Hurricane Katrina
Our hearts and actions are with the millions of people affected by Hurricane Katrina. Like you, those of us in the National Wildlife Federation family are making a donation to organizations like the American Red Cross. We are also collecting clothing, toys, and essential items to ship to shelters.
Being National Wildlife Federation, our thoughts also turn to conservation, the factors that contributed to increased severity of the storm and its impacts, and what we can do now and in the future.
At one time, there were extensive wetlands around New Orleans which provided a natural resilience to storms. In total, about fifty miles of marshland once protected New Orleans from the Gulf. All along the coastline, millions of bowing trees and billions of bending marsh-grass stems once absorbed wind energy and blunted storm surges. In recent years, half of those acres have been lost. Because scientists have estimated that every three miles of healthy wetlands could trim about one foot off a storm surge, we must restore these wetlands.
One cause of decreased wetlands is the construction of levees along the Mississippi River causing a decade’s worth of sediment and nutrients to go straight down the channel and out to the Gulf. If not for these levees, the river would have spread its life-giving load to nourish the marshes and replenish the barriers islands between New Orleans and the Gulf.
Without these nutrients and sediments, Coastal Louisiana - the delta - has been eroding at the rate of 25 square miles per year. A more healthy system of wetlands, marshes and islands between New Orleans and the Gulf almost certainly would have slowed down the storm and dampened the surge. Much of nature’s shock absorber has been lost in Coastal Louisiana and must be restored. To go in-depth, read in our pages dedicated to restoring these wetlands.
In all likelihood, global warming, also made the impact of the storm more severe. The Gulf is 2 degrees warmer than average and sea levels are rising. Warm water is like high octane fuel to a tropical storm or hurricane.
Every coastal community in America may face more intense storms as the oceans continue to warm and to rise in the decades ahead. We need to help people in every coastal community develop plans to protect against these storms. We also need to better understand how natural storm patterns are amplified by global warming and exacerbated by human coastal activities.
One way we know to help confront global warming is to continue to lobby for the enactment of the McCain Lieberman Climate Stewardship Law to address global warming will be more essential in the days ahead. To learn more about this important legislation, please continue reading on our global warming pages.
Beyond the storm itself, much of the country is being hit by spikes in already-high gas prices, partly due to the fact that the hurricane struck drilling platforms and refineries. This underscores our pressing need, as a nation, to free ourselves from dependence on oil.
At this time, we need to continue to vigorously oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge not just because it threatens one of America’s finest wildlife refuges but because it commits the U. S. to more carbon pollution and global warming that will threaten every coastal community.
Instead of drilling in the Arctic, the US needs to adopt an energy plan that implements an energy efficiency strategy that will save more oil than we can ever produce in the Arctic and do it in half the time that it will take to produce the first barrel of arctic oil. To learn more about how you can take part in this campaign, please visit Arctic Promise.
Those of us in the NWF family grieve at the recent devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the prolonged suffering that so many are enduring. This recent tragedy along the Gulf Coast reminds us that coastal restoration is not just about ecological health but about the health and safety of coastal communities. Together, let’s learn from recent events, change our energy future and restore much needed protective wetlands.
