The
Two
Tales
The
BInCkhoRst
Once upon a time, there was a little village. That village was called after its beautiful castle, its name was: the Binckhorst. Over time, the village grew into a kingdom. The king that ruled over there, was a smart man. He decided that his kingdom needed to change, so one day his daughter could rule in an even better future.
Therefore, the King declared, that the Binckhorst was to be the first region in the country that had to be circular. His subjects marvelled to their King. Circular? What did that even mean? It means running our economy as nature does with its own business. In nature, plants use carbon dioxide and nutrients to grow and then produce oxygen. The oxygen is what animals need. Additionally, plants are a source of food for most animals. Circular economy is adapting a behaviour, opposed to linear economy, where at the end resources go to waste. In a circular economy, nothing is going to a landfill. For a while, the citizens were feeling confused.
The King had decided that those that could not follow the new rules, had to leave and find their luck in another place. Therefore, many businesses had to leave. This was also due to another reason. The smart King decided to kill two birds one stone. And not only create a new way of working, but also new places to live. You must imagine, back then there was only limited housing available, and boy was it expensive. Only very few people had enough money to provide a home for themselves and their families.
The King ordered for houses being built on top of each other, that would rise in the sky as high as mountains, so all people could have a home. And the houses were not only supposed to be tall, but they were also being smart. Everything in the houses would work in unison. Residual heat from cooking would be used to heat the houses during winter so that the same means could be used twice for multiple goals. The King envisioned, that they not only could be a home to people but also provide a home to plants and animals.
Every house had to have its beehive because bees were the King’s favourite animals, but most importantly they were used to pollinate plants and flowers growing on roofs, ceilings and walls of the new houses that were one with their surrounding nature. It was as if the inhabitants and nature were in touch and supported each other with plants in their houses and their houses surrounded in the urban nature, all green and in harmony.
Smart as the King was, he knew that the space in the little Binckhorst was so limited, that he had to think of ways to use the space multifunctionally. The green on the houses was noth a source of oxygen and nutrition, as well as a home of many birds, insects and smaller animals all living together with people. The plants kept the city cool during the summer and stored water in them. Through changing the way houses were built, the King added a whole eco-system to the region. The plants that grew everywhere were providing enough food and oxygen for every person in the region and what used to be a concrete dessert resembled a jungle already a few years later, growing any kind of fruit or flower you can think of.
The next change the King made to prepare his fellows for the future with his daughter as the queen, was to provide the city with clean energy. He knew, in a few years the planet would be robbed of resources that economy and technology were so dependent on. He had to find a way to change so his people would be prepared once that time would come. So, he made a law that all energy had to be clean and green. The citizens were shocked. No more gas? No more petrol? But how could they heat their houses and cook their food? Get to work and work the fields?
An outcry went through the country. You see, not everyone loved the changes and only few understood how farsighted the King was being. It took years for some to get used to the changes and some might long for it, even today. The King however knew that the change was inevitable. Better to prepare early, before it is too late, he thought to himself. So, he ruled with an iron hand and made sure that the whole kingdom was soon to be powered by sun and wind alone.
And sooner rather than later, even the last person in the country realized it had been the right decision. The people saw how the old ways quickly started failing, how gas and coal ran out and robbed the ground of so much, that those places became uninhabitable. Even the last critic was soon to be convinced.
One day a whole group of people were sent to the King to come forward with an idea. They saw the effect that having animals had on the planet but also what effect they as people had on animals and thought it could not go on as it had been. After the better life the King provided for them, they wanted to make sure to also provide a better life for those around them and that included all animals.
They asked the King to ensure that no animal was allowed to be tortured anymore. The hunger for meat had led the farmers to produce more and more in ever worsening conditions, the framers felt they alone could not change anymore. So, the King ruled and ensured all animals could live a better life.
The kingdom hand changed so much under the rule of the King. Not all for the better. Many people had to move or change their businesses drastically. It had caused quite a bit of a stir but in the end, everyone knew it had been for the better. The kingdom was thriving. Filled with lush meadows, clean air and water and full of happy people. The day the King had abdicated, and his daughter was crowned the Queen, the people knew how good of a King he had been. He had created a future, for their children and their children’s children, that they would not have had without him. It was because of him, that the people had realized, how important it was to make sacrifices for their community and how they would be nothing without the planet they lived on.
The
Two T al e s
The
BInCkhoRst
Once upon a time, there was a little village. That Village was called after its beautiful castle. Its name was: the Binckhorst. Over time, the village grew to be part of a big kingdom. But the King that ruled over there, was a greedy man. He only wanted things for himself.
His wife told him to think of their daughter, but the king said she would have to provide for herself when she grew up. Even though smart men and women came to predict a dark time would be coming, he ignored them thinking it would be way after his time. Little did he know how wrong he was.
Even though his fortune was already too large to spend it in one lifetime, the King decided to make a deal with some sneaky tradesmen. He gave them part of the land in his village so they could build new houses on the grounds. He thought to himself, that the more people would live in his kingdom, the more tax money he could make and therefore he could be even richer than he already was. The land the tradesmen received was only used by a few businesses, that the King did not make any money from, so one night all of them were told to leave the city if they were not able to pay the new prices. Only the richest of the city were even invited to look at the New Binckhorst.
The houses were made of the finest materials and sparkled of all the gold and silver they carried. The citizens were struck in awe of the beauty and the luxury the place promised and bought up the housing in little to no time.
Only as the time was passing, the new habitats of the city realized the mistake they had made. As pretty as the materials had looked to them in the beginning, they soon figured out living in them was much different from what they had expected. The houses didn’t resist wind or weather and so the residents were doomed to freeze in the winters and suffer from the ever-worsening heat in the summer.
Meanwhile, the King’s fortune grew larger and larger and his lifestyle more lavish. He took a habit in throwing parties for his inner circle, showing off his prodigal ways. The King ordered more food than anyone could eat serving whole cows, pigs and chicken to indulge in. To show, just how rich he was he arranged for the most luxury fruits and vegetables to be brought back to him from the most distant corners of the world. It was never enough. The King ate and drank and partied so much his belly started hurting every second of the day, but his thirst and hunger for more never stopped. Until one day there was nothing left anymore.
Because of the reflecting materials in the New Binckhorst, the city had gotten warmer and warmer. The temperature rose so high, not a single plant grew anymore. The former rich earth had gone brown and dry and left the citizens starving. And while there was not enough water to drink the sea levels started rising dangerously and swallowing more and more land in the city.
For a long time, the King had treated recourses and people as if they were a never-ending stream of them, always replacing once the piece was used up. But it wasn’t like that. As the King neglected the responsibility for his subjects, he had chosen to live a lifestyle that wasn’t fit to survive over generations. He had rattled his people up against each other and never once thought about building a community and leading an example of sacrificing for the greater good.
His Kingdom wasn’t prepared for the change that had to come and even though the technology had once been the best and brightest of the world, there were no more materials left that could bring them forward. The mines of the kingdom were robbed empty, and the food was eaten too quickly, to reproduce.
The King’s lavish lifestyle had robbed planet and people of their future.