Miami Beach And The Netherlands: A Critical Analysis

In 1916, protected nature preserves and over 10 national parks were set out by the National Park Service. A century ago, the Migratory Bird Treaty was solidified by the United States Wildlife Service. One hundred years ago, the world’s environmental future seemed bright, advancing and unstoppable. One hundred years later however, the world is facing one of the worst environmental crisis’ known to man, so severe that scientists claim that earth itself is on the brink of a “sixth extinction”. The emission of greenhouse gases, deforestation and other factors are contributing to a warming world: a consequence of human habit presumably out of our hands. However, upon recent discovery, many scientists and thinkers claim that the human race is far …show more content…
While attempts are being made to help deal with the flooding, the constant cycle of floods is troubling to the residents, as they must deal with the destruction and reconstruction of their homes every time the land floods. The civilians try to go about their daily lives while dealing with irregular circumstances, difficult for all to continue to handle. In “The Siege of Miami”, Kolbert documents a scene where she began chatting with a Miami Beach Public Works Department official and was interrupted by an elderly women with a walker who saw the floods and exclaimed “What am I supposed to do?” In response the men in the pickup truck hoisted her and her walker into the truck (Kolbert 3). This scene truly represents the struggle of the residences who frequently deal with the recurring floods, and eventually they become too much to simply shrug off. This constant exposure leads to acceptance and loss of hope for a solution, reflecting on the catastrophe of a loss of home and how sometimes, despite human innovation, there isn’t always a solution to a problem.
The main characters of the “Netherlands Lives with Water” are among the environmentally conscious elite, working in the environmental and water sectors in the Netherlands. Shepard’s protagonist and his wife Cato spend their days attempting to find a solution to the flooding of their nation, studying global patterns and interacting with international …show more content…
Allen Thompson in his essay “Responsibility for the End of Nature” makes an analogy between human responsibility for planetary management and the responsibility parents bear towards children. Thompson writes that the responsibility is to assure that the child flourishes into an outstanding individual, and those who aren’t anxious about this task are either bad parents or are just unaware of the anxiety that is most definitely there (Thompson 97). Thompson claims that those who are unaware of this anxiety are arguably neglecting their child, and therefore people today who do not feel anxious about our changing earth are neglecting their planet. While neglect is usually that of a parent to a child, in Shepard’s piece neglect is seen in terms of a child to a parent. The protagonist’s mother had always shown signs of an illness. After experiencing the Floods of 1953 as a child and losing her brothers, the mother spends her life growing up with some sort of post traumatic disorder and is in clear need of help, but is never treated. The loss of her brothers contributes to the loss of her family and therefore her home, as for a child your family is your home. Witnessing the destruction of her things and her neighbor’s homes growing up as well as losing her brothers made the city of Pernis feel nothing like home for the narrator’s mother, yet in Pernis she still resides. The protagonist makes it clear that