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US Environmental History Class at CSW
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#Post#: 429--------------------------------------------------
Re: #13: New Orleans and Katrina
By: yzhu2020 Date: March 5, 2019, 8:47 pm
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Is there an expectation that Environmental History will
retrospectively dictate what's right and wrong? Why or Why not?
I don't think one can say what is right or wrong about history
because history has shaped our thoughts today. Our perspective
of rights or wrong will change if history is not what it is now.
So there is of right or wrong - meaning there is no expectation.
Environmental history gives people the knowledge of how the
world had become what it is now - it does not tell people
whether or not an event is right or wrong.
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To be honest, before I never really understood when did the
Ninth Ward suddenly get so much attention because it only stood
for about three percent of the population; now I think that
racial and living-condition issues had made the Ninth Ward
"stand out". When hurricane Katrina came in, people started
focusing their attention on getting people out of New Orleans,
especially people who had great difficulties getting out - which
is why the Ninth Ward had received the attention.
Other than that aspect, this also made me think about why did
New Orleans get built in the first place if people knew that the
land condition is awful. The City of Nature reading answered my
question which is to business. I was a bit surprised at first
because I didn't know what types of businesses could be done but
then I realized that the Mississippi River played a big role in
the business part. The Mississippi River, "fronting New
Orleans", opened a channel for trade which was highly
significant back in the 18th century.
#Post#: 430--------------------------------------------------
Re: #13: New Orleans and Katrina
By: amacdonald Date: March 5, 2019, 8:49 pm
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To Zach: I was also very surprised when I read about the
challenges that the environment presents New Orleans. To answer
your question, I think that people worked so hard to build up
the city because of its proximity to the Mississippi River.
"In an era before railways, good highways, and long before air
travel, much of the interior of the nation’s commerce flowed
along the Mississippi, fronting New Orleans. The river system’s
inexorable downstream current swept cotton, grain, sugar, and an
array of other commodities to New Orleans’ door."
Even though the Mississippi provided a vital transportation
network that flowed right past the city, I still cannot
understand why a city would be built in a place that is so
objectively dangerous to the residents of the city. As is
mentioned in the article, "it is flood prone" and "it is located
along a well-worn pathway that tropical storms travel from the
Atlantic to the nation’s interior."
My question: The landscape of the environment around New Orleans
has been radically modified to help build up and protect the
city. If leaving the local environment alone presents a threat
to the people living there, is it justified to change the land
in the name of safety?
#Post#: 431--------------------------------------------------
Re: #13: New Orleans and Katrina
By: Annaliese Date: March 5, 2019, 9:47 pm
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I do think that there is an expectation that environmental
history will retrospectively dictate what is right and wrong.
The attitude that I got from the reading was in terms of the
flooding in New Orleans, whether areas were impacted the
greatest was seen as determined completely by chance. I don't
think anyone was really held accountable for the decision of
which areas to send help to - because that is not determined by
chance or by the environment, that is an ethical problem.
Obviously some areas got a lot more support than others and that
was seen as an environmental issue when I believe it was much
more an ethical one. I believe deciding to build a city in such
environmentally unstable areas regardless of whether it is a
good idea or not is a form of shifting responsibility away from
us (people who built the city) and blaming it on the effects of
the environment. New Orleans was built prior to the residents
gaining an understanding of the environmental dangers of
building there, but I think when building new developments there
needs to be a shift in how we think about building in unstable
places. Not taking responsibility for the effects of the
environment and building in places with a high potential for
flooding or natural disasters feels very irresponsible.
#Post#: 432--------------------------------------------------
Re: #13: New Orleans and Katrina
By: asantello Date: March 5, 2019, 9:50 pm
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So I originally passed, but after reading the responses I
couldn't help doing the readings, so here are a few thoughts.
Alex asked: If leaving the local environment alone presents a
threat to the people living there, is it justified to change the
land in the name of safety?
- I think it depends on what the population looks like and what
the alternate solutions are. For a city like New Orleans I think
it would be justifiable because of the amount of people. I don't
know what changes could be made, but I think at this point there
are enough people that they come first.
Like Alice the line “We finally cleaned up public housing. We
couldn’t do it, but God did” - Richard Baker stood out to me in
the worst way.
It reminded me so much of when John Smith said “God had laid
this country open for us, and slaine the most part of
inhabitants by civil warres and moral diseases.” That parallel
was so disgusting to realize and like Alice said this wasn't 50
or 250 years ago, but in our lifetimes.
Lastly what I was left thinking after The New Yorker article is
how would people react and be affected if this happens again in
New Orleans, since it seems like a very real possibility.
#Post#: 433--------------------------------------------------
Re: #13: New Orleans and Katrina
By: Ahmed_A Date: March 5, 2019, 10:38 pm
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I will be answering Sof's question about levees, which required
a quick additional research from: https:
//www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/levee/
Levees are walls built along edges of rivers that have high
chance of flooding. Artificial levees are from various types of
materials: soil, rocks, wood, or sand. Levees are not
invincible, however, which is evident by the many levees that
were shattered by Hurricane Katrina.
My question is: Through an environmental historian lenses, what
will be the future of New Orleans?[font=georgia][/font]
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