Wat doet Schiphol met de Waddenzee? Over botsende belangen en wat deze ons kunnen leren

The Wadden Sea is a valuable ecosystem that is in danger of drowning. The question of whether action can be taken cannot be done without the question of whether action is allowed at all given the ‘importance’ of the Wadden Sea. With such an issue the discussion can sink into moral quicksand. Therefore a radical proposal.
Doing nothing, waiting for a disaster or maintaining current interests ... these solutions are not very fantastic if something needs to be done. Intervention on rational grounds is not possible either as the issue is ‘untouchable’. This is the case with the Wadden Sea, which on the one hand remains unassailable, but which, on the other hand, will erode over time as a result of changing circumstances. The Wadden Sea is a collective mental construction that must be defended at all times. How can this collective way of thinking be tackled to be able to talk about what is imminent?
That is why a radically different method is introduced, based on a storyline that begins with addressing the unthinkable. Doing so, this storyline takes away the importance of this collective mental stranglehold. The method starts with making possible what is considered impossible - on paper a large airport will be positioned in the Wadden Sea. As a result, it offers contrast and gives direction when plausible proposals can come from the impossible truth. That creates a conversation without preoccupations about what is achievable.