http://eco-chick.com/2008/04/24/katrinas-damage-due-to-destruction-of-wetlands/ Because Mother Earth Is A Woman Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://eco-chick.com/2008/04/24/katrinas-damage-due-to-destruction-of-wetlands/#comment-543395 Leslie @ the oko box Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:07:47 +0000 http://eco-chick.com/2008/04/24/katrinas-damage-due-to-destruction-of-wetlands/#comment-543395 Having grown up in New Orleans, and lived there more then half my life - this is a subject which always gets me going. The areas of New Orleans which were destroyed by the storm were originally wetlands, and were not somewhere you would want to live unless you had one of the cajun swamp houses that actually do float. When i saw that Brad Pitt was re-building houses in the 9th ward area of new Orleans I was totally baffled by his choice of location to build sustainable housing. The reason this land flooded and was poverty stricken is because the land was not suitable for building in the first place (poor people couldn't afford to build anywhere else). To re-build sustainable (or otherwise) housing where the area is destine to be flooded over and over again defeats the purpose of eco-housing. These are areas that have nearly no drainage and can not handle even a common thunderstorm without flooding, because it is swampland. They built the levees to keep the natural drainage/ebb & flow of the Mississippi River and the Lake from creeping into those now suburbanized areas...which is/was a disaster waiting to happen. I find it interesting in 1910 that they were describing it almost like some future paradise for the wealthy, when it was always from the start nothing more then a dangerous place to shove the poor away from town. Unless those new eco houses have a boat motor on the back, and can float - their sustainable future may be quite short... no matter how high of stilts they build them on. Having grown up in New Orleans, and lived there more then half my life - this is a subject which always gets me going. The areas of New Orleans which were destroyed by the storm were originally wetlands, and were not somewhere you would want to live unless you had one of the cajun swamp houses that actually do float. When i saw that Brad Pitt was re-building houses in the 9th ward area of new Orleans I was totally baffled by his choice of location to build sustainable housing. The reason this land flooded and was poverty stricken is because the land was not suitable for building in the first place (poor people couldn’t afford to build anywhere else). To re-build sustainable (or otherwise) housing where the area is destine to be flooded over and over again defeats the purpose of eco-housing. These are areas that have nearly no drainage and can not handle even a common thunderstorm without flooding, because it is swampland. They built the levees to keep the natural drainage/ebb & flow of the Mississippi River and the Lake from creeping into those now suburbanized areas…which is/was a disaster waiting to happen.
I find it interesting in 1910 that they were describing it almost like some future paradise for the wealthy, when it was always from the start nothing more then a dangerous place to shove the poor away from town.
Unless those new eco houses have a boat motor on the back, and can float - their sustainable future may be quite short… no matter how high of stilts they build them on.

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