Wednesday, December 9, 2009

New Orleans a test case for global warming

Tom Darden, executive director of Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, has some pertinent comments on CNN’s website: …Working with the Lower 9th Ward community, with families who lost everything in Katrina, with cutting-edge architects and inventive builders, we learned some truths and made some discoveries we would like to share with the climate change negotiators in Copenhagen:

…It is not enough to attack what causes global warming; we also must prepare to live with it. We must reduce carbon emissions and adapt to the changing climate.

…People will go home, even if home is in harm's way. The pull of family, friends and happy memories proved irresistible for many in the Lower 9th Ward. The common history and culture of any community will keep people living in flood plains, along earthquake faults, and on shorelines, if those places are home.

More people are moving into harm's way. The number of people who live at the water's edge will continue to grow. The Lower 9th Ward is not unique -- more than 50 percent of America's population lives within 50 miles of a coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The same percentage applies to the world's population.

…Solutions exist to protect people and allow them to live safely in their homes. The consequences of climate change require every community to make changes that will increase safety and survivability. In post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, we are building affordable homes designed to use less energy, reduce carbon emissions and run on solar power, as well as weather the next storm.

Our storm-resistant features include high foundations to keep homes well above base flood levels; hurricane-resistant fabric to protect windows; increased structural durability to withstand 130-mph or higher winds; and access to the rooftop -- because so many of Katrina's victims died trapped in their attics. This approach should be adopted by coastal-area builders around the globe.

Government has a unique and powerful role to play. Individual actions add up, but they pale compared to the reach and resources of government. We saw firsthand after Katrina how deadly and devastating it can be for a government to fail its citizens.

…It is time for the world's governments to step up. We are facing the most serious challenge to the health and well-being of the world since World War II. But instead of putting shoulders to the wheel, the leaders of the world are busy lowering expectations and tempering outcomes....

Damage in the Lower Ninth Ward, after Katrina, shot by a FEMA employee

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