Before I write anything else, I want to unequivocally explain that I think natural disasters are terrible. They cause countless deaths and incredible human suffering. With that being understood, I often find myself believing that things happen in nature for a reason, and so I started to ponder what some of the good aspects to natural disasters might be. I’ve come up with three ideas about what might be some positive consequences of natural disasters.
This summer, a group of students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison plans to travel to New Orleans to help restore an urban wetland in the Lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood decimated by flooding after the post-Katrina levee failures.
The group of nine students expect to study Bayou Bienvenue, testing water, surveying vegetation and researching whether the area could be restored with a diversion dam that would help bring in fresh water and sediment. They also plan to talk with neighborhood residents about their concerns and will even host a crab boil to involve the community.
The post-Katrina rebuilding effort in New Orleans has a long way to go, but some residents, activists and volunteers are celebrating one small but noteworthy step after another toward a more sustainable city.
Their efforts take on a special poignancy with the start of yet another hurricane season (it officially began on June 1, though the tropical system Arthur formed a day early around the Yucatan Peninsula). With lingering La Niña conditions and water temperatures in parts of the Gulf of Mexico already a degree or two above average, there’s reason to be concerned.
A new report from the National Research Council (NRC) finds numerous problems with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ followup recommendations for restoring wetlands and protecting southern Louisiana from another Katrina-like disaster.
Among the most worrisome findings in the paper: the Corps’ failure to “consider the potential for structural failure of levees and floodwalls.”
“As a consequence,” the NRC report states, “the true risk to homes and businesses and people behind structures has not been determined.”
Each year researchers at North Carolina State University predict the oncoming hurricane season. With summer just around the corner for the Northern Hemisphere, their latest report is out, and it’s billing an active year for the Atlantic.
However, thankfully for those coastal cities on the Atlantic, the number of storms making landfall will stick close to the average.
You want music with a message? Then you’ve got to — if you haven’t yet — check out the works of Tab Benoit.
A Louisianan through and through (born in Baton Rouge, reared in Houma), Benoit is not only a wonderful Southern Cajun/blues musician, but an outspoken and active environmentalist. His primary cause: protecting and restoring the wetlands of the Gulf Coast … something that would not only help native wildlife but the people of coastal Louisiana (and the overall climate) as well.
If you’re like me, you never need an excuse to visit New Orleans, even post-Katrina. Between the food, the music, the architecture, the history and the people, the Big Easy always beckons.
But here’s a new and nifty reason to plan a Crescent City getaway: the Marriott’s “Care Concierge” vacation package.
Now through Nov. 15, travelers who book a stay at one of New Orleans’ Marriott or Renaissance hotels will receive email recommendations for local groups that welcome visitor-volunteers who want to help the city rebuild. And $50 of the package rate (ranging from $159 to $259) will be donated to Habitat for Humanity, which is working to return New Orleans’ flood-ravaged neighborhoods to life.
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