Why would a bunch of Dutch scientists and entrepreneurs care about the Arctic? Sure, the Dutch have shown an interest in the Arctic before, but the exploration of its natural resources throughout our history, and oil drilling, were not in the best interests of the Arctic…
In The Netherlands, we care a lot about ice, since we love to skate on our lakes and canals during the winter period. Unfortunately, due to global warming, natural ice is becoming increasingly rare and (speed) ice skating is now mostly done in indoor ice stadiums. But when the temperature does drop below the freezing point, a fierce competition starts over who can organize the first ice skating competition on ‘natural’ ice. To accelerate natural ice generation, so-called ‘ijsmeesters’ pour layers of water on the ice, which will thicken and strengthen it after these layers freeze.
The principle of ice thickening can be applied to parts of the Arctic ice sheet to enable the ice to survive the summer months. Ice thickening has been proposed as a bridging solution to save the Arctic ice from disappearing before, but the feasibility of doing this at scale has remained a question mark. We think we are well positioned to tackle this problem as we can leverage the extensive knowledge and experience of the Dutch water management ecosystem, our world-class technical universities, and some of the world’s largest dredging and offshore companies.
To make a real impact, we will have to thicken an ice area the size of the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), in a smart way. We will work together with local communities and help them maintain their home.
Restoring Arctic sea ice requires large-scale, long-term investment and decisive execution. That is why Arctic Reflections operates as a social, impact-driven enterprise. Our structure serves our mission—not the other way around—and may evolve if a different model better enables us to achieve our goal. We exist to deliver real environmental impact at scale, rooted in science and guided by local communities.