tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/new-orleans-10991/articlesNew Orleans – The Conversation2024-03-13T12:45:24Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222472024-03-13T12:45:24Z2024-03-13T12:45:24ZBuyouts can bring relief from medical debt, but they’re far from a cure<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577693/original/file-20240223-20-aiwmsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C15%2C5145%2C3462&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Medical debt can have devastating consequences.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/stethscope-on-pile-of-us-banknotes-royalty-free-image/153349316">PhotoAlto/Odilon Dimier via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/press-release/1-in-10-adults-owe-medical-debt-with-millions-owing-more-than-10000/#:%7E:text=Americans%20Likely%20Owe%20Hundreds%20of,who%20owe%20more%20than%20%2410%2C000.">One in 10 Americans</a> carry medical debt, while <a href="https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2022/sep/state-us-health-insurance-2022-biennial-survey">2 in 5</a> are underinsured and at risk of not being able to pay their medical bills.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.31898">This burden</a> <a href="https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/podcast/2023/oct/how-medical-debt-makes-people-sicker-what-we-can-do-about-it">crushes millions</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2023.00604">of families</a> under mounting bills and contributes to the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.31898">widening gap</a> between rich and poor. </p>
<p>Some relief has come with a wave of debt buyouts by <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/03/10/local-communities-are-buying-medical-debt-for-pennies-on-the-dollar-and-freeing-american-families-from-the-threat-of-bankruptcy/">county and city governments</a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-georgia-nonprofits-2a5c3afc4a646d489242bd99eb6652fc">charities</a> and even <a href="https://www.wmdt.com/2024/01/chick-fil-a-pays-medical-debt-on-delmarva/">fast-food restaurants</a> that pay pennies on the dollar to clear enormous balances. But as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cGZVMkoAAAAJ&hl=en">health policy and economics researcher</a> who studies out-of-pocket medical expenses, I think these buyouts are only a partial solution.</p>
<h2>A quick fix that works</h2>
<p>Over the past 10 years, the nonprofit <a href="https://ripmedicaldebt.org/">RIP Medical Debt</a> has emerged as the leader in making buyouts happen, using <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/01/us/medical-debt-campaigns-give-back-trnd/index.html">crowdfunding campaigns</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/06/john-oliver-medical-debt-forgiveness-last-week-tonight">celebrity engagement</a>, and partnerships in the private and public sectors. It connects charitable buyers with hospitals and debt collection companies to arrange the sale and erasure of large bundles of debt. </p>
<p>The buyouts focus on low-income households and those with extreme debt burdens. You can’t sign up to have debt wiped away; you just get notified if you’re one of the lucky ones included in a bundle that’s bought off. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services <a href="https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/hospitals-can-sell-patient-bad-debt-to-charitable-orgs-oig-says">reviewed this strategy</a> and determined it didn’t violate anti-kickback statutes, which reassured hospitals and collectors that they wouldn’t get in legal trouble partnering with RIP Medical Debt. </p>
<p>Buying a bundle of debt saddling low-income families can be a bargain. Hospitals and collection agencies are typically <a href="https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2023/09/21/buy-and-sell-medical-debt-health-care">willing to sell</a> the debt for <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/08/medical-bill-debt-collection/596914/">steep discounts</a>, even <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/03/10/local-communities-are-buying-medical-debt-for-pennies-on-the-dollar-and-freeing-american-families-from-the-threat-of-bankruptcy/">pennies on the dollar</a>. That’s a great return on investment for philanthropists looking to make a big social impact.</p>
<p>And it’s not just charities pitching in. <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/01/23/1225014618/nyc-joins-a-growing-wave-of-local-governments-erasing-residents-medical-debt">Local governments</a> across the country, from <a href="https://arpa.cookcountyil.gov/medical-debt-relief-initiative">Cook County, Illinois</a>, to <a href="https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2023/05/23/new-orleans-medical-debt-forgiveness">New Orleans</a>, have been directing <a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-care-costs-boston-toledo-e423c64c1322bc8e4254b7a70b1da50c">sizable public funds</a> toward this cause. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/nyregion/medical-debt-forgiveness.html">New York City</a> recently announced plans to buy off the medical debt for half a million residents, at a cost of US$18 million. That would be the largest public buyout on record, although Los Angeles County may trump New York if it <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-04/la-county-buy-forgive-medical-debt-how-work">carries out its proposal</a> <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/la-county-considering-plan-to-erase-medical-debt-for-residents/">to spend</a> $24 million to help 810,000 residents erase their debt.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2wSarEVgjM0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">HBO’s John Oliver has collaborated with RIP Medical Debt.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nationally, RIP Medical Debt has helped clear more than <a href="https://ripmedicaldebt.org/about/">$10 billion</a> in debt over the past decade. That’s a huge number, but a small fraction of the estimated <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/the-burden-of-medical-debt-in-the-united-states/">$220 billion</a> in medical debt out there. Ultimately, prevention would be better than cure.</p>
<h2>Preventing medical debt is trickier</h2>
<p>Medical debt has been a persistent <a href="https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_medical-debt-burden-in-the-united-states_report_2022-03.pdf">problem over the past decade</a> even after the reforms of the 2010 Affordable Care Act <a href="http://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsr1406753">increased</a> <a href="http://doi.org/doi:10.1001/jama.307.9.913">insurance</a> <a href="http://doi.org/doi:10.1001/jama.2015.8421">coverage</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2020.0031">made a dent</a> in debt, especially in states that <a href="http://doi.org/10.3386/w22170">expanded</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.8694/">Medicaid</a>. A recent <a href="https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2022/sep/state-us-health-insurance-2022-biennial-survey">national survey by the Commonwealth Fund</a> found that 43% of Americans lacked adequate insurance in 2022, which puts them at risk of taking on medical debt. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, it’s incredibly difficult to close coverage gaps in the patchwork American insurance system, which ties eligibility to employment, income, age, family size and location – all things that can change over time. But even in the absence of a total overhaul, there are several policy proposals that could keep the medical debt problem from getting worse.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/Which%20County%20Characteristics%20Predict%20Medical%20Debt.pdf">Medicaid expansion</a> has been shown to reduce uninsurance, underinsurance and medical debt. Unfortunately, insurance gaps are likely to get worse in the coming year, as states <a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/10-things-to-know-about-the-unwinding-of-the-medicaid-continuous-enrollment-provision/">unwind their pandemic-era Medicaid rules</a>, leaving millions without coverage. Bolstering Medicaid access in the <a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map/">10 states</a> that haven’t yet expanded the program could go a long way.</p>
<p>Once patients have a medical bill in hand that they can’t afford, it can be tricky to navigate financial aid and payment options. Some states, like <a href="https://medicaldebtpolicyscorecard.org/state/MD">Maryland</a> and <a href="https://medicaldebtpolicyscorecard.org/state/CA">California</a>, are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.23061">ahead of the curve</a> <a href="https://medicaldebtpolicyscorecard.org/">with policies</a> that make it easier for patients to access aid and that rein in the use of liens, lawsuits and other aggressive collections tactics. More states could follow suit.</p>
<p>Another major factor driving underinsurance is <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/06/16/1104679219/medical-bills-debt-investigation#:%7E:text=For%20many%20Americans%2C%20the%20combination,slightly%20lower%20than%20the%20uninsured.">rising out-of-pocket costs</a> – like high deductibles – for those with private insurance. This is especially a concern for <a href="https://www.chiamass.gov/assets/docs/r/pubs/2020/High-Deductable-Health-Plans-CHIA-Research-Brief.pdf">low-wage</a> <a href="https://www.ajmc.com/view/financial-burden-of-healthcare-utilization-in-consumer-directed-health-plans">workers</a> who live paycheck to paycheck. More than half of large employers believe their employees <a href="https://www.kff.org/report-section/ehbs-2023-summary-of-findings/#:%7E:text=As%20noted%20above%2C%2025%25%20of,a%20moderate%20level%20of%20concern">have concerns</a> about their ability to afford medical care.</p>
<p>Lowering deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums could protect patients from accumulating debt, since it would lower the total amount they could incur in a given time period. But if the current system otherwise stayed the same, then premiums would have to rise to offset the reduction in out-of-pocket payments. Higher premiums would transfer costs across everyone in the insurance pool and make enrolling in insurance unreachable for some – which doesn’t solve the underinsurance problem.</p>
