Katrina's Lessons: Blowin' In the Wind
How many deaths does it take till we know
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind...
—Bob Dylan
By far the worst natural disaster in American history, Hurricane Katrina's statistics are grim: New Orleans under water, two states under martial law, thousands dead, perhaps a million people homeless. It may take months before order is restored and years before rebuilding is complete.
Katrina also seems to have generated her own category 5 political spin, with Democrats and Republicans accusing each other of inadequate planning and incompetent response. Incredibly, right wing media pundits have actually blamed the victims for failing to evacuate. FEMA officials, now under the aegis of Homeland Security, said that they couldn't respond in a timely fashion because the Governor of Louisiana didn't go through proper channels. Proper channels when all hell was breaking loose? Senator Hillary Clinton has called for a congressional inquiry. George Bush operative Karl Rove has counter-punched by placing fault with state officials. Then Bush took out political insurance by replacing his FEMA director and promising hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild. Stay tuned to see how this plays out in the next election cycle.
Whatever the spin, the Bush administration looks guilty of diverting FEMA money to the Iraq war instead of reinforcing Louisiana levees. "Are you safer now than you were four years ago?" Safer from what? Several years ago scientists had warned about the dangers of a Katrina-magnitude storm. And global warming has made future Katrinas much more likely. Like New Orleans, Amsterdam is also below sea level, but the Dutch government had made sea-wall protection a top priority. Where was our leadership? Our Nero was fiddling while Atlantis sank!
Why were emergency preparations so woefully inadequate? When natural disaster strikes in Castro's Cuba, an impoverished country where few of us would choose to live, the army helps shelter its citizens and offers to protect their possessions in guarded lockers. Yet here, in the Land of the Free, poor blacks and browns were neglected for days and left to drown. Institutional poverty and racism are so deeply imbedded in U.S. culture that we take them for granted. Now Katrina has blown us off our moral perch, and even President Bush was prompted to admit that "poverty has roots in racial discrimination."
And there is little profit incentive in emergency preparedness. The New York Stock Exchange held firm in the wake of Katrina's destruction, expressing confidence that a wide variety of industries would benefit greatly from the rebuilding effort. From the perspective of capital, the disruption, misery—even the major loss of life—is incidental, off the books. This is not cynicism, just corporate capitalism.
The day after Katrina, conservative commentator Paul Harvey noted that damage was so great that "126 Wal-Mart stores had to be closed." Harvey added that despite Wal-Mart's own troubles it was donating $1 million toward relief efforts. Magnanimous? With quarterly profits exceeding $2 billion, that's the equivalent of a person earning $80,000 making a tax-deductible donation of $10. Hardly newsworthy, except for the fact that Wal-Mart happens to be one of Mr. Harvey's sponsors.
Within the week Wal-Mart had upped their donation to $15 million. Better. The real generosity, however, has been pouring forth from private citizens who have opened their hearts, homes, and checkbooks in an unprecedented relief effort. The international response has been reassuring as well; even Castro offered to send medical doctors. Did Mr. Harvey mention that in his broadcast?
Unfortunately, Katrina is no isolated case of unpreparedness. Consider what might happen in California after a magnitude 8+ quake. Beyond the oft-described danger to life and property, the dirt levees protecting the Central Valley may also liquefy. Reverse osmosis would then suck seawater into the Valley, stranding perhaps 100,000 residents, ruining vast acres of prime farmland, and damaging major aqueducts, leaving 24 million Southern Californians without a source of drinking water. How many helicopters would it take to airlift bottled water to the entire state? In what country will our National Guard be stationed at the time?
Katrina should be California's wake-up call. The impending California disaster could be averted if the Central Valley levees were fortified with concrete. However, this would cost many billions and no politician wants to risk alienating taxpayers with this proposal—yet.
Right now there's a political mandate to rebuild New Orleans, but why repeat past mistakes? Let's build a green city, a showcase of sustainable living! Let's mix open space with clustered housing, establish live-work multi-use zoning with ample public transportation. We could improve urban lifestyles while actually lowering energy consumption! When the Louisiana levees are reinforced, additional funds should be allocated to restore Gulf Coast wetlands, too. Coastal wetlands not only preserve wildlife but also slow storms before they can ravage urban centers. And to borrow a mangled phrase from President Bush, "Make the pie higher!" Some buildings should be raised but much of the population should probably be relocated to higher ground. Will we have to wait until rising ocean levels and new Katrinas threaten New York, Atlanta, Charleston, and Los Angeles before this message finally sinks in?
