- Why do you think that even after Hurricane Katrina people still resent that global warming is happening? What are the reasons behind their denial, and why wasn’t Katrina a big enough wake up call, when it is predicted by 2050 that there will be at least four more mega hurricanes bigger than Katrina through the world?
- Wetlands are the best protection against hurricanes, their grasses acting like speed bumps and slow down oncoming storms, yet between 1932 and 2000 Louisiana lost 1,900 square miles of wetlands (almost the size of Delaware). The government allowed this so that there could be an increase of oil and gas profits by building channels through the wetlands. If rehabilitating the wetlands and protecting them means also protecting thousands of people, why is it that our society and government still values making money over human life?
- In HOT, Mark Hertsgaard talks about how levees built by the Army Corps of Engineers are not built adequately enough, and that the world is in Era 2 of global warming because we have failed to reverse the effects and change our lifestyles. Do you think it is a pointless to try to change our ways and become more eco-friendly, or should we fully focus on how to protect ourselves, with things like trying to get the government to build a better levee system, and live with the damage that has been already caused?
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Chapter 6: Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?
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1. Although Hurricane Katrina was a HUGE wake-up call, people still choose to deny that it was actually caused by global warming. People still believe it was just another form of Mother Nature's rathe. Hurricane Katrina was a horrible event, but people now want to move on and focus on the rebuild. No one ever wants to dwell on the negative or the scary.
ReplyDelete2. It is horrible to think, but money is a HUGE priority for our government leaders. It is sad to say, but to government officials, money equals power and influence. In today's crippled economy, they think about the wetlands last and the more long-term benefits they provide.
3. I absolutely do not believe that it would be pointless to change our ways and become more eco-friendly. Actually, by not doing this, we will only make our situation worse. Our challenge is to do both - we must prepare for the consequences of climate change while working to change our way of life in order to prevent any further change.
1-3. Southern Louisiana depends on oil for a large chunk of its income. I'm not sure they deny global warming so much as need the income from oil rigs. Louisiana spent years trying to get the Army Corps to rebuild the levees, and to tell them about the eminent dangers. Other things took priority. I think, as usual, the solution is a combination of things: rebuild some of the bayou, but also build more protective levees - as the areas most affected were the poorest neighborhoods.
ReplyDelete1) It's not just people in Southern Louisiana who deny global warming. Lots of people all over the country deny it. Hurricane Katrina was horrible, but for the majority of people in this country it happened "somewhere else" to "other people" who lived mostly just in the television. That's cynical, I know, but people are exceptionally good at distancing themselves from tragedies and compartmentalizing life. And denying the science of climate change is a lot easier than making sacrifices and giving up comforts that you are used to. That's why people will continue eating fried foods even when their doctors tell them their arteries are clogging up.
ReplyDelete(I'll post more on the other two questions later. I've got a crying baby on my hands.)