<p>Reducing out-of-pocket liability without inflating premiums would only be possible if the overall cost of health care drops. Fortunately, there’s room to reduce waste. Americans <a href="https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2023/07/why-are-americans-paying-more-for-healthcare">spend more on health care</a> than people in other wealthy countries do, and arguably get less for their money. <a href="http://doi.org/doi:10.1001/jama.2019.13978">More than a quarter</a> of health spending is on <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/reducing-administrative-costs-in-u-s-health-care/#:%7E:text=Cutler%20proposes%20several%20reforms%20to,in%20the%20health%2Dcare%20system.">administrative</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.13649">costs</a>, and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05144">high prices</a> Americans pay don’t necessarily translate into <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.13978">high-value care</a>. That’s why some states like <a href="https://www.milbank.org/publications/the-massachusetts-health-care-cost-growth-benchmark-and-accountability-mechanisms-stakeholder-perspectives/">Massachusetts</a> and <a href="https://hcai.ca.gov/get-the-facts-about-the-office-of-health-care-affordability/">California</a> are experimenting with <a href="https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/HealthCareCostCommissionstatesAddressCostGrowth.pdf">cost growth limits</a>.</p>
<h2>Momentum toward policy change</h2>
<p>The growing number of city and county governments buying off medical debt signals that local leaders view medical debt as a problem worth solving. Congress has passed substantial <a href="https://www.cms.gov/priorities/key-initiatives/hospital-price-transparency">price transparency laws</a> and prohibited <a href="https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises">surprise medical billing</a> in recent years. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-kicks-off-rulemaking-to-remove-medical-bills-from-credit-reports/">exploring rule changes</a> for medical debt collections and reporting, and national credit bureaus have <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/medical-debt-was-erased-credit-records-most-consumers-potentially-improving-many">voluntarily removed</a> some medical debt from credit reports to limit its impact on people’s approval for loans, leases and jobs. </p>
<p>These recent actions show that leaders at all levels of government want to end medical debt. I think that’s a good sign. After all, recognizing a problem is the first step toward meaningful change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Duffy receives funding from Arnold Ventures. </span></em></p>Local governments are increasingly buying – and forgiving – their residents’ medical debt.Erin Duffy, Research Scientist, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2187762023-12-04T13:26:50Z2023-12-04T13:26:50ZHere’s what happened when I taught a fly-fishing course in the waterways of New Orleans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563041/original/file-20231201-21-oebp2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C291%2C3929%2C2835&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mae Bennett, a student in the author's class, practices fly-casting on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kyle Encar/Loyola University New Orleans </span></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Title of course:</h2>
<p>“The Art of Fly-Fishing” </p>
<h2>What prompted the idea for the course?</h2>
<p>After two years of Zoom classes due to the pandemic, I thought it would be useful to offer a two-week intersession course at Loyola University New Orleans that got students away from their phones and computers. </p>
<p>I had just written <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/fly-fishing">a book on fly-fishing</a> and spent years practicing the activity as well as studying its literary representations. To teach the course, I drew on my prior experience as an outdoor guide leading river trips for the company <a href="https://www.oars.com/">OARS</a> in Wyoming.</p>
<p>My students welcomed the opportunity to learn a new skill: <a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/489062840776806126/">how to cast a fly rod</a>, which is more active than other types of fishing. This is because the lure or “fly” at the end of the line does not weigh much; the cast is produced by using a weighted line that gains velocity through a carefully timed rhythm. None of the 10 students had previous fly-fishing experience, but took the course on a lark or at the urging of a friend or relative.</p>
<p>What I didn’t anticipate was how social dynamics would affect the course and what my students would get out of the experience by it being situated in our vibrant city. Our class became a roving public forum as we interacted with curious observers and passersby. I was teaching them how to fly-fish in urban bayous and park ponds, not exactly “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105265/">A River Runs Through It</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man stands on rocks and casts a fly-fishing rod in a body of water surrounded by trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562975/original/file-20231201-15-jdl9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562975/original/file-20231201-15-jdl9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562975/original/file-20231201-15-jdl9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562975/original/file-20231201-15-jdl9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562975/original/file-20231201-15-jdl9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562975/original/file-20231201-15-jdl9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562975/original/file-20231201-15-jdl9dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This photo was made into the cover for ‘A River Runs Through It,’ a 1992 film directed by Robert Redford.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Photography-A-River-Runs-Through-It/1071967/4415537/view?fbclid=IwAR02XSDdJeQUgUd50assfw7yMeTU4e2oEErSouiGstLo_Ae6d6bm5W7u8Wk">John Kelly</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What does the course explore?</h2>
<p>The course introduced the techniques of fly-fishing and explored what makes it different from other forms of fishing. We learned about different waters and fish species, and how fly-fishing can be used in a variety of conditions. We also discussed the <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo26756579.html">literary</a> and <a href="https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/10/10/philosophy-fly-fishing/">philosophical</a> aspects of fly-fishing.</p>
<p>I framed the course as a “field experience,” and it took place entirely off campus and around our city instead. This ended up making the course surprisingly effective. </p>
<p>We first met in a field in City Park, where we had plenty of room to form a wide circle: Casting a fly line requires a lot of space. The students practiced casting toward the center of our circle; this way they could see each other’s forms improve, and I could move around the circle giving tips, advice and encouragement. We used pieces of yarn on the ends of the line to reduce the risk of inadvertent ear-piercings. </p>
<p>Beside this field was a pond. As the students got the basics of casting down, they could head to the shoreline and cast flies – with hooks – into the water. A few students even caught fish: beautiful little bluegills, sunfish and bass.</p>
<p>After a few days in City Park, we fly-fished along the cement-lined Bayou St. John in the heart of Mid-City. Another day we met at Lake Pontchartrain. We spread out to fish, minding the obstacles and obstructions posed by the urban infrastructure, and being careful when joggers or dog walkers passed by.</p>
<p>We gathered occasionally to discuss the theory and practice of fly-fishing. All the while, people would linger and watch with bemusement. It was rare to see fly-fishing in urban New Orleans. </p>
<h2>Why is this course relevant now?</h2>
<p>This course tuned students into our region, ecosystem and environment through a focused activity. </p>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the course?</h2>
<p>My students did not just develop an outdoor skill – they interacted with people in the community, blurring the boundaries between their college lives and the social fabric of the city. </p>
<h2>What materials does the course feature?</h2>
<p>On the first day, each student chose a fly-fishing book from a stack I brought, from the <a href="https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/3154/">literary</a> and <a href="https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/northern-waters">philosophical</a> to the more <a href="https://services.math.duke.edu/education/prep03/FermatsPond/FermatsPond/fish/fish.html">pragmatic</a> and <a href="https://www.patagonia.com/product/simple-fly-fishing-revised-second-edition-techniques-for-tenkara-and-rod-and-reel-book/BK709.html?cgid=books-fishing">instructional</a>. We started each morning by sharing insights and lessons we’d gleaned from our books. In the evenings, we wrote together on a Google Doc, creating a collaborative essay about the course. </p>
<p>I also used a series of <a href="https://farbank.com/pages/learn-fly-fishing-school-videos">online instructional videos on fly-fishing</a> created by outfitter <a href="https://farbank.com">Far Bank</a>, which provided fly rods for my class at a discount that they offer to educators. I purchased the equipment with my professorship funds to spare my students extra expenses. </p>
<h2>What will the course prepare students to do?</h2>
<p>Studies have shown that <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-social-change-movements-can-learn-from-fly-fishing-the-value-of-a-care-focused-message-207284">fly-fishing can foster collective purpose</a> around environmental justice movements. Our course demonstrated how fly-fishing can also translate to public, urban contexts and facilitate positive everyday social interactions. </p>
<p>As my students gained confidence with their fly rods, they also welcomed the questions posed by onlookers who wondered what they were doing. My students would explain what the class was and what fly-fishing entailed. My students were engaging with the public about their college experience.</p>
<p>This past summer I transitioned to another institution, Washington University in St. Louis, where I’m directing a new <a href="https://publicscholarship.wustl.edu">Program in Public Scholarship</a>. I’m not currently teaching, but if I have the chance to propose a course, I’ve been eyeing the lagoons in bustling Forest Park, a short walk from campus – the perfect setting for a redux version of my fly-fishing course.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218776/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Schaberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students learned not just a practical outdoor skill, but how to explain what they were learning to curious observers.Christopher Schaberg, Director of Public Scholarship, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. LouisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1892832022-09-02T12:18:04Z2022-09-02T12:18:04ZAs countries ranging from Indonesia to Mexico aim to attract digital nomads, locals say ‘not so fast’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481872/original/file-20220830-31761-o93l5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=327%2C86%2C5423%2C3742&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A tourist has makeup done ahead of Day of the Dead on Oct. 30, 2021, in Mexico City.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tourist-is-having-makeup-done-as-a-skull-in-a-costume-news-photo/1350360186?adppopup=true">Alfredo Martinez/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Should your community welcome <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/digital%20nomad">digital nomads</a> – individuals who work remotely, allowing them freedom to bounce from country to country?</p>
