Louisiana is Number 1: Sea Level Rise Fastest in World! (1 Viewer)

[thefredman63]

Someone needs to pray to the omnipotent one to reduce the levels...(yes we can yes we can yes we can)

 

[Bleu Raeder]

Is the response going to be to nitpick the numbers and pretend that everything is just hunky dory with our coastline?

Not at all. I am just pointing out the vapid sensationalism of including this in an article where it is clearly not necessary.

 

[Jeff Miller]

well, what is it? Sea level rise or erosion of land?

right, if sea levels are rising, they would rise all over the world uniformly, if Louisiana is experiencing something worse, than i think that has more to do with wet land barrier erosion.

 

[Broadmoor74]

Scientists spoke before a senate committe hearing that New Orleans may not exist in a century. The ranking GOP member of the panel, David Vitter, did not attend.

Scientists outline danger of warming | News | The Advocate

And don't slam bloggers. New Orleans-area bloggers are centers of some of the best investigative journalism in the "media."

Here Jason Berry of The American Zombie blog shows what's going on around Grand Isle/Port Fourchon.

http://vimeo.com/60343143

 

[jrdbrn]

I've already said... keep pumping the oil under us and we will keep sinking! Maybe I'm right!

nsis

 

[Galbreath34]

If the "stunning new data" is not "publicly available" then how did a blogger get it?

Just means the study hasn't been officially released. It's sort of like saying the Saints signed a player, press conference on Wednesday. It's just being technically legally correct and all when publishing. Like calling someone whose crime is on camera the "alleged" perpetrator until the trial is over. The summary and some detail is released, but the full "data" is not yet published and public.


BTW, looking at that, if the Saints wait 10 years to plan on replacing the Superdome and want the next Stadium to be ok for 50 years they might put it in Lafayette if the study winds up being right.

 

[BHM]

Well I am planting some palm trees in my front yard with the expectations that I will soon live on the beach.

 

[ClayT101]

Oh the extremely difficult decision that would reverse coastal erosion of our state! One day I hope proper steps are taken to allow the Mississippi River to do what it's meant to do.

This is really the only solution, and it will not help New Orleans, it would build a delta near Lafayette. People need to start realizing this. New Orleans is sinking, and no matter how much money is thrown at it to try to save it, it is just not happening. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but the truth hurts.

 

[Stealth Matrix]

Oh the extremely difficult decision that would reverse coastal erosion of our state! One day I hope proper steps are taken to allow the Mississippi River to do what it's meant to do.

It would cost less to simply elevate buildings south of New Orleans to withstand river flooding and cut down the levees than it would for every crazy wetland restoration project yet to be brought to existence.

No data, just a really confident hunch.

 

[City Champ]

Build a Dutch quality levee system and fix the problem.

 

[Brennan77]

Build a Dutch quality levee system and fix the problem.

That won't fix the problem. We have to start building land or NOLA will be ocean front property soon. We have to find a way to cut through the infinite red tape and start replenishing sediment down river. That goes for lower Terrebonne and Lafourche as well. We can't sustain the little villages anymore. They aren't protected anyhow. We have to abandon them and start building land again. It's happening by default anyway, but we need political leaders with the guts to call it what it is and expedite the process.

 

[PayOrPlay]

Hard choices are coming, and it's not obvious that our stagnated, sclerotic political processes are up to the task.

Everything I've read recently about the Dutch emphasizes that they're no longer building super-engineered dikes designed just to keep the flooding out. Instead, they've concluded that episodes of high water are increasingly inevitable, and they are turning to more "natural" solutions, redesigning their urban and rural areas to accommodate the floods with less long-term disruption.

While the Dutch export their high-tech engineering prowess worldwide — designing gigantic, mechanical structures like London’s Thames Barrier — at home the future of flood-defense encompasses a return to basics: utilizing natural materials, mimicking natural systems, and harnessing nature’s power to protect this vulnerable nation.

To Control Floods, The Dutch Turn to Nature for Inspiration by Cheryl Katz: Yale Environment 360

For example, as detailed in a recent New York Times story, moving farmers' houses onto elevated ground while allowing most of the farmland to flood more often. This approach is not a panacea: some of the farmers get to stay, some have to leave, and a government agency has to decide which.

