The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America’s Coastal Cities
The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America’s Coastal Cities – Review
Mike Tidwell correctly predicted that a Katrina-like storm would destroy New Orleans in his 2003 book “Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast.” He reportedly said in truth he hardly knew the disaster was going when he finally saw how much land had mysteriously vanished while doing a story on Louisiana’s coastal region for the Washington Post in the late 90s. There were also thousands of reports about the need for better levees and the refurbishment of the barrier islands. He reportedly said there was nothing “natural” about this disaster. Tidwell’s 2006 book “The Ravaging Tide” explains why Hurricane Katrina completely devastated New Orleans, shows how similar calamities will become more frequent and how we can prevent them. Using the study of Jared Diamond and Conrad Totman, Tidwell illustrates how history is simply repeating itself. Thankfully history also shows there are possible ways to prevent future disasters. Jared Diamond in his book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” shows how history is littered with people who finally allowed their society to participate in a method of group suicide. Sifting through the challenges and the reactions of the ancient Mayans of Central America, Greenland’s Vikings and the Polynesian group of Easter Island Diamond got common “interacting” factors that eventually brought them down. These originally included aggressive enemies, climate change, self imposed environment degradation and difficult changes in trading partners. For example the Easter Islanders cut down their giant palm trees although the fruit gave food and the trunks supplied wood for the canoes desperately needed to harpoon fish. The catastrophic soil erosion that resulted from the deforestation became agriculture impossible. By 1722 the island was a lunar landscape. Diamond says the Easter Islanders decision to pursue short-term gains at the rate of long-standing survival eventually led to their downfall. The leaders had individually wrapped themselves in the idea of eternal prosperity. Conrad Totman in his book “The Green Archipelago: Forestry in Prehistoric Japan” says that Japan teetered on the brink of ruin in the 1600s when soil erosion, floods, mudslides and empty farmland resulted after logging most of their other growth forests. But Japan’s collapse did not happen. They officially launched one of the most successful reforestation program in the world’s history. Today an truly astounding 70 percent of Japan is under forest cover? the most of any modern country in spite of having the main population density in the originally developed world. Tidwell shows how the Katrina catastrophe could have been effectively prevented. In the early 90s the Army Corps made modest dam-like structures in the Mississippi’s flood levees to control water flow through a string of pipes and canals. Satellite photos soon showed that the “diversion” project south of New Orleans built hundreds of acres of pristine marshland. With rising public and technical support a association of south Louisiana leaders drew together a master plan identified “Coast 2050: Toward a sustainable Coastal Louisiana” to enlarge the project. Federal officials under both Presidents Clinton and Bush initially denied the project due to its 14 billion price tag. Although the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), made up of thousands of climate scientists and scholars, said that one of the biggest global warming issues will be coastal flooding the 2005 post-Katrina emergency money was a dismal 250 million to fix broken levees, collapsed bridges and flawed evacuation plans. Tidwell says sea levels are widely expected to rise three feet within the eventually coming decades. Even the Bush administration, the major follower of the oil and coal industry, admits that global warming is real and is driven by our use of fossil fuels? oil, coal and natural gas. To prove that it’s possible to repair and protect our life-giving climate Tidwell and his family eventually switched to energy sources that don’t generate carbon dioxide. He recently bought a Toyota Prius gas-electric car and cut his home’s carbon emissions by ninety per cents in six months by currently using a combination of compact fluorescent light bulbs, larger appliance efficiency, a corn-burning stove for heating, a solar warm water system and rooftop solar panels for electricity. Without sacrificing comfort or convenience he currently saves around a 1,000 per year. The changes only cost him around 7,500 thanks to state and federal grants and tax credits (learn more at www.dsireusa.org). Tidwell says that over 100,000 American homeowners enjoy the cost effective rooftop photovoltaic (PV) solar panels and warm water systems. Also a million village homes in the growing world enjoy modest electrical power from small solar panels. Tidwell believes America can cut its expenditure of oil, coal and natural gas in a question of months without sacrificing an degree of comfort. Because of conservation, hybrid engines, industrial wind farms, biofuels, and lighter vehicle frames Europe is twice as efficient and clean. Although they use half the energy per capita as the United States they are really pushing for more cuts while currently continuing to grow Europe’s biggest general economy. Tidwell says most of our nations problems? health, public security, the economy and the environment flow from our public energy choices. Are we in America becoming to stubbornly stick to the use of fossil fuels even if it kills us?