<p><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/digital-nomads-9780190931780?cc=us&lang=en&">Our research</a> has found that workers are eager to embrace the flexibility of not being tied to an office. And after experiencing economic losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cities and countries are concocting ways to entice visitors.</p>
<p>One idea involves stretching the meaning of tourism to include remote workers.</p>
<p>Today, a growing number of countries offer so-called “<a href="https://nomadgirl.co/countries-with-digital-nomad-visas/">digital nomad visas</a>.” These visas allow longer stays for remote workers and provide clarity about allowable work activities. For example, officials in Bali, Indonesia, are looking to formalize a process for remote workers to procure visas – “<a href="https://coconuts.co/bali/features/the-faster-the-better-bali-tourism-agency-head-tjokorda-bagus-pemayun-talks-digital-nomad-visa-plans-and-what-it-means-for-the-island/">the faster, the better</a>,” as the head of the island’s tourism agency put it.</p>
<p>Yet pushback from locals in cities ranging <a href="https://time.com/6072062/barcelona-tourism-residents-covid/">from Barcelona</a> to <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/07/28/mexico-city-residents-angered-by-influx-of-americans-speaking-english-gentrifying-area-report/">Mexico City</a> has made it clear that there are costs and benefits to an influx of remote workers. </p>
<p>As we explain in our new book, “Digital Nomads: In Search of Freedom, Community, and Meaningful Work in the New Economy,” the trend of “work tourism” <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/digital-nomads-9780190931780?cc=us&lang=en&">comes with a host of drawbacks</a>.</p>
<h2>Wearing out their welcome</h2>
<p>For as long as there’s been tourism, locals have griped about the outsiders who come and go. These travelers are usually a welcome boost to the economy – <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/overtourism">up to a point</a>. They can also wear out their welcome. </p>
<p>Perhaps the classic example is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-25/venice-reinventing-itself-as-sustainable-tourism-capital">Venice</a>, where high numbers of tourists stress the canal-filled city’s fragile infrastructure.</p>
<p>In the U.S., New Jersey shore residents have long used the term “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoobie">shoobies</a>” to denigrate the annual throng of short-term summer tourists. In our research on digital nomads in Bali, locals referred to digital nomads and other tourists as “bules” – a word that roughly translates as “foreigners.”</p>
<p>Generally the terms are used to express minor annoyance over crowds and increased traffic. But conventional tourists come and go – their stays usually range from a couple of nights to a couple of weeks. Remote workers stay anywhere from weeks to months – or longer. They spend more time using places and resources traditionally dedicated to the local residents. This raises the chances that outsiders become a grating presence. </p>
<p>Excessive numbers of visitors can also raise sustainability concerns, as waves of tourists tax the environment and infrastructure of many destinations. Many of Bali’s beautiful rice fields and surrounding lush forests, for example, are being converted into hotels and villas to serve tourism.</p>
<h2>Digital nomads look to stretch their dollars</h2>
<p>Whether they’re lazing around or plugging away on their laptops, privileged tourists ultimately change the economics and demographics of an area. </p>
<p>Their buying power increases costs and displaces residents, while traditional businesses make way for ones that cater to their tastes. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-food-became-the-perfect-beachhead-for-gentrification-167761">Where once there was a neighborhood food stand</a>, now there’s an upscale cafe. </p>
<p>This dynamic is only exacerbated by long-term tourists. Services like VRBO and Airbnb make it easy for digital nomads to rent apartments for weeks or months at a time, and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45083954">people around the world are increasingly alarmed</a> at how quickly such rentals can change the affordability and character of a place.</p>
<p>Living a vacation lifestyle on a long-term basis implies a need to choose lower-cost destinations. This means that remote workers may particularly contribute to gentrification as they seek out places where their dollars go furthest.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://travelnoire.com/digital-nomads-see-why-mexicans-are-fed-up-with-them">Mexico City</a>, residents fear displacement by remote workers able to pay higher rents. In response to calls to choose Mexico City as a remote working destination, one local succinctly expressed opposition: “<a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22999722/mexico-city-pandemic-remote-work-gentrification">Please don’t</a>.”</p>
<p>And in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/13/new-orleans-airbnb-treme-short-term-rentals">New Orleans</a>, almost half of all properties in the historic <a href="https://nola.curbed.com/2018/5/16/17356630/treme-new-orleans-neighborhood-history-pictures">Tremé district</a> – one of the oldest Black neighborhoods in the U.S. – have been converted to short-term rentals, displacing longtime residents. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Locals wearing purple march through the streets playing instruments." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481877/original/file-20220830-35381-cosh9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481877/original/file-20220830-35381-cosh9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481877/original/file-20220830-35381-cosh9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481877/original/file-20220830-35381-cosh9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481877/original/file-20220830-35381-cosh9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481877/original/file-20220830-35381-cosh9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481877/original/file-20220830-35381-cosh9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Tremé, New Orleans, nearly half of all dwellings have become short-term rental properties.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/crowd-estimated-at-between-1500-and-2000-people-celebrates-news-photo/525178984?adppopup=true">Leon Morris/Redferns via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Culture becomes commodified</h2>
<p><a href="https://suitcasemag.com/articles/neocolonial-tourism">Neocolonialism</a> in tourism refers to the way processes such as overtourism and gentrification create a power imbalance that favors newcomers and erodes local ways of life. </p>
<p>“There’s a distinction between people who want to learn about the place they are in and those who just like it because it’s cheap,” one digital nomad living in Mexico City <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-07-27/americans-are-flooding-mexico-city-some-mexicans-want-them-to-go-home">recently told the Los Angeles Times</a>. “I’ve met a number of people who don’t really care that they’re in Mexico, they just care that it’s cheap.”</p>
<p>Bali, where <a href="https://www.aseantoday.com/2020/10/balis-economy-struggles-to-survive-without-tourists/">as much as 80%</a> of the island’s economy is estimated to be affected by tourism, offers a stark example. </p>
<p>People come to Bali to be immersed in the culture’s spiritual rituals, art, nature and dance. But there’s also resentment over yoga lovers, resortgoers and digital nomads “taking over” the island. And some locals come to see the tourism in and around temples and rituals as the transformation of something cherished – the nuanced and spiritual aspects of their culture – into experiences to be bought and sold. </p>
<p>For instance, Balinese dance performances are huge tourist draws and are even featured in global promotions for tourism on the island. Yet these performances also have cultural and spiritual meaning, and the impact of tourism on these aspects of dance is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/37628994_Authenticity_and_commodification_of_Balinese_dance_performances">debated even among performers</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People take photographs of people marching in a parade." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481874/original/file-20220830-22-4l4ult.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481874/original/file-20220830-22-4l4ult.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481874/original/file-20220830-22-4l4ult.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481874/original/file-20220830-22-4l4ult.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481874/original/file-20220830-22-4l4ult.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481874/original/file-20220830-22-4l4ult.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481874/original/file-20220830-22-4l4ult.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tourists take pictures of Balinese artists during a parade celebrating the 77th anniversary of Indonesia Independence Day in Bali in August 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/foreign-tourists-take-pictures-of-balinese-artists-during-news-photo/1242552941?adppopup=true">Johannes P. Christo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So there is inevitably friction, which can be seen in the high levels of <a href="https://coconuts.co/bali/features/living-in-a-petty-crimes-paradise-balis-unreported-thefts-and-muggings/">petty crime</a> against foreigners. Neocolonialism can also pit people from the same country or culture against one another. For example, <a href="https://www.travelmole.com/news/bali-taxi-wars-flare-again/">conflicts arise</a> between local Balinese taxi cooperatives and taxi services that employ drivers from other parts of Indonesia. </p>
<p>Although remote employees still make up a small portion of the overall tourist population, their work-related needs and longer stays mean they’re more likely to use services and places frequented by locals.</p>
