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NYTimes: It Takes a Neighborhood

admin — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:07:18 +0000

Author and urban critic Roberta Brandes Gratz shares her perspective on New Orleans’ urban renewal in her article It Takes a Neighborhood, published on NYTimes.com on September 29th, 2010. Small-scale, incremental changes enacted across the city, she says, can have far-reaching impacts. The potential of Dutch Dialogue proposals at the scale of the home and lot are one such example:

“The big question, of course, was how to take things to the next level, how to use the strength of local involvement to spur citywide change. Architect David Waggoner, for example, demonstrated how a waterfront city like New Orleans could “embrace water” by adopting an “ecological” instead of an “engineering” model for infrastructure. It doesn’t take the Army Corps of Engineers, he said. Both on a backyard and citywide level, Waggoner showed how many small adjustments in the landscape—uncovered bayous, porous driveways and streets and bioswales, among others—can become the basis of a more protective infrastructure.”

Unreliable Levees Not Only a Louisiana Phenomenon

admin — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:40:38 +0000

New Orleans’s protective levee system gained notoriety for its disastrous failure during Hurricane Katrina, but at-risk levees are not unique to the Mississippi delta. Although protective levees around the country may not risk failure in such dramatic fashion as those in New Orleans, the threat their failure poses to life and property is real and substantial. A recent story in USA Today, “Hundreds of Levees No Longer Reliable,” highlights FEMA’s downgrade of levee safety ratings in Arizona and California and illustrates the shared fate of all who live within levees.

“The Control of Nature: Atchafalaya” by John McPhee

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:45:20 +0000

New Yorker article by John McPhee entitled “The Control of Nature: Atchafalaya.” Published in 1987 but still fascinatingly relevant today.

At left, the Old River Control Structure prevents the Mississippi from jumping its channel into the Atchafalaya stream.

Lisa Jackson on Gulf Coast Wetland Restoration

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:57:42 +0000

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson writes about the priority of Gulf coast wetland restoration on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

“Five years after Hurricane Katrina, this administration remains committed to ensuring the vitality of the Gulf Coast, the prosperity of its economy and the health of its residents. Our work continues today, and will carry on until the area is back on the path to prosperity. One of the valuable lessons we’ve learned is that building safe, healthy communities means rebuilding and revitalizing the wetlands that are at the heart of the Gulf Coast.”

View the complete article here .

Before the BP Oil Disaster: Decades of Destruction

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:42:51 +0000

Environmental Defense Fund video, “Before the BP Oil Disaster: Decades of Destruction,” illustrates the long-term causes of wetland loss. The EDF partners with businesses, governments, and communities to find practical environmental solutions.

Dutch Dialogue Podcast from the American Planning Association

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:43:02 +0000

The American Planning Association has uploaded a series of podcasts and a short video that reflect upon the state of New Orleans at the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. In one recording, David Waggonner and Dale Morris, organizers of the Dutch Dialogues conferences, discuss the motivations behind the conferences and visions of the city going forward. David Waggonner concludes the conversation with the following remarks:

“I think New Orleans is in a process of adaptation. The changes we need to make are fundamental. But I believe they’re conceivable and I believe they’re achievable in time. I hope that we can learn from the past, that we can have some sort of ecological and communal memory of what’s happened and that we can learn from these events. I hope we can accept the fact that we’re part of this earth. I believe that New Orleans has to be rebalanced. I think that if it is rebalanced, if its place at the bottom of this American watershed is reinforced, if the vitality of the river is appreciated, then we have in urban design terms an achievable challenge. Where we no longer waste soil and ignore water, but start to say these are the most valuable things. And from that rebalancing this culture can grow back with new strength. I do hope that is the future for New Orleans.”

Listen to the full podcast and find additional Katrina Anniversary commentary from the APA here.

David Waggonner interviewed in Harry Shearer’s “The Big Uneasy”

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:53:47 +0000

An interview with David Waggonner is featured in Harry Shearer’s documentary entitled “The Big Uneasy.” The documentary premieres in theaters around the country for one night only on August 30th, 2010 to coincide with the five year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. From the documentary’s website:

“In short segments hosted by John Goodman, Shearer speaks candidly with local residents about life in New Orleans. Together, they explore the questions that Americans outside of the Gulf region have been pondering in the five years since Katrina: Why would people choose the live below sea level? Why is it important to rebuild New Orleans?”

More information, including a trailer, can be found at The Big Easy and on Harry Shearer’s website.

OpEdNews: Climate Change Begets Delta Urbanism

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 20:09:26 +0000

Residents of the Mississippi Delta can learn alot from the Dutch. Ongoing water management strategies in the Netherlands and related issues in and around New Orleans are discussed in Climate Change Begets Delta Urbanism, published by OpEdNews.com on August 1st, 2010.

Gulf of Mexico Pollution is Nothing New

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:12:23 +0000

Long before the BP oil disaster, pollution in the Gulf of Mexico was a chronic and serious problem. The July 29, 2010 New York Times’ article Gulf of Mexico Has Long Been Dumping Site describes decades of oil leaks, garbage dumping, and oxygen-sucking bacterial blooms that have become routine in the Gulf over previous decades. While subject to much of the same regulatory oversight as other major U.S. bodies of water, the Gulf suffers from underfunded environmental protection programs and a lax political culture that prioritizes business interests over ecosystem health. Despite deeply ingrained misconceptions about the infinite bounty of the Gulf, many local residents are increasingly aware of the direct relationship between environmental health and the safety and prosperity of all things – include humans – that live within it.

Image via The New York Times.

Delta Zones: Worldwide Online Forum for River Deltas

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:08:44 +0000

The World Estuary Alliance and the Delta Alliance have launched Delta Zones, an international collaborative forum to share information on common challenges and solutions in delta regions worldwide. According to the site, “River deltas around the world are encountering shared problems in the face of climate change, population growth, and increasing economic activities. There are countless information sources, organizations and activities addressing these shared problems, but they are not able to take full advantage of one another because information for most of them is not easy to find or to use. The Delta Zones site provides a platform for sharing and linking to information to support the symbiosis of the many activities ongoing in delta regions, reducing unnecessary overlap in efforts.”