The song quoted in the title, Louisiana 1927, by the great songwriter and musician Randy Newman, was originally written about the great Mississippi River flood of 1927 and was trotted out again after the engineering disaster that was Hurricane Katrina, seems to be more prophetic than ever.
New Orleans' daily newspaper, The Times-Picayune recently ran a three-day series that explains in painful detail the potentially dire consequences for South Louisiana if global warming, sea level rise and land subsidence are allowed to continue unabated. We go under. Water that is. A 3 foot rise in sea level means that most of Southern Louisiana goes under and if all the ice on the planet melts, sea levels rise 328 feet and most of the Southern United States goes under along with many other places around the world.
The series offers up some hope for our future as well. Read it here:
http://www.nola.com/coastal/
Don't think that the Times Picayune has the truth about one very possible future for our state locked up. The excellent blog badastronomy.com at (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/) reports that "scientists have just announced they have found strong evidence to support..." the link between global warming and stronger storms.
Read more here:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/12/19/linking-global-warming-and-severe-storms/
The only consolation for us is that the worst case scenario might not happen for another 100 years or more. Then again it might happen sooner. Let's hope we still have time to do something about this.
The New Orleans Group of the Delta Chapter (Louisiana) of the Sierra Club
Protecting New Orleans' Environment:
For Our Families, For Our Future
