Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
that was completely lacking in coordination between federal, state, and city
authorities. Katrina revealed the wounds of American society: poverty, inequality,
racism, and inter-communal hostilities. Since the disaster, conspiracy rumors are
rampant in the African-American community,
8
and political events, such as the
spring 2006 municipal election campaign, testify to deep mutual distrust between
blacks and whites, a distrust that has led black activist associations to cling to their
neighborhoods and insist on reconstruction in complete disregard of professional
opinion regarding the vulnerability of their situation and despite the serious lack of
financial means. The wall of misunderstanding that has developed between Katrina
communities opens the door to the most irrational beliefs and blocks any objective
discussion of the future or of the possibility of consolidating reconstruction efforts
on land better suited to New Orleans' vulnerability to hurricane hazards. Sustainable
development is a social attitude, a way of looking at the world and an attitude
towards the future. Nearly four years after Katrina, such an attitude is sadly missing
among New Orleans residents. As time passes, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
underscores the lassitude and unimaginativeness of city officials, which translates
into an inability to resolve conflicting interests to promote general well-being. There
is no doubt, however, that Hurricane Katrina simply provided a foretaste of the
perils of global warming as it concerns the coastal United States. Observation of
how the United States will rebuild New Orleans thereby becomes a fascinating case
study of the issues of sustainable development and of the general problems of the
American city.
But the jury is still out. While time and the forces of nature work against New
Orleans, all hope is not lost for this country to imagine a sustainable city with new
ways to recompose the ever complex relationship between society and its
environment, which is the essence of geography.
The most significant improvement, in our opinion, is the establishment of a
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) for which legislation was
passed in the Louisiana Legislature in November 2005. The authority, which is
funded by a tax levied on the oil and gas industry, will be responsible for developing
a master plan and coordinating the actions of state and local authorities and federal
agencies for the protection and restoration of coastal wetlands. A report published in
April 2007 [UNO 07] will serve as a basis for developing this plan. In the New
Orleans area, the MRGO is to be closed at Bayou La Loutre to stop salt-water
intrusion and coastal erosion in southwest Lake Borgne. Several deviations of the
Mississippi already exist. Upstream, divergence of the Mississippi River at Luling
on the West Bank feeds the wetlands of the Barataria Basin. With closure of the
8
. Mike Davis' articles are representative of this movement; see for example: [DVS 05].
