Coming soon to a Neighborhood near you!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

New Orleans and environs are a kind of petri dish for global climate change—what's happening there will be showing up elsewhere sooner than you think.

The rest of the nation already has plenty in common with New Orleans. For decades, government agencies at all levels have subsidized development in risky areas. Along coastlines and in river plains, this arrived in the form of flood defenses, federal flood insurance, and aid for businesses (in Louisiana, for example, oil and gas drilling and refining). Near fire-prone forestlands, road building and the marketability of nature itself drove construction of subdivisions. Katrina exposed this ad hoc approach as both lethal and unsustainable. The current wrangling over New Orleans is a preview of what will happen over the coming decades.Storm Warning: The Unlearned Lessons of Katrina,  By John McQuaid -August 26, 2007 Mother Jones

 

Isn't this already happening? More 'natural disasters' are happening all over the world. Flooding and tornadoes has plagued the Mid-West and NorthEast this year.

Isn't it unrealistic to expect the government to rebuild homes placed in naturally dangerous areas? Isn't it unrealistic not to look at the developers who built homes in potentially dangerous areas and those in government who helped them? And what about the ignorant public?

Ignorant is not stupid, or is it? This is a capitalistic run society. The adage is: "Let the buyer beware!"

So how did these developers in the last 100 years manage to create these housing developments in these dangerous areas?

Prospective homeowners in the New Orleans and adjacent areas are now studying the projected flood-prone and protected areas maps recently released by the US Army Corps of Engineers before making purchase or rebuilding decisions.