WEBVTT

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Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Colin
Lautha and I'm Meganolette. Spotlight uses a

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special English method of broadcasting. It
is easier for people to understand no matter

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where in the world they live.
A city sits on the edge of the

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North Sea. It is very old. Some of the buildings show this age,

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but many are surprisingly modern. High
glass structures mix with ancient churches,

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and many canals run between these buildings. The Rhine River flows through the center

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of the city. The city is
beautiful, it is like nowhere else in

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the world. City is called Rotterdam. It is the largest city in the

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country of the Netherlands, and this
city has a rich history that goes back

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over eight hundred years. But Rotterdam
also has a problem. It is sinking.

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In fact, much of the Netherlands
is sinking. But why today's spotlight

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is on this sinking country. The
Netherlands has a long history of working with

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water. Over one third of the
country is below sea level. In eight

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hundred BC, much of the land
was not land at all. It was

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under water, but soon people began
moving earth into water that was not very

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deep. They built large mounds higher
than the water, called terps. These

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terps let them build towns and villages. It let them expand toward the sea.

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Over the years, the Dutch have
developed many ways of keeping water out

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of the land. They built huge
walls across lakes and the sea coast.

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These walls, called dykes, helped
them control the water. They kept farmlands

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from flooding. The Dutch also pumped
water out of some areas. The dikes

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made sure the water would not come
back and people could settle there safely.

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The Dutch have been able to claim
a lot of land using these methods.

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In the nineteen sixties, they even
created a new area. It is called

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Flevland. Working with water is very
important to the netherlands success. It helped

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the country to grow. It is
still a very small country, but today

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it is the seventeenth largest economy in
the world. But removing water often has

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a downside. Much of the Netherlands
is built on peat, a special kind

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of thick, decaying plant material.
Usually peat rests on top of water.

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When the water is gone, it
can act like soil, but peat is

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not very solid. When people put
weight on it, it shrinks. When

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they build on it, the land
slowly sinks. This is a process called

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subsidence. Land subsides naturally in every
place on Earth, but the process is

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very slow. Normally, land will
sink only three micrometers a year, that

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is about the thickness of a piece
of paper. But in the Netherlands it

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is happening very quickly. In some
places the land is sinking over two centimeters

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each year. For the people of
Rotterdam, this is a very big problem.

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Many buildings there are very old,
some were built hundreds of years ago.

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They do not have good foundations.
When the ground subsides, those foundations

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can break. If people do not
do something, the buildings may fall over.

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But there is another reason why the
country sinking is a problem. Climate

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change. All over the world,
sea levels are rising. This means that

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more areas of the Netherlands will be
below sea level and they will be more

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at risk from flooding. Whole cities
will be in danger. It will be

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come harder and harder to keep them
above water. But the people of the

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Netherlands are not giving up. Instead, they are making plans for the future.

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Some believe that the old methods will
still work. The Dutch could continue

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to build dikes and pump water,
but as sea levels rise, the cost

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of this method will go up as
well. Instead, the Dutch are doing

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something different. They are not completely
keeping the water out. They are letting

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some in. They call this the
Room for the River program. In this

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program, the Dutch ask people to
leave some low areas near rivers, or

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they repurpose public places. If there
is a flood, these areas will fill

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first. They will keep water out
of larger cities and towns. Hans Doctor

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is a Dutch ambassador. He spoke
to Haret's news service about the effort.

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That's the idea of living with the
sea, living with the water. In

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the past we tried to keep the
water out as much as we could.

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Now we join it much more to
our living areas. The Room for the

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River's project is part of a larger
movement in the Netherlands. Subsidence and climate

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change are already happening. The country
will get lower and water levels will rise.

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It will be impossible to stop the
water completely. So the Dutch are

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changing their lives. They are trying
to live with the new situation. In

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some places these changes have already begun. Stan Flee Wreckers is a farmer from

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the Netherlands. The government bought his
farm as part of the room for the

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river project, but flee Wreckers did
not want to move, so the government

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built a large terp in the area. Flee Wreckers moved his farm on to

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the turp. Now, when the
area floods, there is water in his

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old farm land, but he is
living high above it. Many more people

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may soon live like Fleerracers. The
Dutch may build the land up instead of

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keeping the water out, or they
may make homes with new building standards.

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Some people may even build their houses
on columns or pillars. These tall posts

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will hold the building above the ground. When water comes, it will go

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under. The land will still flood, but the flood will not harm anyone.

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In Rotterdam, buildings are already made
to hold or be above water.

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These efforts are very expensive, but
in the Netherlands it may be worth it.

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Fleerrickers spoke to the magazine Politico.
It is not as expensive as when

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a village is flooded. We spend
a lot of money in Holland on water

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management. We have to do it. If we do not, we will

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be flooded. There will be no
factories, no people will live here.

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It will all be gone. Many
other countries will soon need to think about

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these solutions themselves. As climate change
gets worse, many other cities will be

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in danger of flooding. Cities like
Bangkok, Jakarta, and New Orleans already

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at dealing with the problem. No
country can solve climate change by themselves.

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Everyone must work together to handle the
issue. But many countries may look to

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the Netherlands as an example. They
have a long history of dealing with water.

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That history may be just what the
future needs. Do you live in

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a place threatened by climate change?
What is your country doing to address it?

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You can leave a comment on our
website or email us at Radio at

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Radio English dot net. You can
also comment on Facebook at Facebook dot com

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slash Spotlight Radio. The writer of
this program was Dan Christman. The producer

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was Dan Christman. The voices you
heard were from the United Kingdom and the

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United States. All quotes were adapted
for this program and voiced by Spotlight.

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You can listen to this program again
and read it on the internet at www

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dot Radio English dot net. This
program is called The Sinking Country. You

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can also get our programs delivered directly
to your Android or Apple device through our

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free official Spotlight English app. We
hope you can join us again for the

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next Spotlight program. Goodbye,