But here’s where the Dutch example is instructive. The government did not ask for volunteers to leave. It made a decision, based on real numbers and the economy of the area. The polder would be used as a spillway. The farms would have to go. The farmers would be compensated, but staying wasn’t an option: a tough, greater-good decision that American politicians tend to avoid like kryptonite.

Going with the Flow: Flood Control in the Netherlands Now Allows Sea Water In | The New York Times

Our divided government's recent performance--better-than-nothing, but decidedly half-baked health care reform; repeated flailing over the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling, and sequestration; inability to reach any consensus about national priorities--leaves one in doubt that our public institutions are up to this task.

American cities such as New Orleans, New York, Sacramento, and Norfolk, Virginia, face not just rising waters, but also political obstacles unknown to the Dutch when it comes to water management and flood protection, says Morris.

"The Dutch have in some ways an easy problem to solve," he says. "The entire nation is at risk if the western portion floods. So the entire country is united. It’s not a question of should we do [flood protection], but how."

****

But the Dutch approach is about much more than engineering. It’s about governance, openness to new ideas, flexibility, and a willingness to realize that sometimes, when the common good is threatened, stubborn individualism is useless.

We're In This Together: What the Dutch Know About Flooding That We Don't - Politics - The Atlantic Cities

See also: Planologische Kernbeslissing Ruimte voor de Rivier: Room for the River Programme (English-language website)

 

[Brennan77]

Hard choices are coming, and it's not obvious that our stagnated, sclerotic political processes are up to the task.

Everything I've read recently about the Dutch emphasizes that they're no longer building super-engineered dikes designed just to keep the flooding out. Instead, they've concluded that episodes of high water are increasingly inevitable, and they are turning to more "natural" solutions, redesigning their urban and rural areas to accommodate the floods with less long-term disruption.



For example, as detailed in a recent New York Times story, moving farmers' houses onto elevated ground while allowing most of the farmland to flood more often. This approach is not a panacea: some of the farmers get to stay, some have to leave, and a government agency has to decide which.



Our divided government's recent performance--better-than-nothing, but decidedly half-baked health care reform; repeated flailing over the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling, and sequestration; inability to reach any consensus about national priorities--leaves one in doubt that our public institutions are up to this task.



See also: Planologische Kernbeslissing Ruimte voor de Rivier: Room for the River Programme (English-language website)

Great post. We can't even get past a few oyster beds being affected by fresh water.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[efil4stnias]

Hard choices are coming, and it's not obvious that our stagnated, sclerotic political processes are up to the task.

Everything I've read recently about the Dutch emphasizes that they're no longer building super-engineered dikes designed just to keep the flooding out. Instead, they've concluded that episodes of high water are increasingly inevitable, and they are turning to more "natural" solutions, redesigning their urban and rural areas to accommodate the floods with less long-term disruption.



For example, as detailed in a recent New York Times story, moving farmers' houses onto elevated ground while allowing most of the farmland to flood more often. This approach is not a panacea: some of the farmers get to stay, some have to leave, and a government agency has to decide which.



Our divided government's recent performance--better-than-nothing, but decidedly half-baked health care reform; repeated flailing over the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling, and sequestration; inability to reach any consensus about national priorities--leaves one in doubt that our public institutions are up to this task.



See also: Planologische Kernbeslissing Ruimte voor de Rivier: Room for the River Programme (English-language website)

excellent post.

Also touches on part of our problem .....region-ism. Earthquake in San Fran doesnt affect Gulf; Hurricane in Gulf doesnt affect Northeast etc etc. Seems like we were designed to be "redundant" but that redundancy has led to complacency. NIMBY is a term that comes to mind. Folks in the midwest dont care if we cant pump oil, since we supply a small percentage of it. They say "get if from somewhere else".

When it comes to this, our nation is divided. Dont know how it was 50-60 years ago, but is evident today.

 

[jrdbrn]

That won't fix the problem. We have to start building land or NOLA will be ocean front property soon. We have to find a way to cut through the infinite red tape and start replenishing sediment down river. That goes for lower Terrebonne and Lafourche as well. We can't sustain the little villages anymore. They aren't protected anyhow. We have to abandon them and start building land again. It's happening by default anyway, but we need political leaders with the guts to call it what it is and expedite the process.

I'll give up my house if the gubbament wants to pay for it.