<p>Whether this leads digital nomads to be welcomed or scorned likely depends on both government policies and tourists’ behavior. </p>
<p>Will governments take measures such as protecting locals from mass evictions, or will landlords’ desire for higher rents prevail? Will guests live lightly and blend in, trying to learn the local language and culture? Or will they simply focus on working hard and playing harder? </p>
<p>As remote work reaches an unprecedented scale, the answers to such questions may determine whether “<a href="https://coconuts.co/bali/features/the-faster-the-better-bali-tourism-agency-head-tjokorda-bagus-pemayun-talks-digital-nomad-visa-plans-and-what-it-means-for-the-island/">the faster, the better</a>” attitude toward digital nomad visas and other incentives continues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189283/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Locals usually see tourists as a way to boost the economy. But at a certain point, resentment starts to build.Rachael A. Woldoff, Professor of Sociology, West Virginia UniversityRobert Litchfield, Associate Professor of Business, Washington & Jefferson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1892002022-08-23T12:24:14Z2022-08-23T12:24:14ZBrad Pitt’s apparently defunct foundation reached a $20.5 million settlement with Hurricane Katrina survivors over its green housing debacle<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480448/original/file-20220822-76732-48a0ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C1180%2C2002%2C1792&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Brad Pitt walks past a house under construction in New Orleans in a 2007 photo.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/KatrinaBradPitt/5147993d2a6e4006acd6bd74d8b271ef/photo?Query=brad%20pitt%20new%20orleans&mediaType=text,photo,video,graphic,audio&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=99&currentItemNo=80">AP Photo/Alex Brandon</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/brad-pitt-sued-new-orleans-residents-who-say-make-it-n907656">six homeowners who sued Brad Pitt’s</a> <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/260723027">Make It Right Foundation</a> over the faulty construction of housing it built for them have <a href="https://people.com/home/brad-pitt-make-it-right-foundation-settles-lawsuit-hurricane-katrina-homeowners-20-million/">reached a US$20.5 million settlement</a> with the <a href="https://thelensnola.org/2022/03/31/brad-pitts-make-it-right-foundation-no-longer-maintaining-paying-taxes-on-remaining-properties/">apparently defunct charity</a>.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/business/article_eed75178-c737-11ec-8011-fbcf5b31b6d7.html">attorneys who disclosed the settlement</a> in August 2022, all owners of the more than 100 homes Make It Right designed and built are eligible for $25,000 in reimbursements for any previous repairs if a judge approves their request. The rest of the money will be distributed according to the severity of the problems the homes are having.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/17/brad-pitt-foundation-settlement-owners-faulty-post-katrina-houses">Global Green</a>, a nonprofit with ties to Brad Pitt that wasn’t named in the lawsuit, is reportedly paying these funds.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fFSeUEQAAAAJ&hl=de">urban geographer who researches housing development</a>, I’ve been following Make It Right’s travails since 2018, when residents tried to get the New Orleans City Council involved and have municipal authorities inspect the homes. The situation has only deteriorated since then, highlighting the perils that can accompany <a href="https://www.housingconsortium.org/non-profit-housing-developers-low-income-housing-coalition/">nonprofit housing development</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A boarded-up house on stilts" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This Make It Right home was vacant and boarded up in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Judith Keller</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>After Katrina</h2>
<p>Make It Right built a total of 109 eye-catching and affordable homes in New Orleans for a community where many people were displaced by damage wrought by <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-and-hurricane-katrina-what-have-we-learned-46297">Hurricane Katrina in 2005</a>. The vast majority of the recently constructed homes are now riddled with construction-related problems that have led to mold, termites, <a href="https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/orleans/another-of-brad-pitts-make-it-right-houses-demolished-in-the-lower-9th-ward/289-95883a30-1d2b-48a4-820d-bebc9812dadc">rotting wood, flooding and other woes</a>.</p>
<p>At least six are boarded up and abandoned. That is, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/arts/design/kevin-beasley-new-orleans.html">nonprofit that built houses</a> with input from Frank Gehry and other prominent architects <a href="https://www.today.com/news/america-responds-brad-pitts-make-it-right-plea-1C9014704">amid</a> <a href="https://inhabitat.com/brad-pitts-make-it-right-to-unveil-their-first-tiny-house-in-new-orleans/">much fanfare</a> for survivors of one disaster then ushered in another disaster. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.archpaper.com/tag/make-it-right/">Structural and other problems are</a> making many residents fear for their health. Make It Right, despite what its name might suggest, <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/brad-pitt-make-it-right-foundation-new-orleans-katrina-lawsuit">failed for years to resolve these issues</a>.</p>
<h2>Supposedly sustainable housing</h2>
<p>Located in New Orleans’ historically Black and low-income <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-lower-ninth-ward-a-museum-works-to-preserve-a-culture-washed-away-46170">Lower Ninth Ward</a>, this cluster of affordable homes built between 2008 and 2015 was unusual for several reasons. Notably, these residences were <a href="https://greatnonprofits.org/org/make-it-right-foundation">sold, rather than rented</a>, to their occupants. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/travel/29cultured.html?_r=0">architects who created these homes</a> also tried to make them green and sustainable following a “<a href="https://sustainabilityguide.eu/methods/cradle-to-cradle/">cradle-to-cradle</a>” philosophy that centers around the use of safe and reusable materials, clean water and renewable energy. All the homes had solar panels and <a href="https://graftlab.com/en/projects/make-it-right">energy-efficient</a> heating and cooling systems. </p>
<p>Make It Right reported <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/brad-pitt-sued-new-orleans-residents-who-say-make-it-n907656">spending $26.8 million</a> on the housing. To make the homes more affordable, they were <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-02-15/when-brad-pitt-tried-to-save-new-orleans-s-lower-ninth-ward">sold for less than they cost to build</a> – mostly around $150,000. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/260723027/05_2021_prefixes_25-26%2F260723027_201812_990_2021052018154369">nonprofit housing developer said its mission</a> was to “improve the design and performance of affordable housing” and to “share best practices associated with the construction of such homes.” Make It Right <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/brad-pitt-make-it-right-foundation-new-orleans-katrina-lawsuit">fell short of its original goal of building 150 residences</a>. </p>
<p>Make It Right also <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/260723027/2008_09_EO%2F26-0723027_990_200712">sought to revitalize the Lower Ninth Ward</a> and bring people together. For example, it built a community garden and held regular meetings for the new homeowners.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=91%2C39%2C3713%2C1950&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A beige house with a crumbling porch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=91%2C39%2C3713%2C1950&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This Make It Right home’s front porch was crumbling and collapsing in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Judith Keller</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although some of these structures are not yet a decade old, my data gathered in late 2021 shows that only six of the original 109 remained in reasonably good shape. Most either have had partial repairs or have been completely renovated because of structural problems. <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/article_13743971-e85f-57ee-8c7d-e754ce04ca67.html">Two were demolished</a> because of severe mold problems.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A house getting completely rehabbed" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This Make It Right home underwent major structural repairs in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Judith Keller</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of the houses lacked ordinary, essential features such as rain gutters, overhangs, waterproof painting or covered beams – all of which are necessary to withstand New Orleans’ <a href="https://en.climate-data.org/north-america/united-states-of-america/louisiana-943/">subtropical climate and heavy rainfall</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/arts/design/03pitt.html">Brad Pitt</a>, who took credit for launching this organization in 2007 and often <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/video-brad-pitt-launches-new-699047/">served as its public face</a> in subsequent years, was still listed as a board member <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/260723027/05_2021_prefixes_25-26%2F260723027_201812_990_2021052018154369">as of 2018</a>.</p>
<p>Pitt’s lawyers argued that he could not be sued over the housing development’s failings, but a judge ruled in 2019 that the movie star would <a href="https://www.archpaper.com/2019/10/brad-pitt-make-it-right-lawsuit/">remain a defendant</a> because of his role as Make It Right’s founder and chief fundraiser.</p>
<h2>‘Completely in shambles’</h2>
<p>I interviewed 14 residents, as well as seven urban planning experts who worked on the case. Additionally, I gathered data on the development and the homes by reviewing New Orleans property assessments and building permits. While staying in the Lower Ninth Ward myself, I personally took a census of the development and mapped its current state.</p>
<p>More than one resident told me they were initially very excited to be part of something bigger. </p>
<p>A Make It Right resident I’m calling Harry – I promised anonymity to all the residents I interviewed – had to move out of his home during major renovations that didn’t resolve all the issues he faces.</p>
