We are doomed.
I'm not kidding. According to the Times Picayune, the erosion of South Louisiana is happening way faster than scientists previously thought. Everyone thought we had about 40 years to restore the wetlands/barrier islands that keep New Orleans from being eaten by the gulf. It turns out we only have TEN YEARS before the damage is irreversible.By 2020
( Read more... )
The scariest part:
The entire nation would reel from the losses. The state's coastal wetlands, the largest in the continental United States, nourish huge industries that serve all Americans, not just residents of southeastern Louisiana. Twenty-seven percent of America's oil and 30 percent of its gas travels through the states coast, serving half of the nations refinery capacity, an infrastructure that few other states would welcome and that would take years to relocate.
Ports along the Mississippi River, including the giant Port of New Orleans and the Port of South Louisiana in LaPlace, handle 56 percent of the nation's grain shipments. And the estuaries now rapidly turning to open water produce half of the nation�s wild shrimp crop and about a third of its oysters and blue claw crabs. Studies show destruction of the wetlands protecting the infrastructure serving those industries would put $103 billion in assets at risk.
But the good thing is - no matter how depressed about it you are - you ARE doing something by spreading the word to your friends. Maybe it will help - maybe it just prepares everyone for the inevitable, who knows? Beats NOT thinking about it.
Don't let it get you down so totally that you can't function. I know you love Nola and your family lives there - you have equity and a business and all that. If worst comes to worst, Seattle is +300 ft. above sea level!
That is; until Mt. Rainier erupts, as my mom keeps reminding me. Nature's a bizatch no matter where you are.
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