Treasure hunting e ringloopwinkel

Early this month on the Dutch TV dating program “Blind Dates” on NPO3, a young woman complimented her ‘blind date’ from Friesland for how ‘cool’ he was dressed. With a big smile, the 23-year-old man proudly replied “ik kringloop”, which means he buys from recycle shops in the Netherlands known as ‘Kringloopwinkels’. (If you are reading this right now, it is probably not hip and happening anymore… but pretty damn close).

Today, there are thousands of secondhand and vintage shops, but according to the last count, only 1,175 are exclusively known as ‘Kringloopwinkel’. Unlike other second-hand and vintage shops, the ‘Kringloopwinkel’ is based on an altruistic concept that people can donate their old clothing, furniture, household appliances and goods, books, tools, records, CD’s, electronic equipment, and even building supplies, so that they can be resold for an affordable price, especially for people with a lower income. It’s a win-win idea. Things do not get tossed in the garbage and end up in landfi ll, and people with low incomes (or anyone else) can afford goods without paying the full amount in a regular store. Moreover, the Kringloopwinkel also discourages people from unnecessary overconsumption. Last month, while many shops had Black Friday sales, the Kringloopwinkel had ‘Green Friday’ offers. In the old days, wearing second-hand clothing and having a home decorated with old furniture was stigmatized with poverty. But not anymore. What once started out as an ideology to help save the environment has turned into a new fashion trend, fi rst among hip twenty- and thirtyyear-olds whose clothing style is retro, based on the 1970s and 1980s. The older generation, who had saved their clothes for so long and are now donating them to Kringloopwinkels, offer an ideal treasure trove for the younger generation who have made their clothing style fashionable again. Besides Kringloopwinkels having a young clientele, or those with a low income, other visitors shop there for the fun of it. One client is Tim, an expat from Great Britain, residing in Amsterdam with his wife and two children. The 40-year-old visits his local store at least once a week, hoping to fi nd vintage 1960s Danish design furniture to fi nish decorating the couple’s home. Tim says: “shopping at the Kringloopwinkel is something of an excitement…you never know what you are going to fi nd.”

Another regular is Rena, who discovered second-hand stores when she was a teenager in Thessaloniki. At fi rst, she had an infatuation for stylish clothing, costumes and old lamps – the only things she could bring home as she was living with her parents – but now the 45-year-old Greek has discovered early-twentieth0century wooden furniture such as cabinets and buffets. She adds: “the Kringloopwinkel is like a treasure hunt”. Another patron of the Kringloopwinkel in Amsterdam-West, name withheld, has been shopping at the Kringloopwinkel and other thrift shops for more than 25 years. He is usually on the hunt for art deco lamps and furniture. For years, his partner was not aware of what he calls his ‘guilty pleasure’, as he would buy items and have them delivered home in the middle of the day, where he would ‘integrate’ them into the rest of the interior without his partner noticing them. However, when his partner started working full-time from home during the lockdown, life became diffi cult for him. Nowadays, he is trying to restrain himself, but the temptation is great.

So try your local Kringloopwinkel – who knows, you may get hooked too! www.allekringloopwinkels.nl

Written by Benjamin Roberts

When the plains of Serengeti dried up – it was too far for us to fathom. When typhoons and torrential rainfall caused havoc in Philippines and Haiti – it was too exotic for us to care. When the millions-of-years-old glacial ice started melting with record speed – it was too unreal for us to believe.

For the longest of times, scientists have struggled to convince people of the ongoing climate change and its adverse effects. It is always something happening in faroff lands, events that seem too far and wide in between to be seen as part of a phenomenon. But not anymore. For the last three decades, the accelerating effects of climate change all around Europe. Temperatures all over the continent have gone up by +0.5 degrees Celsius per decade. Alpine glaciers have lost 30 meters in ice thickness, resulting in fl oods downriver, including in the Netherlands and Belgium. The melting ice in Greenland is causing the sea levels to rise.

Climate change in the Netherlands We don’t have to look too far, nor very far back in time. The frequency and intensity of natural disasters in the Netherlands is more than enough to believe in the reality of climate change: it is happening all around us.

Floods In July 2021, the south of Limburg received more than 150 millimeters of rain in just two days causing the streams and river to overfl ow. The fl oods displaced 700 families, damaged 2300 households and cost over 400 million euros in damages. Nearby areas in Belgium and Germany were even worse hit, with several people being killed by the water. Heatwaves have become more frequent and intense. The worst in recent memory, in 2019, pushed the thermostat to over 40 degrees Celsius, causing 400 deaths in the country. The Royal Netherlands Metrological Institute (KNMI) has been keeping records of the weather phenomena for the last 121 years. In that time 30 heatwaves have been recorded – 21 of which occurred in the last 21 years, with fi ve of them in last three years alone, with 2018 and 2019 having two heatwaves in one year.

Droughts As a country that feared drowning for the longest of times and has had to take vast measures to prevent fl ooding, the Netherlands has been facing water shortages and multiple years-long droughts in 2018, 2019 and 2020. July 2018 became offi cially the driest year since the measurements started – drier than the infamous 1976. The lack of precipitation not only threatens crops, but is also resulting in cracking of dykes.

The famous wooden stakes that support Amsterdam houses are rotting due to severe drought, putting at risk thousands of homes, as well as the Rijksmuseum. The cost of rescuing these buildings: about 100 billion euros. On 2 August this year, the Dutch government offi cially declared a water shortage in the country. Farmers were told not to spray crops with water and many small ferries couldn’t operate due to low water levels. Shipping on the major rivers was delayed and nature areas were suffering because toxins could not be drained from the soil.

Climate change is expensive Not so secretly, climate change is driving infl ation. Failing crops all over the world are driving up food prices. The damage caused to infrastructure by fl ooding and extreme heat, and the fact that workers are less productive in hot weather, leads to supply-chain breakdowns. Dairy and meat prices go up as maintaining the health of farm animals becomes increasingly diffi cult with the shortage of grain caused by droughts. Furthermore, according to the UN, more than a third of world’s agricultural land is no longer usable due to persistent drought, heatwaves and unsustainable farming methods.

Dutch climate policy Climate change is happening as we speak, and is affecting us every day on macro and micro levels. It is no surprise that the Netherlands has signed the Paris Agreement and is part of the plans like “Fit for 55”. The authorities are also cracking down on big corporations, forcing them to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions – one of the reasons Shell left the Netherlands. But climate change is a global problem and should be solved worldwide. Still, whether something will happen as a result of these conferences and debates is yet to be seen.