<p>“They kind of got a second chance to make it wrong, not make it right again,” Harry told me. “They made it wrong twice.” </p>
<p>As of early 2022, six homes were vacant because of mold, rot, flooding and assorted structural issues. Hanna, a young first-time homeowner, walked away from her Make It Right residence, which was later demolished. </p>
<p>Only eight months after she moved in, Hanna recounted to me, her home “was completely in shambles.” Its flat roof could not hold up in the heavy rains of New Orleans, causing massive water intrusion and subsequent termite infestation and mold.</p>
<p>Hanna struggles with health problems caused by toxic mold. “I would like to say that there is always a silver lining, but with this situation, I really don’t see a silver lining because it really changed a lot of my plans that I had for myself in life,” she said.</p>
<p>Most of the residents I interviewed were dealing with a similar state of constant uncertainty.</p>
<p>They don’t know how much longer their home is going to hold up, whether the mold they were exposed to is affecting their health, and, worst, what would happen to their finances if they were to lose their home.</p>
<p>“There is just no turning this off,” Harry lamented. “Sometimes I think I’m sitting on a time bomb in this house.”</p>
<p>Others described always being “on edge,” the situation being “very stressful,” and a feeling of having been “taken advantage of on the biggest scale.”</p>
<h2>A web of legal turmoil</h2>
<p>Some residents also blame local authorities.</p>
<p>“We also have an issue with the city, because those who inspect (the home) and are supposed to keep it safe, did not,” said Claire, who tried to get New Orleans’ safety and permits department involved.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A moving truck loads up with furniture and other items." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Make It Right Foundation moved out of its offices on Magazine Street in New Orleans in December 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Judith Keller</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My many efforts to reach out to Make It Right by mail, email and visits in person were unsuccessful. When I went to its New Orleans office in December 2021, I encountered no staff. Instead, I witnessed a moving crew that had been hired by the organization to move its furniture and other property into storage. </p>
<p>The organization has apparently failed to file a <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-a-990-form-a-charity-accounting-expert-explains-175019">990 form</a>, annual paperwork the Internal Revenue Service requires of all nonprofits, covering any year <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/260723027">since 2018</a>.</p>
<h2>Who pays in the end?</h2>
<p>Make It Right’s 2018 IRS filings indicate that it was spending <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/260723027/05_2021_prefixes_25-26%2F260723027_201812_990_2021052018154369">more by then on legal services</a> than on construction and maintenance. </p>
<p>Before this settlement, many residents had begun to pay for repairs out of their own pockets rather than wait for the nonprofit builder to resolve issues caused by its shoddy construction.</p>
<p>“I did most of the work myself,” Mario told me. “The ceiling tiles on the porch were falling off, and the wood was rotting, so I just replaced it, slowly, you know, so we could afford it.” </p>
<p>Despite their experiences, some residents said they still believe Make It Right’s founder had good intentions. “I don’t blame Brad Pitt,” said David, another resident. “He had a vision to build low-income houses and get people back in the Lower Ninth Ward.”</p>
<p>While nonprofit housing developers can play a vital role in <a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/media/imp/rr07-12_bratt.pdf">creating affordable housing</a>, many questions remain regarding their accountability in this case <a href="http://graphics.chicagotribune.com/chicago-charity-housing-violations/index.html">and others</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/08/28/talbert-street-homeowners-evacuate-dc/">in places like Chicago and Washington, D.C.</a></p>
<p>Mismanaged housing developments, even when constructed with lofty goals, only compound the hardships of the low-income people they purport to serve.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article published on <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-brad-pitts-green-housing-dream-for-hurricane-katrina-survivors-turned-into-a-nightmare-175597">Jan. 31, 2022</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189200/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Judith Keller receives funding from the German Research Foundation. </span></em></p>The low-income homebuyers who obtained these homes were deprived of the financial security they were promised. They’re now eligible for at least $25,000 in reimbursements for repairs.Judith Keller, Urban Geogarpher, PhD Candidate, University of HeidelbergLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1755972022-01-31T13:14:52Z2022-01-31T13:14:52ZHow Brad Pitt’s green housing dream for Hurricane Katrina survivors turned into a nightmare<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442824/original/file-20220126-15-11g58dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3690%2C2183&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Brad Pitt walks past one of the first homes built in New Orleans by his Make It Right Foundation in this 2008 photo.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BradPittMakeItRight/340c5258126f4feb88d6c40f69d1565f/photo?Query=brad%20pitt%20make%20it%20right&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=25&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Alex Brandon</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/arts/design/03pitt.html">Brad Pitt’s</a> <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/260723027">Make It Right Foundation</a> built 109 eye-catching and affordable homes in New Orleans for a community where many people were displaced by damage wrought by <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-and-hurricane-katrina-what-have-we-learned-46297">Hurricane Katrina in 2005</a>. Now this housing development is in disarray. The vast majority of the recently constructed homes are riddled with construction-related problems that have led to mold, termites, <a href="https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/orleans/another-of-brad-pitts-make-it-right-houses-demolished-in-the-lower-9th-ward/289-95883a30-1d2b-48a4-820d-bebc9812dadc">rotting wood, flooding and other woes</a>.</p>
<p>At least six are boarded up and abandoned. Many <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/brad-pitt-sued-new-orleans-residents-who-say-make-it-n907656">residents have filed</a> <a href="https://www.archpaper.com/2021/04/brad-pitt-make-it-right-foundation-sues-former-executive-director/">lawsuits</a> that are <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/good-news/more-lawsuits-filed-in-brad-pitts-make-it-right-saga/vp-AARHi4Q">still pending</a>. That is, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/arts/design/kevin-beasley-new-orleans.html">nonprofit that built houses</a> with input from Frank Gehry and other prominent architects <a href="https://www.today.com/news/america-responds-brad-pitts-make-it-right-plea-1C9014704">amid</a> <a href="https://inhabitat.com/brad-pitts-make-it-right-to-unveil-their-first-tiny-house-in-new-orleans/">much fanfare</a> for survivors of one disaster then ushered in another disaster. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.archpaper.com/tag/make-it-right/">Structural and other problems are</a> making many residents fear for their health. Make It Right, despite what its name might suggest, <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/brad-pitt-make-it-right-foundation-new-orleans-katrina-lawsuit">has not resolved these issues</a> and has <a href="https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/orleans/documents-left-unsecured-in-lower-9th-ward/289-4b53c4f4-1526-48a1-9083-385776ddabef">stopped assisting residents</a>. Instead, the movie star-led nonprofit has apparently become defunct.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Judith-Keller-5">urban geographer who researches on housing development</a>, I’ve been following Make It Right’s travails since 2018, when residents tried to get the New Orleans City Council involved and have municipal authorities inspect the homes. The situation has only deteriorated since then, highlighting the perils that can accompany <a href="https://www.housingconsortium.org/non-profit-housing-developers-low-income-housing-coalition/">nonprofit housing development</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A boarded-up house on stilts" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442384/original/file-20220124-23298-62lret.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This Make It Right home was vacant and boarded up in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Judith Keller</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Supposedly sustainable housing</h2>
<p>Located in New Orleans’ historically Black and low-income <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-lower-ninth-ward-a-museum-works-to-preserve-a-culture-washed-away-46170">Lower Ninth Ward</a>, this cluster of affordable homes built between 2008 and 2015 was unusual for several reasons. Notably, these residences were <a href="https://greatnonprofits.org/org/make-it-right-foundation">sold, rather than rented</a> to their occupants. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/travel/29cultured.html?_r=0">architects who created these homes</a> also tried to make them green and sustainable following a “<a href="https://sustainabilityguide.eu/methods/cradle-to-cradle/">cradle-to-cradle</a>” philosophy that centers around the use of safe and reusable materials, clean water and renewable energy. All the homes had solar panels and <a href="https://graftlab.com/en/projects/make-it-right">energy-efficient</a> heating and cooling systems. </p>
<p>Make It Right reported <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/brad-pitt-sued-new-orleans-residents-who-say-make-it-n907656">spending $26.8 million</a> on the housing. To make the homes, which <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/brad-pitt-make-it-right-foundation-new-orleans-katrina-lawsuit">fell short of the group’s original goal of 150 residences</a>, affordable, they were <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-02-15/when-brad-pitt-tried-to-save-new-orleans-s-lower-ninth-ward">sold for less than it cost to build them</a>, mostly around $150,000. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/260723027/05_2021_prefixes_25-26%2F260723027_201812_990_2021052018154369">nonprofit housing developer says its mission</a> is to “improve the design and performance of affordable housing” and to “share best practices associated with the construction of such homes.”</p>
