The PCL Insider: News From The Capitol

SPECIAL EDITION: NOTES FROM NEW ORLEANS

This week, several PCL staff members have joined over 2,000 participants in New Orleans, Louisiana for the 3rd National Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Restoration.

It's been a journey of grief, inspiration and education.

Fifteen months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, an unmistakable sense of loss still permeates the Big Easy. Closed storefronts and "Help Wanted" signs abound in the city center, a reminder that over 100,000 residents have not returned home. Just beyond downtown, thick gray lines across abandoned buildings mark the height of the floodwaters. And in the neighborhoods of St. Bernard's Parish, Lakeview, and the Lower Ninth Ward, many houses still display a single spray-painted numeral to indicate the number of bodies that rescue workers found inside. At other sites there is only rumble. 

Yet despite the ongoing tragedies, Louisiana residents appear hopeful. Among the Christmas garlands and Cajun music there's talk of reestablished daily routines and a return to normalcy. On Saturday night, the New Orleans Superdome filled for the Louisiana high school football championships and the stadium halls rang with cheers of celebration. People seem just as willing to share their stories about Katrina as they are to talk about rebuilding the family home. 

That same strength of spirit seen in the streets of New Orleans is found in the policy makers, scientists, and environmentalists gathered here to discuss ecosystem restoration. While most admit that the challenges of environmental rehabilitation continue to grow, they speak with excitement about evolving institutional mentalities, new scientific discoveries, and growing popular support. Many report a rapid increase in public awareness of the effects of global warming and an appreciation of the role of wetlands in flood protection since Katrina. One panelist noted with pride that in a state poll of various rebuilding and restoration approaches, Louisianans strongly supported an integrated approach to flood management instead of the traditional emphasis on levee strengthening. In addition, a majority of Louisianans advocated for limits on development in floodplains to protect existing communities, a striking deviation from the historic valuation of local control and property-rights. No wonder there's such a buzz in the conference halls. 

PCL staff has been most impressed by the growing integration of climate change into restoration planning. "It's surprising to see so much climate science incorporated into new policies here in Louisiana. Clearly Katrina has demonstrated the consequences of global warming to the people of this state. California should use this as a model for reforming our own policies," explains PCL's Water Program Manager, Mindy McIntyre.

And there is hope that we might do just that. As plenary speaker Susanne Moser, Ph.D. noted, state leaders have tremendous power to shape cultural responses to global warming. She singled out California's state government leaders for their role in bringing global warming into statewide policy. With their continued support we can incorporate the lessons of Katrina as we work to implement California's new limit on greenhouse gas emissions, allocate $42 billion in infrastructure bonds, institute flood policy reforms, and protect California communities from environmental injustice.

Southern author and journalist Mike Tidwell closed yesterday's plenary session with an articulation of the risk of inaction. "We're all going to become New Orleanians if we don't start working on Climate Change."

Two years ago that statement would have produced puzzled stares. Today, looking out over one of the most irreplaceable cities in our great country and remembering the scenes of destruction, humiliation and death, it hits home and it hurts.

Hurricane Katrina was America's largest "un-natural" disaster, a product of human policies and practices that shaped the way "nature" affected this region. We have the opportunity to avoid these un-natural disasters if we join together and create a better way. The choice is up to us.