Herby Thomas
Human Contribution to Environmental Issues
SC4730 Environment Science
Roger Boeken
How did human actions contribute to increasing the devastation in this area?
Parts of New Orleans are below sea level and surrounded by bodies of water. Built on a natural levee next to the Mississippi river, the city has experienced cyclical flooding since its founding in 1718. Throughout the centuries, human intervention has reconstructed the landscape in a number of ways which has made New Orleans more vulnerable to storms and flooding: destruction of sand bars; deforestation along the riverbank; construction of ditches and levees; drainage of swamps; and the construction that accompanies urbanization and industrialization. Such
…show more content…
The case historically traces factors and patterns of unsustainable development that pushed more people in harm 's way of Hurricane Katrina. It presents the constant struggle faced by the city agencies in keeping the city dry and how all their efforts focused on engineering the environment. At the turn of the century, New Orleans was as vulnerable as ever, if not more, making one ask if the transactions between human society and the environment had been worth it. The levees accentuated its bowl-like features, the pumps caused subsidence and sinking of the city, and the destruction of wetlands opened up its frontiers to an imminent "Big One". Not only did these efforts fail in keeping away the waters, but also by allowing expansion of the city into the lower ground these efforts placed more of the population at risk. Economically and racially segregated, New Orleans 's poor and black population occupied the vulnerable lower ground of the city. In the face of frequent hurricanes, the city agencies did relatively little to prepare for a hurricane of the scale of Hurricane Katrina. Failure of management local, state, and federal leaders was unable to communicate with one another to coordinate a centralized response to Hurricane Katrina.
The Louisiana state emergency plan stated that the mayor was responsible for “initiating, executing, and directing the
Since African Americans are limited to such opportunities, New Orleans is considered what is presumed to be a “racially segregated landscape of differentiated risk” -- spatial benefits of the post natural disastrous situation flowed to those who weren't from the lower socioeconomic tier. The racial projects that emphasize this formulation are found in how mainstream press coverage viewed those who were stranded and how structural programs not only failed to prepare relief but also intensified city
“There are natural hazards, but disasters are the result of human actions that put people and property in harm’s way” (Cigler 2007: 64). Throughout history New Orleans has been continuously altered by the presence of humans through the creation of levees and canals, the introduction of artificial irrigation systems, and through human induced processes that have ultimately accelerated the process of land degradation and erosion. While a natural hazard struck New Orleans in 2005, the disaster portion resulting from Hurricane Katrina was a result of human induced interactions throughout the history of New Orleans.
In the late summer of 2005, a terrible tragedy occurred that changed the lives of many in the south-east region of the United States. A Category 3, named storm, named Hurricane Katrina, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August and led to the death of 1,836 and millions of dollars’ worth of damage (Waple 2005). The majority of the damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. Waple writes in her article that winds “gusted over 100 mph in New Orleans, just west of the eye” (Waple 2005). Not only was the majority of the damage due to the direct catastrophes of the storm but also city’s levees could no longer hold thus breaking and releasing great masses of water. Approximately, 80% of the city was submerged at sea level. Despite the vast amount
The failure to adequately prepare for the storm led to increased and more widespread devastation, which in many cases harmed those living in the affected areas. An independent analysis of the reason for such massive chaos was performed and determined that “Most of the damage was due to the failure of the levee system that surrounds the city to protect it from flooding” (Ubilla). Had these levees been properly built, and had there been more of them protecting the city of New Orleans, major flooding could have potentially been lessened. A simple feature of the levee structure which engineers neglected to include is the concrete
New Orleans was built on a marsh. The city was inundated by water during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, causing a tremendous loss of human lives and costing the economy billions of dollars in damage. Since the storm, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has built a system of lift stations and levees to control the flow of water around the city. This has created what is best described as a bathtub surrounded by water. To further elaborate, New Orleans is the bath tub, while Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River surround the city. Over the years keeping water from entering the city has become more difficult because the city continues to sink lower below sea level. Subsidence of marshy soils lowers the ground elevation in and around the City of New Orleans. The gradual caving in or sinking of land is known as subsidence.
Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana on August 29th, 2005, but the failure of the local government started before this day “by allowing building and growing in areas in low flood lands.” The local government did not regulate these land areas that have always
New Orleans was originally founded on high ground overlooking the Mississippi River, above sea level. Also surrounded by Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne, New Orleans was susceptible to hurricanes that would come up the coast into the Gulf. Originally New Orleans was naturally protected by “coastal swamps that helped absorb the energy of storm surges before they reached dry land.” (Stillman 228) At this point Americans were more concerned with the floods that happened annually from the Mississippi River. In the early days, settlers built a mile long levee to block overflows from the mighty Mississippi while landowners constructed their own levees.
This case summarizes events preceding the Hurricane Katrina, which was one of the worst natural catastrophes in the modern history of the USA. It raises questions about the lack of reasonable prevention and preparation actions due to flimsy structure and management of the responsible organizations and persons, invalidity and inconsistence of their actions and incapability of making the decisions in a timely manner. As a result of the unstructured and incoherent activities, we could observe several ineffective and costly attempts to mitigate floods and hurricanes. In the beginning the local officials, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and “White Houses past and present always seem penny-wise and pound-foolish” because of the chain of the wrong
The issue with the re-developing of New Orleans is an area that has been debated between governors, investors, urban planners, residents and other professionals since hurricane Katrina, the costliest “natural” disaster in 2005. This wonderful place, is a Louisiana city near the Gulf of Mexico. Its strategic position, becomes the exit of the great Mississippi-Missouri river system, which drains the interior North of America. New Orleans is one of the lowest spots in the United States, it is already as much as 17 feet below sea level in some places, and it continues to sink more than an inch a year. Re-developing New Orleans will be a difficult aspect because of its location, topography and weather conditions. However, New Orleans is one of the most culturally rich urban
George Orwell illustrated a world taken over by totalitarianism thru his book “1984”. By describing it to be a life of just constant work. Where a single thought can get you jailed and later killed. They would vaporize, or cease to exist, people who may be a threat to their whole government. You must love their iconic figurehead “Big Brother” and accept their rules or become vaporized.
B. Thesis: The government should have help Hurricane Katrina, through additional money, supplies, and community help.
Hurricane Katrina resulted in massive loss of life and billions of dollars in property damage. There are many lessons worth learning from this event. Finger pointing started before the event was over. Most of the focus on Hurricane Katrina was on its impact on New Orleans; however, the storm ravaged a much wider area than that. This paper will briefly summarize the event, the impact on the city of New Orleans and the lessons learned to ensure preparedness today.
In Kelman’s and Campanella’s articles, the two authors raised the racial issue of building water management infrastructure as New Orleans’ defense from natural disasters. Voracious flood from Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain continued bothering New Orleans government during the 19th century. Thus, New Orleans government enacted “levees only” policy to control the disaster and built urban drainage system. The development of water control system in and around New Orleans increased the number and heights of levees, but also made more wetlands vanished. The segregation of landscapes also led to racial segregation and increased the risk of discriminated people suffering from flood.
Becoming president of my school’s Minority Association of Pre-Medical/Health Students (MAPS), One Step Before (OSB), has truly helped me to develop my skills for supporting and leading others. Because I had so much help along the way, I knew that I could never be satisfied with my own successes if I did not help someone along the way.
Nearly everything that a human does is in response to the environment. Our lives are defined by what is around us and what we find in front of us, whether this means accepting, dealing with or changing it. This has been the pattern since primates first stood up and became Homo erectus, and has continued until we considered ourselves doubly wise. The shape of the land affected where humans moved. Weather was something with which to contend. Fire affected humans until they conquered it – and herein lies the core of the relationship. The earth affects humans, and humans affect it back, viewing characteristics and patterns as problems and challenges, and finding a solution.