There was a great 30 minute program on
PBS tonight on the NOW program
that talked about how the original Frenchman
who decided to build there came in the Fall
when it was dry, but by the spring the city
flooded and they started to build a levee.
They have been interfering with the Mississippi
ever since for more than 300 years.
The program said that the US Corp of Engineers
was so proud of the work they did with the levees
but this completely messed up the natural flow
from the Mississippi that was building up
the marshes for 3000 years.
They have been loosing their marshes at the rate
of one football field a day for years, if I am heard right.
This was the buffer against storms.
In 2002, they did an outrageous experiment to allow
the Mississippi to flood and this showed it could revive
the marshland protection.
They did a total study of what would happen if a big
storm hit, and pinpointed exactly what would happen
as it happened this week!!!
They had all the money set up to go into fixing the natural
situation, but because of homeland security, they put the focus
on terrorism.
The President took tons of money away from the marsh
revival that all all in place.
You can read the whole story of this environmental
mess on
http://www.pbs.org
and then go to the NOW
program.
This was the show that Bill Moyer used to do before
he retired.
eg