What lessons will the world take from the disaster we have watched unfold, with such calamitous results, in New Orleans?
It makes you wonder if anyone’s paying attention when you hear American politicians proclaim proudly that they will rebuild the city in the same location.
Reconstructing a sinking city that is 80 per cent below sea level is just plain pig-headed.
When they do rebuild the city, will any care be taken to avoid repeating the mistakes that made it largely indefensible to the hurricane everyone knew would eventually blow the place down?
The pattern of development in New Orleans is a pattern that has been repeated in communities across North America, including Mississauga. Wetlands, the natural buffers that act as sponges and filters in times of flooding, have been routinely stripped for development, leaving communities much more vulnerable to natural calamities.
In New Orleans, the delta that acted as a shield for the city was disappearing at the rate of an acre every 24 minutes, according to an article in Scientific American magazine in October of 2001. That article began with the fateful words, “New Orleans is a disaster waiting to happen.”
Of course, there were also lots of warnings about New Orleans from academics and scientists. Too bad they don’t contribute to political campaigns like developers do.
One of the signs of global warming is an increased number and increased intensity of extraordinary natural climactic events. While George Bush may consider global warming a conspiracy theory created just to confuse him, the reality of its effects are becoming more and more evident, starting with the melting polar ice cap. (Note to George: That’s not a new summer drink from Tim Hortons.)
Credit Valley Conservation and the Credit River Alliance have issued their own warnings about the rapid urbanization of the Credit watershed and its potential impacts on downstream flooding and, more importantly, on human health.
A report on the state of the ecosystem on CVC’s website (www.creditvalleycons.com) says water quality is already impaired in parts of the Credit. Only half of the recommended wetlands and forest cover remain in the watershed. Harmful sediment runoff continues. Groundwater is being taken without adequate regulation.
A number of plants and animals, and the key greenbelt corridors that sustain them, are threatened.
Former CVC General Manager Vicki Barron once told me that the prevailing attitude to water quality issues with both government and the public has been that, “ignorance is bliss.”
In the wake of New Orleans, we have yet another dramatic example of the connection between understanding, respecting and protecting natural systems and our own survival.
How many more object lessons do we need?
Think Hurricane Hazel. It can happen here.