Hurricane Katrina has unleashed almost incomprehensible destruction on the Gulf Coast, particularly New Orleans. Some resources:
- The New York Times has a brutally frank story on the unwisdom of building human settlements on the Gulf Coast at all.
As long as people could control floods, they could do business. But, as people learned too late, the landscape of South Louisiana depends on floods: it is made of loose Mississippi River silt, and the ground subsides as this silt consolidates. Only regular floods of muddy water can replenish the sediment and keep the landscape above water. But flood control projects channel the river’s nourishing sediment to the end of the birdfoot delta and out into the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico.
Although early travelers realized the irrationality of building a port on shifting mud in an area regularly ravaged by storms and disease, the opportunities to make money overrode all objections.
- The NYT also has an editorial on the same subject, and USA Today also has a story on it.
- The Washington Post has the latest on the flooding and the refugee crisis (odd to think of refugees in the U.S., isn’t it?) — pay particular attention to the story on how the rerouting of the Mississippi, along with rising sea levels from global warming, has led to a dramatic shrinking of the coastal wetlands that once sheltered Louisiana.
- The WaPo also has a fairly stunning set of photos of the hurricane’s aftermath.
- An AP wire story calls attention to a possible environmental crisis, namely that the storm may turn New Orleans into "a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city’s legendary cemeteries.”
- A Reuters story says that the EPA has relaxed green-fuel regulations in areas hit by the storm.
- Los Angeles Times has a story on how Katrina has turned attention back to global warming and a good chart showing the oil pipelines, platforms, and refineries in Katrina’s path.
- The NYT has a piece casting doubt on the theory that global warming has caused more intense storms.
- TIME has a piece supporting the theory.
- Speaking of global warming, Ross Gelbspan has a completely over-the-top editorial in the Boston Globe calling global warming the "cause" of just about everything but herpes.
- Democracy Now! has a great show on whether global warming is raising storm intensity, with New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin and hot-stuff meteorologist Kerry Emanuel.
- The Environmental Economics blog has a roundup of links on the subject of Katrina and gas prices.
- Worldchanging has an interesting post on foresight in the new climate age we’ve entered.
- California Yankee has a fairly comprehensive list of organizations to which you can contribute to help the victims.
- Of course, despite the pretensions of this post, your real one-stop-shopping destination for news about Katrina is Wikipedia, which never ceases to amaze.
Feel free to leave other significant links in comments.
Update [2005-8-31 11:0:47 by Dave Roberts]: Oh, and perhaps the most important story of all: The disaster is so bad that President Bush has cut short his vacation by two days. Inspiring.
Update [2005-8-31 12:43:35 by Dave Roberts]: Oh, and I forgot to mention perhaps the best hub of coverage of all: New Orleans’ own Times-Picayune, which also had this tragically prescient series on NO’s vulnerability to a big storm.
