Document Type

Newsletter

Publication Date

Fall 2013

Abstract

To the people of coastal Louisiana, the realities of climate change namely sea level rise and its effect on hurricane storm surge and coastal land loss have arrived. At first the damage and loss were seen as a result of yet another event in the normal cycle of hurricane damage that has plagued inhabitants of the area ever since humans came to it. The new reality, however, is different. These cyclonic events are threatening the very existence of both the large metropolitan areas in coastal Louisiana as well as the small, indigenous and‘historied’ commercial and subsistence fishing communities. This is happening by virtue of the amount of destruction and the way that it is happening with storms of varying force and speed, not just the mega storms like Katrina. Every storm is affecting the area. A slow moving, stalled Category 1 can bring on as much damage as a fast moving Category 3. The area is simply subject to new risks and is vulnerable in new ways. To have both the scientists and the national media recognize this condition, is to bring the reality to a more conscious recognition both by the residents and by those concerned with climate change.

Journal Name

Canadian Risk and Hazards Newsletter, Vol. 5, No. 1

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