As bad as Katrina was, it could have been much worse. The storm damaged several Southern oil refineries and almost destroyed a major gulf port pipeline network supplying 18% of our nation's oil. We came "this close" to a crippling gas shortage, not just outrageously priced gas. Mass media has conditioned us to worry about how we'd pay to fill our SUV's when we'd do better to conserve and downsize our rides. Or ask why we're so damned dependent on cars in the first place. Rather than colonizing oil-rich countries in the name of "democracy," our government should be helping to develop renewable alternatives. This would reduce global warming and, of course, diminish terrorist threats as well.
What big lesson can we learn from Katrina? A sustainable technological culture simply cannot survive without long-range central planning. Katrina should put to rest once and for all the neo-con myth that government should be "small enough to drown in a bathtub." Governments may wither, but it was the poor people of Louisiana who drowned. Beyond quarterly profit statements, beyond 5-year and 10-year economic plans, our leaders need to be savvy, humane visionaries who are capable of millennial planning.
Government's first responsibility is to protect its citizens—all its citizens—but Katrina has shown that the richest country in the history of the world is woefully inadequate. We must do better. We The People must demand leaders with an environmental ethos and a commitment to sustainable development. History is filled with stories of dead civilizations that failed to heed these lessons.
—Bart Brodsky, Publisher
OPEN EXCHANGE MAGAZINE
Send your comments to openexchange@earthlink.net. We'll publish your replies on these pages.
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NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) has a profound obligation to ensure that the environmental lessons of this disaster are not only learned, but that they are heard loud and clear in our nation's capital. Hurricane Katrina destroyed more than human lives and homes. She also blew away a decade's worth of denial of major environmental problems that confront America.
Katrina destroyed the fantasy that we can blithely go on increasing our dangerous dependence on oil — whether imported or domestic. Our oil-addicted economy is just too vulnerable to supply disruptions, as anyone who filled up their gas tank last week discovered. The solution is NOT to drill and destroy the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — or our beautiful coastlines — as many in Congress are now suggesting. Drilling in the Arctic would not have any impact on gas prices until 2025, and even then it would only reduce prices at the pump by a trivial 1.5 cents per gallon. Our nation simply does not have enough oil reserves to affect world oil prices. The only way out of this mess is to reduce our appetite for oil by improving the fuel economy of our vehicles (which consume 40 percent of our oil) and by relying on smarter, cleaner and renewable ways to power our economy.
Katrina also exposed the fiction that we can dredge, bulldoze and fill millions of acres of coastal wetlands without paying a price. Wetland ecosystems are Mother Nature's perfect buffer against catastrophic storm surges. Destroy that buffer and you destroy the last line of defense, not only for New Orleans but for a host of other American cities. In this case, as in so many others, what's good for the wildlife of coastal America is also indispensable to its people. We are part of nature.
Katrina demolished the pretense that we needn't reckon with global warming. While no single hurricane can be directly linked to global warming, climate scientists agree that we are entering an epoch of warming oceans, rising sea levels and much more intense storms. We know full well what kind of pollution controls are required to reverse this trend. If we don't act, Katrina will be our future. You can't say she didn't warn us.
Finally, Katrina tore the lid off one of our nation's most shameful truths: that petrochemical plants, toxic waste sites, oil refineries and other industrial threats to human health are most often sited next to low-income minority communities. The rest of America regularly averts its eyes from this injustice. But with the poorest neighborhoods of New Orleans drowning in a hazardous sea of fuel, sewage and chemicals, it's hard not to notice just which of our citizens are paying the ultimate price.
Oil addiction. Wetland destruction. Global warming. Environmental injustice. You're well aware that NRDC has been working for years to awaken America to these terrible problems and to champion urgently needed solutions. But Katrina has changed everything. The public is finally paying attention. And officials in Washington are looking to respond.
Our challenge is making sure our leaders take away the right lessons from this disaster and respond with real solutions, not with the old ways of thinking or business-as-usual giveaways to well-connected industries.