<p>Make It Right also <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/260723027/2008_09_EO%2F26-0723027_990_200712">sought to revitalize the Lower Ninth Ward</a> and bring people together. For example, it built a community garden and held regular meetings for the new homeowners.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=91%2C39%2C3713%2C1950&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A beige house with a crumbling porch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=91%2C39%2C3713%2C1950&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442378/original/file-20220124-21-1by3hxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This Make It Right home’s front porch was crumbling and collapsing in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Judith Keller</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although some of these structures are not yet a decade old, my data shows that only six remain in reasonably good shape. Most either have had partial repairs or have been completely renovated because of structural problems. <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/article_13743971-e85f-57ee-8c7d-e754ce04ca67.html">Two were demolished</a> because of severe mold problems.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A house getting completely rehabbed" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442382/original/file-20220124-25-1567p6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This Make It Right home underwent major structural repairs in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Judith Keller</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of the houses lacked ordinary, essential features such as rain gutters, overhangs, waterproof painting or covered beams – all of which are necessary to withstand New Orleans’ <a href="https://en.climate-data.org/north-america/united-states-of-america/louisiana-943/">subtropical climate and heavy rainfall</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/arts/design/03pitt.html">Brad Pitt</a>, who took credit for launching this organization in 2007 and often <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/video-brad-pitt-launches-new-699047/">served as its public face</a> in subsequent years, was still listed as a board member <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/260723027/05_2021_prefixes_25-26%2F260723027_201812_990_2021052018154369">as of 2018</a>.</p>
<p>Pitt’s lawyers argued that he could not be sued over the housing development’s failings, but a judge ruled in 2019 that the movie star would <a href="https://www.archpaper.com/2019/10/brad-pitt-make-it-right-lawsuit/">remain a defendant</a> because of his role as Make It Right’s founder and chief fundraiser.</p>
<h2>‘Completely in shambles’</h2>
<p>I interviewed 11 residents, as well as seven urban planning experts who worked on the case. Additionally, I gathered data on the development and the homes by reviewing New Orleans property assessments and building permits. While staying in the Lower Ninth Ward myself, I personally took a census of the development and mapped its current state. </p>
<p>More than one resident told me they were initially very excited to be part of something bigger. </p>
<p>A Make It Right resident I’m calling Harry – I promised anonymity to all the residents I interviewed – had to move out of his home during major renovations that didn’t resolve all the issues he faces.</p>
<p>“They kind of got a second chance to make it wrong, not make it right again,” Harry told me. “They made it wrong twice.” </p>
<p>As of early 2022, six homes are vacant because of mold, rot, flooding and assorted structural issues. Hanna, a young first-time homeowner, walked away from her Make It Right residence, which was later demolished. </p>
<p>Only eight months after she moved in, Hanna recounted to me, her home “was completely in shambles.” Its flat roof could not hold up in the heavy rains of New Orleans, causing massive water intrusion and subsequent termite infestation and mold.</p>
<p>Hanna struggles with health problems caused by toxic mold. “I would like to say that there is always a silver lining, but with this situation, I really don’t see a silver lining because it really changed a lot of my plans that I had for myself in life,” she said.</p>
<p>Most of the residents I interviewed were dealing with a similar state of constant uncertainty.</p>
<p>They don’t know how much longer their home is going to hold up, whether the mold they were exposed to is affecting their health, and, worst, what would happen to their finances if they were to lose their home.</p>
<p>“There is just no turning this off,” Harry lamented. “Sometimes I think I’m sitting on a time bomb in this house.”</p>
<p>Others described always being “on edge,” the situation being “very stressful,” and a feeling of having been “taken advantage of on the biggest scale.”</p>
<p>They wonder who they can turn to for help at this point.</p>
<p>“Something that’s been an incredible disappointment is the lack, the retreat, of Make It Right from any form of responsibility,” William told me.</p>
<h2>A web of legal turmoil</h2>
<p>When Make It Right failed to provide the assistance residents requested, <a href="https://www.wdsu.com/article/new-orleans-brad-pitt-make-it-right-hurricane-katrina-lawsuits/38488751">several homeowners</a> filed <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/brad-pitt-built-dozens-homes-new-orleans-after-katrina-now-n908651">lawsuits</a>. This litigation is reportedly <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/article_8c4e7556-9658-11eb-8584-6f72071c56e4.html">still pending</a>.</p>
<p>Some residents also blame local authorities.</p>
<p>“We also have an issue with the city, because those who inspect (the home) and are supposed to keep it safe, did not,” said Claire, who tried to get New Orleans’ safety and permits department involved.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A moving truck loads up with furniture and other items." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=729&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442381/original/file-20220124-25-1og70ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Make It Right Foundation moved out of its offices on Magazine Street in New Orleans in December 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Judith Keller</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My many efforts to reach out to Make It Right by mail, email and visits in person remain unsuccessful. When I went to its New Orleans office in December 2021, I encountered no staff. Instead, I witnessed a moving crew that had been hired by the organization to move its furniture and other property into storage. </p>
<p>The organization has apparently failed to file a <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-a-990-form-a-charity-accounting-expert-explains-175019">990 form</a>, annual paperwork the Internal Revenue Service requires of all nonprofits, covering any year <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/260723027">since 2018</a>. Local media have reported that <a href="https://www.ktbs.com/news/brad-pitt-s-make-it-right-development-sued-again-by-bank-and-the-guy-who/article_0b459b7a-59ca-11ec-a255-ab9c758c5170.html">a bank is suing it</a>. Its website has become defunct and the phone number it included in its 2018 IRS paperwork no longer works. Even the person who mows the vacant Make It Right properties has told reporters that the nonprofit owes him money. <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/article_8c4e7556-9658-11eb-8584-6f72071c56e4.html">Make It Right, in turn, is suing several former executives</a> and its <a href="https://people.com/home/brad-pitt-files-motion-dismiss-home-lawsuit/">chief architect</a> for alleged mismanagement.</p>
<p>The Conversation U.S. also attempted to reach out to the Make It Right Foundation by phone and email and was unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Make It Right has <a href="https://fox4kc.com/news/kansas-city-lots-owned-by-brad-pitts-nonprofit-make-it-right-sit-empty-residents-hope-for-change/">discontinued a similar affordable housing development</a> that was in the works in Kansas City, leaving empty lots there in limbo. The nonprofit had also engaged in projects in <a href="https://graftlab.com/en/projects/make-it-right">Montana</a>, where <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/brad-pitts-nonprofit-facing-tribal-housing-lawsuit/">other legal issues</a> arose, and <a href="https://nj.gov/dca/news/news/2011/approved/20110218.html">New Jersey</a>. </p>
<h2>Who pays in the end?</h2>
<p>Because one of the <a href="https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/orleans/documents-left-unsecured-in-lower-9th-ward/289-4b53c4f4-1526-48a1-9083-385776ddabef">abandoned properties</a> is turning into a safety hazard, <a href="https://www.ktbs.com/news/brad-pitt-s-make-it-right-development-sued-again-by-bank-and-the-guy-who/article_0b459b7a-59ca-11ec-a255-ab9c758c5170.html">the city is taking action to seize it</a>. Make It Right’s 2018 IRS filings indicate that it was spending <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/260723027/05_2021_prefixes_25-26%2F260723027_201812_990_2021052018154369">more by then on legal services</a> than on construction and maintenance. </p>
<p>This mirrors the residents’ experiences, who have not seen evidence of the organization’s engagement with their community for years. Many are starting to pay for repairs out of their own pockets rather than wait for the nonprofit builder to resolve issues caused by its shoddy construction.</p>
<p>“I did most of the work myself,” Mario told me. “The ceiling tiles on the porch were falling off, and the wood was rotting, so I just replaced it, slowly, you know, so we could afford it.” </p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Despite their experiences, some residents said they still believe Make It Right’s founder had good intentions. “I don’t blame Brad Pitt,” said David, another resident. “He had a vision to build low-income houses and get people back in the Lower Ninth Ward.”</p>
<p>While nonprofit housing developers can play a vital role in <a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/media/imp/rr07-12_bratt.pdf">creating affordable housing</a>, many questions remain regarding their accountability in this case <a href="http://graphics.chicagotribune.com/chicago-charity-housing-violations/index.html">and others</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/08/28/talbert-street-homeowners-evacuate-dc/">in places like Chicago and Washington, D.C.</a>.</p>
<p>Mismanaged housing developments, even when constructed with lofty goals, only compound the hardships of the low-income people they purport to serve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Judith Keller receives funding from the German Research Association (DFG).
