Since Hurricane Katrina, state, federal, and local officials have greatly strengthened storm protection around New Orleans. But have they prepared for the previous storm, and not for what climate change will bring with the next one?
A couple of summers ago, the University hosted an international graduate student workshop on the environmental humanities, that is, interdisciplinary examination of environmental questions from scholars of literature, philosophy, language disciplines, and the like. Not surprisingly, the group wanted to take a Mississippi River boat tour and I was invited along as the University’s resident “river guy.”