50bookchallenge, 15000page
Book #36 -- Christopher Hallowell, Holding Back the Sea: The Struggle for America's Natural Legacy on the Gulf Coast, 243 pages.
This book, published in 2001, presents the challenges facing the Louisiana coast with a focus on subsidence and the need to balance Louisiana's natural resources with the needs of those who work the land. Hallowell points out that the the Louisiana coast has always been a working coast, and that the culture of fisherman, oystermen, shrimpers, and trappers is so deeply entrenched here as to become almost a religion. What South Louisiana needs, he claims, is a land management plan that will protect the wetlands for future generations, while also allowing those who have worked the land for centuries to continue to do so. The only really viable solution, he mentions, is river diversions that will bring silt-filled water from the Mississippi flowing over the bayous again, replenishing the land that is literally sinking beneath our feet. The problem with this solution is that it costs money that Louisiana does not have, and the federal government is not willing to give. Hallowell provides accounts of numerous political meetings on the subject, from grassroots assemblies in small town halls to professional lobbyists in Washington, giving an idea of the bureaucratic nightmare that faces anyone trying to actually accomplish something for the Louisiana coast. There is much useful information in this book, although some of it could be documented better, but the book's real strength is in the first person accounts and the perspective it gives to the problem.
Progress toward goals: 134/365 = 36.7%
Books: 36/50 = 72%
Pages: 12447/15000 = 83.0%
2007 Book List
cross-posted to 50bookchallenge, 15000pages, and gwynraven
This book, published in 2001, presents the challenges facing the Louisiana coast with a focus on subsidence and the need to balance Louisiana's natural resources with the needs of those who work the land. Hallowell points out that the the Louisiana coast has always been a working coast, and that the culture of fisherman, oystermen, shrimpers, and trappers is so deeply entrenched here as to become almost a religion. What South Louisiana needs, he claims, is a land management plan that will protect the wetlands for future generations, while also allowing those who have worked the land for centuries to continue to do so. The only really viable solution, he mentions, is river diversions that will bring silt-filled water from the Mississippi flowing over the bayous again, replenishing the land that is literally sinking beneath our feet. The problem with this solution is that it costs money that Louisiana does not have, and the federal government is not willing to give. Hallowell provides accounts of numerous political meetings on the subject, from grassroots assemblies in small town halls to professional lobbyists in Washington, giving an idea of the bureaucratic nightmare that faces anyone trying to actually accomplish something for the Louisiana coast. There is much useful information in this book, although some of it could be documented better, but the book's real strength is in the first person accounts and the perspective it gives to the problem.
Progress toward goals: 134/365 = 36.7%
Books: 36/50 = 72%
Pages: 12447/15000 = 83.0%
2007 Book List
cross-posted to 50bookchallenge, 15000pages, and gwynraven