So we're going to spare no expense to rebuild the Gulf Coast.
On its face, it sounds good, it feels good. It would certainly be an almost intolerable psychological shock to the American collective psychology to lose a major city - i.e. New Orleans.
But, seriously, this needs some thought.
For starters, unlike the people of Holland, who have no choice but to live beneath sea level because they have no land above sea level, last I checked, most of America is above sea level. This reminds me of an old Sam Kinison routine, where he said he had the solution to world hunger - pack up all the people in the African desert, and move them to "where the food is!" Why? Because, as Sam said, "see this, IT'S SAND! Know what it's gonna be in hundred years? IT'S GONNA BE SAND! NOTHING GROWS HERE! NOTHING'S GONNA GROW HERE!"
Likewise, know where New Orleans will be in a hundred years? BELOW SEA LEVEL! Why, then, would you intentionally put a city there?
It's not like we have a shortage of vacant land in this country.
Thus, my solution: undam the Mississippi, restore the entire Gulf Coast wetlands, and then, whatever is left dry, go ahead and build where you can find dry land. This is the result of man's arrogance in believing he can control the world without consequence. Ultimately, Mother Nature always wins.
I, for one, am not keen on running up an insane, decades long deficit to rebuild a doomed city. I suggest we learn from the wise folks who gave up on Atlantis after it sunk. They didn't build it again - they moved. To where, I don't know, but I DO know that Atlantis was not rebuilt.
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2 comments:
I'm no expert on reclaiming lost cities, but I think a good solution would be too keep all the areas of New Orleans that did not flood (like the French Quarter, for example), and make these places really kick ass, but tear down everything that is below sea level. Then slowly build out into the below sea level areas but make them above sea level before erecting new buildings.
This could take decades, but what is the rush? Last I heard, something like half of the evacuees do not want to go back anyway.
Your logic is correct and with any other city then New Orleans, I would agree with you. But I just can't let New Orleans go, it's just too cool of a place, too unique to be replaced at some other location. I have to go back to Felixs and eat 40 raw oysters with 10 bottles of Dixie or Abbita within the next couple of years or I will go through withdrawal.
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