The Dutch National Championships tile seesaw. It sounds like a joke, but it is a serious battle between Dutch municipalities. The place that replaces the most tiles with green between March 21 and October 31 of this year is the winner. The aim of the competition: to encourage people to green their gardens in order to prevent heat stress and flooding.
In an attempt to give his municipality a kick-start in the competition, Aldermangaatze de Vries van Heemskerk lifted a few unnecessary tiles on the Laan van Broekpolder. Heemskerk now stands on 764 discarded tiles. Not very much yet, but certainly more than, for example, Velsen (146) and Beverwijk (28).
The competition is especially valuable in terms of symbolism and encouragement. Municipalities hope that people will start thinking about the environment and no longer automatically tile their garden, because this is so practical.
De Vries: “We are dealing with cluster showers. They are so violent that the water can no longer find its way. We have to do something about that. Green instead of tiles. That is our assignment. Whether we, as Heemskerk, are the best in the Netherlands I don’t know, but we are going to do everything we can to beat the other IJmond municipalities.”
Concrete and stone
Nico Brantjes warned years ago about the danger of an overabundance of concrete and stone. The former village poet and former head of the landscaping department of the municipality of Heemskerk, is horrified that people have not listened to him.
“When I see all those front gardens with patio tiles, I think: something is going wrong. People are opting for practicality, but they should be thinking about the environment. Biodiversity is disappearing. Soon there will be no more birds to be seen. I would like people ask them to pay more attention to the greenery in their garden. Nature will thank them for that.”
About the NK tile seesaw he says: “Ah well, it is well intentioned, but replacing some tiles with green will not get you there. People need to become aware that it can no longer be done like this. Perhaps in that sense this competition will work well.” .”