</span></em></p>So much went wrong with the homes built by the Make It Right Foundation that its low-income homebuyers were deprived of the financial security they were promised.Judith Keller, International Research Scholar of Geography, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1670182021-09-03T16:41:52Z2021-09-03T16:41:52ZCan burying power lines protect storm-wracked electric grids? Not always<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419297/original/file-20210903-25-6x1lkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C0%2C6000%2C3970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Outages left downtown New Orleans in the dark after Hurricane Ida made landfall on Aug. 29, 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-downtown-skyline-along-canal-street-is-largely-shrouded-news-photo/1234955061">Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The good news when <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/144701.shtml?tswind120">Hurricane Ida</a> churned into Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2021 was that levees held up – especially those that were strengthened after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005. The bad news: In many places, power systems failed. Nearly five days later, more than 80% of New Orleans customers were <a href="https://www.wdsu.com/article/new-orleans-entergy-power-outages/37471862">still in the dark</a>, in sweltering heat.</p>
<p>Electricity is critical for health, safety and comfort. Without it, it’s hard to buy groceries, fuel your car or <a href="https://www.nolaweekend.com/whats-open-where-to-find-food-gas-groceries-in-new-orleans-metro-area-after-hurricane-ida/">get cash from an ATM</a>. Many medical devices, including power wheelchairs, ventilators and nebulizers, run on electricity. <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/article_7941053c-09c6-11ec-baf3-5f5d9d25af67.html">Schools can’t operate without power</a>, and kids can’t attend class online without computers or electricity.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/louisiana-assesses-major-damage-power-grid-ida-2021-08-31/">Dramatic images of damaged power lines</a> can make people wonder whether their electricity service might be more secure if those lines were buried underground. But I’ve <a href="https://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/centers/purc/docs//papers/1007_Kury_Evidence_Driven_Utility.pdf">studied this question</a> for utilities and regulators, and the answer is not straightforward. There are many ways to make power grids more resilient, but they are all costly, require the involvement of many agencies, businesses and power customers, and may not solve the problem.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419299/original/file-20210903-21-r8ir2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Roadside construction in Paradise, Calif. where utility is moving power lines underground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419299/original/file-20210903-21-r8ir2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419299/original/file-20210903-21-r8ir2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419299/original/file-20210903-21-r8ir2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419299/original/file-20210903-21-r8ir2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419299/original/file-20210903-21-r8ir2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419299/original/file-20210903-21-r8ir2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419299/original/file-20210903-21-r8ir2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Utilities are burying power lines in California, where above-ground electrical lines and equipment have sparked deadly wildfires in recent years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/WildfiresBuryingPowerLines/d7bb4ffce2ff4a18bebf1930f889b108/photo">AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>It’s impossible to completely protect the grid</h2>
<p>Ideas for making the electricity grid more resilient to weather and disasters have to acknowledge two unpleasant realities. First, there is no way to completely protect the grid. </p>
<p>Above-ground lines are vulnerable to damaging winds, flying debris and falling trees. But underground lines are susceptible to damage from water incursion driven by storm surges or flooding. So, choosing the location of power lines means choosing which threat is more manageable. </p>
<p>Second, the public ultimately pays for maintaining the power grid, either via their electric bills or through taxes. The greatest responsibility facing utilities, their regulators and government agencies is ensuring that people receive benefits commensurate with the money they pay for their electricity service.</p>
<p>Deciding how to make the grid more resilient begins locally. In general, the best place to locate power lines depends on what type of damage is most likely in that area. If a region is more concerned with storm surge and flooding, the best choice may be locating power lines above ground, with regular tree trimming to keep branches from falling on power lines. Power poles made from resilient materials, such as fiberglass composites and concrete, can withstand damaging winds and flying debris better than traditional wooden poles.</p>
<p>Areas with little risk of storm surge and flooding may decide that underground power lines are the best choice, if the community is willing to accept the cost. No system is sustainable if customers aren’t <a href="https://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/undergrounding/documents/undergroundreport.pdf">willing to pay for it</a>. Differences in geography, population density, societal preferences and willingness to pay across a utility’s service area – especially in a diverse city like New Orleans – mean that no blanket policy will work everywhere. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1433731422066520086"}"></div></p>
<h2>Working with regulators</h2>
<p>When an electric utility wants to make changes to the grid, it needs approval from a regulator. This can take many forms. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.publicpower.org/">Municipal utilities</a> owned by individual cities make those decisions at the local government level. <a href="https://www.electric.coop/">Cooperative</a>, or customer-owned, utilities make those decisions through an executive board comprised of utility customers. <a href="https://www.eei.org/">Investor-owned utilities</a>, which serve the majority of the U.S. population, are regulated at the <a href="https://www.naruc.org/">state level</a> by public utility commissions. Any discussion of grid resilience starts and ends with these agencies.</p>
<p>The situation in New Orleans is especially complex. Through a <a href="http://www.dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/execdiv/techasmt/electricity/electric_vol1_1994/003e.htm">history of bankruptcies and reorganizations</a>, New Orleans is the only U.S. city that regulates an investor-owned utility when a state regulator performs the same function. </p>
<p>This means that power company <a href="https://www.entergy-louisiana.com/">Entergy</a>’s operations inside of New Orleans are regulated by the New Orleans City Council, while the company’s actions elsewhere across the state are overseen by the Louisiana Public Service Commission. As a result, Entergy can have distinct rates, standards for service and regulatory objectives inside and outside of New Orleans. This system allows the New Orleans City Council to focus on issues that are important to the city, but it also makes the regulatory environment more complex.</p>
<h2>The trouble with transmission</h2>
<p>The electric transmission system has several sections. High-voltage transmission lines move power over long distances from generating plants to areas of high demand, such as cities. From there, distribution networks deliver electricity to neighborhoods and individual homes or buildings.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419303/original/file-20210903-15-seoxa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Infographic of the power grid." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419303/original/file-20210903-15-seoxa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419303/original/file-20210903-15-seoxa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419303/original/file-20210903-15-seoxa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419303/original/file-20210903-15-seoxa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419303/original/file-20210903-15-seoxa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419303/original/file-20210903-15-seoxa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419303/original/file-20210903-15-seoxa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The US electricity grid has hundreds of thousands of miles of high-voltage power lines and millions of miles of low-voltage power lines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/delivery-to-consumers.php">EIA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hurricane Ida collapsed a transmission tower carrying high-voltage power lines in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, which is immediately west of New Orleans. This caused all eight transmission lines that supply power to the city and surrounding parishes to fail. </p>
<p>Hardening the transmission grid is more challenging than protecting distribution lines. Voltage is like the <a href="https://www.freeingenergy.com/understanding-the-basics-of-electricity-by-thinking-of-it-as-water/">pressure that pushes water through a hose</a>, so a high-voltage transmission line handles an intense flow, like a fire hose. Power is “stepped down” to lower voltages when it enters the distribution system, so the power moving through a distribution line is analogous to water flowing through a garden hose. </p>
<p>Burying transmission lines is technically feasible, and may be practical over short distances. But all power lines lose some of the electricity they carry as heat – and if this heat builds up, it ultimately restricts the line’s ability to carry power over longer distances. Air effectively dissipates heat from above-ground lines, but buried lines are more vulnerable to heating.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i5WvDpjqXuo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In this 2013 video, a nonprofit Georgia transmission corporation explains the complexities of burying high-voltage transmission lines.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Relocating transmission lines or building extra lines as backups may be the only options for strengthening the system in many places. But building new high-voltage power lines is challenging. </p>
<p>Many people are concerned about <a href="https://www.epa.gov/radtown/electric-and-magnetic-fields-power-lines">possible health risks from exposure to electromagnetic fields</a>, which emanate from high-voltage lines. Regulatory agencies struggle with finding acceptable sites and allocating the costs of these projects.</p>
<p>Investment in the U.S. transmission system <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2020/10/f79/2020%20Congestion%20Study%20FINAL%2022Sept2020.pdf">has increased</a> over the past 15 years, but more is needed. The Grid Deployment Authority proposed in the bipartisan <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/02/updated-fact-sheet-bipartisan-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act/">Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act</a> would address some of the challenges of transmission line siting, but other hurdles will remain.</p>
<h2>Managing expectations</h2>
<p>Whatever steps utilities take to harden the grid, there still are circumstances when the power will go out – especially during climate-driven disasters like wildfires and tropical storms. It’s easier to talk about making the power grid more resilient soon after disasters, but the conversation needs to continue after power is restored. In my view, the only way to solve this challenge is by finding ways for utilities, regulators, businesses and customers to transparently discuss the most feasible ways to keep the lights on.</p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167018/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Theodore Kury is the Director of Energy Studies at the University of Florida’s Public Utility Research Center, which is sponsored in part by the Florida electric and gas utilities and the Florida Public Service Commission, none of which has editorial control of any of the content the Center produces.</span></em></p>Hurricane Ida left the entire city of New Orleans in the dark and renewed discussion of burying power lines. But there’s no way to completely protect the grid, above ground or below.Theodore J. Kury, Director of Energy Studies, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1670832021-09-03T12:36:53Z2021-09-03T12:36:53ZWill having so many disasters happening at the same time affect donations? We asked an expert<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418931/original/file-20210901-12-1cvtn46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4562%2C2507&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People evacuated from Afghanistan arriving in the U.S. flew to Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AfghanRefugeesReligiousResponse/b639bb9fc84b4d2eb7377d571da88da7/photo?Query=afghanistan%20AND%20refugees&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=3602&currentItemNo=4">AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2021/8/20/Taliban-Afghanistan-Haiti-US-deployment-Cheat-Sheet">scramble to assist the thousands of refugees who fled Afghanistan</a> is on as the humanitarian crisis in that country grows more dire. <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-recent-political-instability-affect-haitis-earthquake-response-we-ask-an-expert-166224">Haiti’s recovery from an earthquake</a> on Aug. 14, 2021, is off to a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/25/1031170411/almost-2-weeks-after-the-quake-aid-is-just-getting-to-some-remote-towns-in-haiti">rocky start</a>. The recovery from damage <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/31/1032737199/images-louisiana-hurricane-ida">Hurricane Ida</a> wrought in Louisiana and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/02/1033513900/historic-flooding-hurricane-ida-new-york">northeastern states</a> could take years. <a href="https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/nfn">Wildfires are raging in California</a> and at least nine other states.</em></p>
