Sustainable development in New Orleans

¶ … sustainable New Orleans?

Wanting to rebuild a major city from scratch implies first having to devise a series of plans meant to insure that good organization is taken to the fullest. Taking into consideration the city of New Orleans consequent to the Katrina Hurricane, one might be inclined to believe that the authorities did not pay sufficient attention to coming up with a strategy to assist the people there in case of a major calamity. It was not only due to the devastating forces of nature that the city was brought to its present state, but also because the condition was poorly managed and the system was not prepared to deal with incidents of such an intensity.

In addition to its aftermath, this event was particularly significant because it made it clear that coastal cities are very vulnerable to extreme weather phenomena. If governments were to predict such disasters, numerous people would still be alive and large amounts of money would be saved. Of course, no one is to blame for such an occurrence, since nature is in most occasions unpredictable. However, matters would have gone better if the authorities along with the people in the city were to observe the dangers that they were exposed to and do something in order to risk as little as possible in case of a natural disaster. This particular event did not come as a surprise to some, given that it is only normal for a coastal inhabitance to be predisposed to going through a natural disaster.

New Orleans needs to be rebuilt so as for future weather phenomena to have a less damaging effect. It is virtually impossible for a city to go through such an event without suffering any damage. Even with that, if people were to cooperate in creating efficient emergency plans matters would be different and the damage would be smaller. Considering that the U.S. government has gotten involved in building a new city on the wrecks left behind by Katrina, it would only seem natural for the strategy to be different, as it would be of no use to rebuild something countless times and waiting for disaster to strike again.

Restructuring New Orleans needs to be done in accordance with present and future generations that are expected to inhabit it. The authorities do not have to resolve the condition by building a new city with the belief that the individuals presently inhabiting it will be safe for the coming years. They also need to look ahead and develop a tactic to assist everyone who will ever live in the city.

To a certain degree, the people who can be considered responsible for the fact that New Orleans was subjected to the destructive force of Hurricane Katrina are the ones who destroyed the only thing that protected the city from the sea -- the islands and the wetlands in the territory. These lands experienced a process of rapid erosion and they seized to exist within a number of years. Erosion happened mostly because of "levee construction, sea level rise, and oil and gas exploration and extraction activities" (Creating a sustainable and desirable New Orleans).

Even though natural disasters are known to make no distinction between people (affecting rich and poor, black and white, men and women in the same proportion), matters were different in New Orleans. The individuals in charge of the city were especially interested in exploiting the region's commercial potential. In order to do this, they altered the Mississippi so as for it to make deepwater shipping possible in the area. This was done with no regard whatsoever to the poor population living in the territory, even if it was obvious that the land would have less chances to resist major floods. Concomitantly, the residential parts of the city were structured with the intention to minimize the risk of flooding there.

People in New Orleans were sitting on a ticking bomb in the years previous to 2005, as the Mississippi River would threaten the low areas in the city every year. Disaster happened because the river was incorrectly controlled and because the wetlands were not restored. If people were to realize the imminent danger, they would have probably paid more attention to the wetlands. It seemed irresponsibly to invest in something such as marshes and lands that were seemingly of little use to the city and individuals thus preferred to invest in other matters, such as the Mississippi River's commercial purpose. However, seeing the damage, the tens of billions of dollars lost in the disaster, and the lives lost it is likely that the price to pay for restructuring the wetlands would have been significantly smaller.

In addition to the improper management of the Mississippi River and the lack of regard in reference to the wetlands, the magnitude of the disaster was influenced by the levee construction standing protecting the land from the river and the sea. While the levee system was actually meant to prevent floods from happening, it failed entirely in accomplishing its purpose. The levees were several decades previous to the flood by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It is uncertain whether they yielded to the waters because they were not correctly built or whether they did so because they were not designed to resist weather phenomena of such intensities.

The devastation which the Hurricane left behind is not only making matters more difficult for people to rebuild their homes, but it also preventing authorities from building an efficient system to resist flooding. With no wetlands, no levees, and a flooded or wrecked territory, the authorities are less able to restructure the flood system. Climate change only adds to the situation and makes it more probable that flooding will continue in the territory, this being a direct effect of the pollution done while exploiting Louisiana's coastal commercial potential.

In order for New Orleans to be rebuilt as a successful city that will resist future floods people's convictions need to be addressed, as it is of no use to simply rebuild buildings. Individuals have to learn that it is essential for them to get actively involved in helping their city and that there is more to life than just enjoying things without giving something back. It is more difficult to attempt to resist weather phenomena rather than to adapt to them. People need to understand that it is less likely that they could have stopped Hurricane Katrina from entering New Orleans. However, the damage would have been less significant if the buildings were adapted to go through floods. Other than taking care so as for their houses to be able to suffer little to no damage consequent to a flood, people have to concentrate on reducing the level of emissions, since this too is important when considering extreme weather phenomena.