old cars and boats. To see what we mean, just look to Amsterdam where the famous canal boats have been getting a clean makeover. Building an entirely new electric canal Read More...
When it comes to wetland restoration, look towards the Dutch capital
Travel beyond Amsterdam’s northern outskirts and you enter a scene that looks like a 17th-century Dutch painting. Cows chew their cud in lush pasture fringed with reed beds, in a region of pretty villages whose houses are often snapped up by wealthy urban commuters. By Dutch standards, this Read More...
Amsterdam is offering a ‘new start’ to young people in debt
In a vow to help young Amsterdammers, the city of Amsterdam is taking over the debt of young adults who are struggling to get into work or education. This action was taken to directly confront the growth in borrowing among young dutch adults - more than a third of Amsterdammers aged between 18 and Read More...
Amsterdam is pushing hard to become a car-free city
Aside from its beautiful canals and delicious Stroopwafels, Amsterdam is perhaps most famous for the masses of bikes that voyage through the city. To make life easier for bikers and pedestrians, Amsterdam has been instituting policies towards its ultimate goal of becoming a car-free city. In Read More...