That bitch Katrina
So much is being said about the relatively biblical destruction of a large part of the gulf coast that I feel I must chime in.
First the immediate... Apparently the city of New Orleans is a total mess; to the extent that members of congress are suggesting that rebuilding would be a waste of resources (since there is no way to prevent a similar catastrophe next hurricane season, and every one after that). What a tragedy. From what I hear, the people that have been hardest hit by the destruction and displacement are those who could least afford it, and considering the high value of the dollar in our current political climate I worry that they're going to be stomped again when it's all over and the government decides on a permanent solution.
I read a piece on Fark today that made reference to this sort of event as a "third world" disaster. Fuck you, whoever wrote that. News flash: mother nature doesn't give two shakes about GDP. It actually seems poetic to me that one of the countries most responsible for damaging the biosphere should be the first to suffer a major climatological disaster. Somehow I doubt that anyone in government will connect this sort of event to the Kyoto Accords though.
It's too soon to think about that right now anyway. According to the Times, conditions on the ground are something akin to one of those countries the US is "rebuilding" on the other side of the world right now. There have been concerns over typhoid and cholera from dead bodies floating in the stagnant water, widespread looting, and outbreaks of predatory violence against civilians, emergency personnel, and representatives of the media. Security is enough of a concern that NBC detached it's own personnel to protect its reporters/crews because there just aren't enough National Guardsmen to maintain the peace. The good news? Those National Guard personnel have succeeded in preventing the same sort of thing from happening in a dusty, oil-rich country on the other side of the world. At least for today...
First the immediate... Apparently the city of New Orleans is a total mess; to the extent that members of congress are suggesting that rebuilding would be a waste of resources (since there is no way to prevent a similar catastrophe next hurricane season, and every one after that). What a tragedy. From what I hear, the people that have been hardest hit by the destruction and displacement are those who could least afford it, and considering the high value of the dollar in our current political climate I worry that they're going to be stomped again when it's all over and the government decides on a permanent solution.
I read a piece on Fark today that made reference to this sort of event as a "third world" disaster. Fuck you, whoever wrote that. News flash: mother nature doesn't give two shakes about GDP. It actually seems poetic to me that one of the countries most responsible for damaging the biosphere should be the first to suffer a major climatological disaster. Somehow I doubt that anyone in government will connect this sort of event to the Kyoto Accords though.
It's too soon to think about that right now anyway. According to the Times, conditions on the ground are something akin to one of those countries the US is "rebuilding" on the other side of the world right now. There have been concerns over typhoid and cholera from dead bodies floating in the stagnant water, widespread looting, and outbreaks of predatory violence against civilians, emergency personnel, and representatives of the media. Security is enough of a concern that NBC detached it's own personnel to protect its reporters/crews because there just aren't enough National Guardsmen to maintain the peace. The good news? Those National Guard personnel have succeeded in preventing the same sort of thing from happening in a dusty, oil-rich country on the other side of the world. At least for today...
