I hate to say I told you so

Ad Broeren
Business Manager Technical Safety

‘The time to act is now'

‘We need to do something quickly, otherwise we are going to be too late’

‘I know we said we are going to do things soon, but it is a difficult problem and need to think things through very carefully’

‘We were surprised by the speed with which things are developing right now, but we are monitoring it closely’

‘In hindsight, we might have started a bit too late’

‘I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so’

This pretty much sums up the historic timeline of the way we deal with big issues nowadays. It looks like our leaders have lost the ability to make bold decisions and choose the path of much resistance, because it was the right path to choose. In the Netherlands, we created Flevoland, because we needed additional land. We created Deltawerken, because we did not want floods anymore. After the 2nd World War, we decided to follow the recommendations of a commission chaired by Van Iterson (the founder of Tebodin) that we needed centralized distribution and production of gas, because it was the right thing to do.

The most recent ‘big issue’ facing the application of this timeline is the current soaring price of natural gas transported through the pipelines Van Iterson recommended us to install. Suddenly, we need emergency measures to deal with the fact that not a small number of households won’t able to pay for their usual energy consumption. We are too dependent on natural gas for the production of energy and the warmth in our houses. Yesterday, I read an article softly muttering ‘I hate to say I told you so, but if we had only started our energy transition a bit earlier…..”

Now, when national prayers for a very cold winter to have an ‘elfstedentocht’ are substituted by hopes of a mild winter to limit gas consumption, it is again time to choose the right path. Not just for our leaders, but also for us. After all, we have been too happy too long that with the fact they chose the easy way. Not only should we look at our leadership for action, all able men, women and children should be taking matters in their own hands.

The time for action is now. There might be reasons not to do everything, but here are no reasons not to do anything. Invest in insulation, solar panels, solar boilers. Bring your kids to school on a bike. Plant some plants around your house, even if you only have the area of a tile to spare. Turn down the heating a notch. And if you are cold, wear a sweater. Because I REALLY hate to say…

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