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 Dick Cheney left and right |
 All-left-brain Cheney |
 All-right-brain Cheney |
Although we often think of ourselves as perfectly symmetrical creatures, with two identical arms, legs, eyes, and ears, in fact our two sides are not quite the same. Not only are our internal organs such as heart, stomach, and intestines unique, but so are our left and right brain lobes. The right side of our brain, which controls the left side of our body, expresses our more artistic, intuitive nature. By contrast, the left side of our brain, controlling our right side, is more analytical, rational, and assertive. With apologies to Vice President Dick Cheney, chosen here because of his obviously less-than-symmetrical facial features, we manipulated the above photos to demonstrate what an "all-left-brain" Cheney and an "all-right- brain" Cheney would look like. Would an all-left-brain, passive looking Cheney be a more compassionate leader? Would the slightly scary all-right-brain Cheney be able to control his natural aggressions? And what does this say to the rest of us about balancing reason and emotion? If you have access to a computer try this with your own digital photographs. You might surprise yourself! |
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As reported in the environmental magazine Grist(www.grist.org), there is little debate about global warming in Europe. While Americans are still in denial or dithering, Europeans are already adapting to it. Swedish foresters are being told to plant trees that will thrive in warmer temperatures. Planners of a new subway system in Copenhagen, Denmark, raised all structures to accommodate an anticipated 1.5-foot rise in sea level over the next century. New docks in Hamburg, Germany, and Rotterdam, Netherlands, are also being built with rising oceans in mind. Austrian ski resorts short on snow are planning hiking trails and golf courses.
Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the European Environment Agency, says Europe's Arctic and southernmost reaches are especially vulnerable to global warming. Changing conditions may turn people from those regions into climate refugees, forced to move toward the continent's center. "Our resilience is quite low," she says.
Sources: www.grist.org
International Herald Tribune, September 13, 2005
We're All Chemically Sensitive!
According to the environmental magazine Grist (www.grist.org), micro-exposure to common chemicals may cause big health problems.
The Wall Street Journal, not typically known for its sympathy to green issues, had a blockbuster piece of environmental reporting on July 25, 2005. In the first part of an ongoing series, it describes new research on low-level exposure to common industrial chemicals.
Turns out assumptions that have guided decades of public policy may be wrong: Micro-doses of some chemicals — minute exposures most people receive just by being alive in modern times, long considered physically insignificant— may cause serious health problems. Researchers think low-dose exposures may help explain increasing rates of autism, breast cancer, and other diseases.
The implications for health and safety regulations are profound, but not all governments are reacting with equal force. Japan and the European Union have already put some notable restrictions in place, while the Bush administration is downplaying low-dose data, saying there's no solid proof of a problem.
Sources: www.grist.org
The Wall Street Journal, Peter Waldman, July 25, 2005.
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HomeOwner Tips: Green Do-It-Yourself Projects
Making your house more environmentally friendly can help save money, save the environment, and save your health at the same time! Here are some popular green projects that you can do yourself:
Lighting: More than 90 percent of the energy produced by incandescent lights is heat, not light, so replace fixtures with more efficient bulbs. Compact fluorescent bulbs fit into an incandescent socket and operate on a quarter of the energy used by incandescents, lasting ten times longer.
Plumbing: When replacing your toilet, conserve water by purchasing a low-flow toilet, which can save around 4 gallons (15 litres) of water per flush. And while you're at it, add an aerator to your faucets. Inexpensive low-flow aerators are easy to install and can cut water use by half or more.
Painting: Many paints contain chemicals called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and other toxic components which evaporate and can hurt your indoor air quality and aggravate asthma and allergies. Ask for low or no-VOC paints at your paint store, and choose water-based paints over oil.
Flooring: Bamboo is an environmentally friendly substitute for hardwood that provides the hardness and convenience of traditional wood flooring at about the same price. Bamboo renews itself more quickly than hardwood trees. Look for flooring with formaldehyde-free pre-finish and low formaldehyde-adhesive emissions.
Given the growing popularity of green homes, these improvements may increase your home's value, too!
Source: The Home Owner Tips Newsletter, www.housevalues.com.
