GRN and the Charitable Film Network awarded its competition’s grand prize to the short film, “The Human Cost,” by Edward Holub and Christian Roselund. The film highlights Hurricane Gustav’s devastating impact on the Native American Pointe Au Chien Tribe and the residents of Chauvin, LA, juxtaposed with the impacts of the oil and gas industry’s destructive footprint on Louisiana’s coast.
Listen to Levees.org on Garland today
H.J. Bosworth Jr. takes a question at a press conference. Photo by Stanford Rosenthal 8-08
H.J. Bosworth Jr., lead researcher and senior member of Levees.org will be on Garland today (Friday) at 12:10p along with members of the Louisiana Congressional Delegation.
That’s 870 AM and 105.3 FM.
According the station’s producer, Garland wants to discuss this: The Army Corp already said the pumps on the 17th Street Canal are temporary & risky, so why did they actively work to kill the “Pump to the River” flood protection plan?
New data sheds light on Georgia flooding
Shirley Laska at book signing for Catastrophe in the Making; photo by Hubie Vigreux 9-22-09
Updated June 30, 2014.
Levees.org discovered in a FOIA request dated March 6, 2009 that the majority of the nation’s population, 54.83% (156,615,630 people) lives in counties protected by levees.
This figure is much higher than the percentage reported last year (43%) in a June 2008 briefing to Congress.
Manmade levees, like navigational channels, highways and dams are alterations to a region’s hydrological character and landscape, and if done irresponsibly can be devastating. This may be what happened in north Georgia.
Jacqui Jeras, CNN meteorologist, said the urbanization of Atlanta and its suburban sprawl also contributed to the floods. “There used to be a lot more earth and soil to help absorb this stuff,” she said. “But the rain really fell on the concrete jungle.”
Sociologist Shirley Laska and author of just released Catastrophe in the Making, told Levees.org that residential development is at the core of the methods that many communities use to grow their tax base.
It is a very powerful driver and participants are often regional, even national interests in conjunction with local, “growth machine” interests. The predictions of flooding are usually conservative and not stable: development adds to more flooding because wetlands are targeted (thus losing the absorption quality) and surfaces are covered by “big boxes,” streets, homes etc. so the flooding gets worse.
This new data reaffirms the importance of understanding that levee failure and flooding is not a strictly New Orleans nor a coastal problem. Levee failure and flooding can happen in every continental US state.
