People are saying that hurricanes cannot be prevented. They are absolutely correct, you cannot stop Mother Nature from creating chaos. However, the impact can be greatly reduced due to some types of land terrains. That's where the wetlands come in handy.
Unfortunately, we've been wiping them out at a rapid rate due to the greed.
Wetlands act as a "speed bump," slowing down storms almost like dry land does, said Kip Patrick, spokesman for America's Wetland. "They take some of the brunt of the force of the hurricane, weakens the storm like any land mass would." Sidney Coffee, executive assistant to the governor for coastal activities, said about 1,900 square miles of wetlands have disappeared from the area since the 1930s, and the receding continues at a rate of about 24 square miles per year. The erosion has a direct impact on New Orleans' ability to absorb the blow of a storm like Katrina, she said. For every 2.7 miles of wetlands, storm surges are reduced by about one 1 foot, she said. "We've tried and tried and tried to tell people this is real, this is happening. This is happening a little bit every day," she said. "But it's a real emergency."
More on the subject can be read, just click here,
The fact is, people were being warned for years. But did they listen?
No. The developers didn't give a hoot, they just wanted to get rich off the projects on high-risk territories. Yes, they were even temporally prevented from developing their businesses on the coastline. The environmentalists/scientists including Michael Davis, a biologist who worked for the army were determined to stop the developers from building there because of the dangers it presented to the wetlands.
The article states that the wetlands started disappearing back in the 1930s, obviously when the building projects were starting to roll in.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott is a true hypocrite, why? Because he originally showed some "concerns" for the environmental problems among the coastline and said that no industry/business would be able to develop on the land without an EIS (environmental impact study). A few months later, he completely flip-flopped. After the casino developers unveiled their plans, there were several protests by the EPA and the other environmentalist groups, he complained that they were eliminating the "economic opportunities" by requiring EIS.
Some politicians aren't staying true to their words. They are sometimes caught using their strength of political power to gain due to their self-interests rather than the voters' needs.
More can be found at this link.
The only solution I think is the best is to let New Orleans disappear on its own and everybody else move on to different cities to start a new life. People shouldn't be living in a city that is below the sea level, and it has been sinking year after year. So what's the point in rebuilding the levees when it will just contribute more to the already-present problems?
Even magazines like National Geographic had done pieces on New Orleans and the dangers of living there prior to the disaster. Click here to read the National Geographic article that was published last year.
Both the governments and citizens are at fault because they contributed to the problems. They were warned so many times. There's a consequence for every choice made. It's such a pity that this happened and it was because they didn't listen.
May God rest the souls of the victims.
Some politicians aren't staying true to their words. They are sometimes caught using their strength of political power to gain due to their self-interests rather than the voters' needs.
More can be found at this link.
The only solution I think is the best is to let New Orleans disappear on its own and everybody else move on to different cities to start a new life. People shouldn't be living in a city that is below the sea level, and it has been sinking year after year. So what's the point in rebuilding the levees when it will just contribute more to the already-present problems?
Even magazines like National Geographic had done pieces on New Orleans and the dangers of living there prior to the disaster. Click here to read the National Geographic article that was published last year.
Both the governments and citizens are at fault because they contributed to the problems. They were warned so many times. There's a consequence for every choice made. It's such a pity that this happened and it was because they didn't listen.
May God rest the souls of the victims.
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