May 18, 2009

Today we went to the Kerkrade Industrial Museum. The museum is currently going through a change in exhibits but we were allowed a sneak preview. The new vision for the museum is to focus on 1) Science 2) Industry and 3) Human Beings ALL under the umbrella of sustainability. The government funds the museum at 60%.

The region that I am in developed around the coal mining industry. In 1964, the coal mines closed. They closed because 1) gas was more popular as an energy source and 2) ot was cheaper to import from Austria. In Austria the coal was only 100 meters deep whereas in the Netherlands it was 800 meters deep and the layers were shallow. They still do research because they want to have a Plan B in case the price of gas and oil goes too high. Keep in mind the coal mining industry employed 80,000 workers and 250,000 people were dependent upon the industry. This was very important because unemployment was a real issue.

The solution to the high rate of unemployment was "pre-retirement" similar to what we are seeing in the states now. The only problem with this solution was the psychological issues 1) men were coming home and getting more involved with the family which many women of the house had a problem with and 2) if they went back to work it was a factory job that was not specialized and carries no responsibility.

The Dutch talk about the restoration of the mines "black to green" however I hear green and I think a natural state but it really means green .....dollars i.e. buildings. Which nothing is wrong with building but to call it black to green sounds odd....to me. The slag piles have been converted to other uses like this huge indoor snow complex where you can ski and snow board all year round.

We visited the Gaia Park zoo and it was quite wonderful. They use natural barriers even with the Apes which they use water for since Apes hate water and can't swim in it. The rhino poop is very dense since they feed the rhinos so much grass and hay during the day. They have an agreement with the paper company and they print paper with it .....talk about reading s$%^.