The phrase "Free Agent Aation" was popularized by Daniel Pink in the boom times of 2001 to describe employees who saw themselves essentially as independent contractors, flitting between salaried jobs and self-employment, trading the illusion of lifetime job security at one company for the freedom and fulfillment of controlling their own fate.
Turns out, this was no mere New Economy hallucination. Several recent studies, including a 2004 University of Zurich survey of workers in 23 countries, have found that the self-employed are substantially more satisfied than people who labor for someone else, even if they work more and earn less.
If you've ever had an encounter with a bored checkout clerk or a surly postal employee, you already know this!
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Source: Money, September 2005.
For all those frustrated Democrats who are still considering a move to Canada, the web site ePodunk.com offers a few closer alternatives.
Their list of "Most Liberal Places in America" is based not on opinion polls, which have come under fire in recent elections, but on votes, political contributions, and demographics. ePodunk's evaluations include individual contribution to PACs, national and congressional election returns, local officials performing gay marriages, and local government resolutions opposing combat in Iraq.
Their top 10 big liberal cities (100,000 or more) are: Boston, MA; Cambridge, MA; Berkeley, CA; Oakland, CA; San Francisco, CA; New Haven, CT; Providence, RI; New York, NY; Baltimore, MD; Seattle, WA. Hey, how did the Bay Area get edged out by Boston and Cambridge?
The top 10 Medium Cities (25,000-99,999): Northampton, MA; Somerville, MA; Arlington, MA; Watertown, MA; Santa Cruz, CA; Alameda, CA; Ithaca, NY; Portland, ME; East Palo Alto, CA; Chelsea, MA.
Among small cities (Under 25,000), Albany, CA, ranked third, behind Provincetown, MA, and Mount Ranier, MD. Among the most liberal cities in selected states: Flagstaff, AZ; Telluride, CO; Lawrence, KS; Ithaca, NY.
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Source: www.epodunk.com/top10/liberal.
The conservative folks at www.freerepublic.com, say there's no contest: Ithaca, New York, is the most liberal city in the United States and thereby dubbed the "City of Evil."
Ithica was originally called "Sodom" in frontier days and is home to Lucifer Falls. Ithaca's two colleges, Cornell U and Ithaca College (which flies the gay flag over its campus), insure that a disproportionate amount of "ivory tower liberals" dominate the city. Politics in Ithaca runs the gamet from "liberal" to "communist." For years, the town had an openly socialist mayor. Ithaca is so "Green" that Ralph Nader got more votes in Ithaca than George W. Bush, and the NYS Green Party held its 2002 nominating convention there.
The liberals who dominate Ithaca work overtime to impose their "ultra liberal agenda." As the local newspaper recently put it, "In most places, youngsters spend their summers camping, or at the mountains or the beach. In Ithaca, they learn how to become social activists."
The School District has mandated that elementary school students in the first and second grades be graded on how well they "respect others of varying cultures, genders, experiences, and abilities." It's even listed on the schools' report card. Despite this "alleged tolerance," Free Republic reports that a student who was found reading the bible on her lunch hour was chatised for doing so. Another was directed not to bring a book about Christmas to school.
As a result of its unfettered liberalism, Ithaca was voted most enlightened city in America by the "ultra left" Utne Reader. From the right, this makes Ithaca the "City of Evil."
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Source: www.freerepublic.com.
Five women and three men — ranging from a professional dancer to a veterinary student — have put themselves on display as the London Zoo's resident Homo Sapiens exhibit. The posse of fit and frolicking humans, barely clad in bathing suits pinned with fake fig leaves, has been treated much as other zoo critters. Zookeepers have been providing enrichment toys to keep them entertained and occupied, like hula hoops and paints, and a soccer ball to encourage exercise. "It is important to keep the weight off them," said keeper Jo Cook. The human display is part of an effort by the Zoological Society of London, which runs the zoo, to highlight humanity's role as a "plague species" driving thousands of other species toward extinction. But the message may have been lost on a few visitors, like 11-year-old Rory McDonald, who wanted to join the humans on display. "It looks like Baywatch up there. And they even get a better view of the monkeys."
Sources: www.grist.org
The Independent, August 27, 2005
The Guardian, August 26, 2005.
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