Save New Orleans: Stop Climate Change
I just got back to Ontario from an eye opening trip to the Gulf Coast of the United States, the area hardest hit by 2005’s Katrina Hurricane. Leading a group of eager students under the banner of Habitat for Humanity, I must say that I learned a lot about the struggles of living in a disaster zone, even 2 and half years later. A trauma still hangs in the air of the Gulf Coast. People still have the stories of Katrina on the tip of their tongues.
The line ups for water at Wal Mart. The lawlessness that followed. The family members that were lost. The homes that were flooded.
Is the plight of New Orleans a fate soon to be experienced by coastal cities worldwide as sea levels rise and the potential for more chaotic weather patterns becomes more likely. The ironic thing is that the people of New Orleans seem to realize this as saw several people wearing the shirt with the saying "Save New Orleans: Stop Climate Change."
New Orleans is a lesson. A lesson on the necessity of planning for the future and a lessen for what happens when humans try to control and degrade the environment in which they live. The removal of Gulf Coast swamplands allows hurricanes to maintain their power whereas a vibrant swampland would degrade hurricanes.
Engineers laugh in the face of the oceans, believing that pumps and walls of concrete can hold back the might of waves and water. How eerie it is that hundreds of thousands of people live below sea level, separated by these pumps and walls.
Whole neighbourhoods still stand empty, awaiting people to rebuild and move back to their decimated homes. I had a mixed feelings about the Ninth Ward in particular. We were told it was dangerous and military policy still patrol the empty streets. But is it really dangerous? There were few intact houses standing when I visited and the only people that could be seen were a dozen or so construction workers and of course the military police. Is the United States Government protecting people from the dangers of the Ninth Ward or are they protecting themselves from the startling reality that they have dropped the ball on rebuilding the homes and lives of thousands of people?
While I was in New Orleans the newspapers were declaring that the city was once again functional as they successfully held the NBA All Star Weekend. I wonder what the people shot in the downtown core, the families crushed in FEMA trailers and the displaced people living in tent villages and camps living in other states would say about that?