<p><em>All these disasters, <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/africa/conflict-covid-19-fuelled-6-5-million-displacements-in-eastern-africa-in-2020-78535">plus</a> <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/crisis-yemen-worsening-fighting-near-ma-rib-crippling-fuel-shortages-amplify">many</a> <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-08/pope-francis-prays-for-flood-victims-in-venezuela.html">more</a>, are unfolding while the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/29/politics/unemployment-benefits-pandemic-expire-jobs/index.html">toll of the COVID-19 pandemic</a> continues to mount in both economic and health terms in the United States and <a href="https://www.usglc.org/coronavirus/economies-of-developing-countries/">around the world</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>It’s reasonable that people who would normally chip in to alleviate suffering in any of these situations might not know how to help. The Conversation U.S. asked <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uO3Ibh4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Patrick Rooney</a>, an economist at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy who has studied disaster giving for decades, three questions to clear up some of the concerns that many donors might have.</em></p>
<h2>1. How long will donors give after disasters?</h2>
<p>Generally, not long enough. </p>
<p>Given all of the disasters affecting the United States and the entire world at the same time, it’s reasonable for many people who want to donate to be unsure about what they should do. Whether you prefer to focus on the short run or the long run, I think it makes sense to donate now, but not necessarily to the most recent need that has come to your attention.</p>
<p>In the short run, refugees from Afghanistan and displaced people from Haiti, Louisiana and elsewhere all need “hots and cots” – disaster-speak for hot meals and somewhere to sleep.</p>
<p>In the long run, their needs will differ, but grow in terms of their significance and costs. Wherever <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-do-afghanistans-refugees-go-166316">refugees settle down</a>, most families will need housing and their breadwinners will need jobs. Before becoming gainfully employed, many of those workers will require training and education.</p>
<p>Following these disasters, roads, bridges, utilities, schools and other infrastructure will need to be rebuilt, and people could take a long time to rebuild their lives. That’s why efforts to help with recovery need your help now and will need more help later this year, next year and possibly for a <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-help-after-a-disaster-consider-waiting-a-bit-103211">much longer period of time</a>.</p>
<p>In studying disaster giving, my colleagues and I have generally found, with <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/hurricane-katrina">few exceptions</a>, that roughly half of all the money raised through donations tends to be donated within the first four to six weeks after disasters. By the fifth or sixth month, donations usually slow to a trickle even as needs continue. </p>
<p><iframe id="NOFLR" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/NOFLR/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>2. Do people who donate after disasters give less to their favorite causes?</h2>
<p>Ample evidence indicates that this doesn’t usually happen.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I researched U.S. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0899764004269738">donations to causes tied to 9/11 disaster relief</a>, as well as giving to other charities before and after the 2001 terrorist attacks. We found no evidence that giving related to 9/11 diminished support for other charities.</p>
<p>A team of philanthropy researchers has studied disaster relief giving in the United Kingdom using <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=3047325">data garnered from more than 100,000 donors</a> over a five-year period. They also found that disaster relief giving does not displace giving to other charities. </p>
<p>My IUPUI colleagues, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and the philanthropy research group Candid collaborated on a <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1805/19403">survey of 1,243 households</a> about their giving in 2017 and 2018. About 30% made donations annually that were tied to at least one disaster. Only 8% of these donors said that disaster giving led them to cut back on what they gave to other charities. </p>
<p>In other words, donors who support causes linked to disasters keep on supporting their local food pantry, favorite animal shelter, alma mater, congregation and other usual causes. And they generally do this in the same amounts as in other years.</p>
<p>However, things could be different this time around. There’s no precedent for so many disasters occurring simultaneously during a pandemic. </p>
<p><iframe id="VKsRC" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/VKsRC/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>3. Did 9/11 change how people give?</h2>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>The estimated <a href="https://foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge/research/pdf/9_11update03.pdf">US$2.8 billion that Americans gave</a> to causes related to the harm caused by the terrorists attacks marked the beginning of new patterns in disaster philanthropy that persist today.</p>
<p>First, the <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/01/giving-after-disasters">magnitude of disaster giving</a> after most major national and international disasters has grown. Americans gave, for example, an estimated <a href="https://disasterphilanthropy.org/press-release/new-report-finds-that-more-than-20-billion-went-to-covid-19-philanthropy-in-2020/">$20 billion for COVID-19 relief in 2020</a> and funding from private sources for Puerto Rico following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 totaled <a href="https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/hurricane-relief-put-puerto-rico-on-philanthropic-map-study-finds">at least $375 million</a>. Donations following <a href="https://abc11.com/archive/8338533/">Hurricane Floyd in 1999</a>, for example, were on a much smaller scale.</p>
<p>Second, new <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0275074009336205">charities tend to arise after major disasters</a> that exist only to address needs related to one hurricane, earthquake or other devastating event. Most of these pop-up charities, which typically <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-takes-years-to-fully-recover-from-big-storms-like-sandy-118381">fold after a few years</a>, are legitimate.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this trend has created the temptation for <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-donors-can-help-make-nonprofits-more-accountable-85927">abuse and fraud</a>: Misleading websites can amass donations intended for urgent needs that instead line the pockets of people who don’t need the money. While the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna44271766">actual dollar amounts lost to fraud</a> is unknowable, philanthropy scholars do not believe they represent a large share of the billions of dollars raised annually for disaster relief. </p>
<p>To avoid scammers, I recommend giving directly to reputable, well-established charities with experience in disaster relief and recovery. Also watch out for sound-alike and look-alike fraudulent names – such as branding that resembles a familiar charity but isn’t connected to that trusted organization.</p>
<p>What has not changed is the need for giving that lasts years rather than months following a major disaster. For example, I see the devastation in the wake of Haiti’s 2021 earthquake as a graphic reminder that many of the infrastructure needs from the 2010 earthquake remain unmet despite the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/01/12/376138864/5-years-after-haiti-s-earthquake-why-aren-t-things-better">$13.5 billion</a> in government and private aid spent in its aftermath – amid <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/09/oxfam-admits-staffers-engaged-in-sexual-misconduct-during-relief-effort-in-earthquake-torn-haiti/">chronic mismanagement and even abuse</a>. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Charities and government aid agencies may <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/how-many-ghost-schools-are-there-afghanistan-n377976">need stronger oversight</a>. Another hurdle to overcome: figuring out how to keep donations flowing after the <a href="https://journalistsresource.org/environment/disaster-news-framing-frame-changing-coverage-major-u-s-natural-disasters-2000-2010">media stops covering a disaster</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167083/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Rooney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Needs will continue in Haiti and New Orleans – and for Afghan refugees – long past the point when most donors will have found new priorities.Patrick Rooney, Glenn Family Chair of Economics and Philanthropic Studies, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1670772021-09-02T21:50:39Z2021-09-02T21:50:39ZHurricane Ida shows the increasing impact of climate change since Katrina<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419147/original/file-20210902-23-karva1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C0%2C5432%2C3397&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Hilary Scheinuk/AP Pool) </span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/hurricane-ida-shows-the-increasing-impact-of-climate-change-since-katrina" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Sixteen years to the day that Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Hurricane Ida struck at Port Fourchon, La., on Aug. 29, as a Category 4 hurricane with 240 kilometres per hour winds. Given the date and location of the area affected, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-ida-vs-hurricane-katrina-key-differences-explained/">Katrina and Ida comparisons</a> are being made.</p>
<p>While no two disasters are the same, looking at differences between past and present disasters can help us to better understand what is needed to prepare for future disasters. As a professor of emergency management, I was on the ground in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, making observations to study aspects of the hurricane’s impact and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2202/1547-7355.1365">hurricane evacuations</a>. </p>
<p>Given the scope of the emerging impacts of Hurricane Ida, we see that while this is not a repeat of a Katrina disaster, questions are being raised about <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/30/weather/hurricane-ida-climate-change-factors/index.html">the effect of climate change</a> and the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/01/weather/tropical-depression-ida-wednesday/index.html">resiliency of lifeline infrastructure like electricity</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3vwqALaBk70?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">NBC News looks at Hurricanes Ida and Katrina.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Remembering Katrina</h2>
<p>When Hurricane Katrina made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane in 2005, its associated storm surges were among its most significant impacts. The levees that separated New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain failed. Katrina’s toll was <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/we-still-dont-know-how-many-people-died-because-of-katrina/">1,833 killed</a> with US$163 billion in economic losses, making it the <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/weather-related-disasters-increase-over-past-50-years-causing-more-damage-fewer">costliest weather disaster in the past 50 years</a>.</p>
<p>In looking back at Katrina, forces of nature were not the only causative factors for the disaster. Human-caused circumstances, such as a <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/catastrophe-making">history of economic and engineering decisions</a> that over time replaced natural coastal wetland buffers against storm surges with a 120-kilometre long industrial canal, were in part to blame for the disaster.</p>
<p>In addition, <a href="https://items.ssrc.org/understanding-katrina/using-organizations-the-case-of-fema/">numerous disaster response debacles complicated the immediate aftermath of Katrina</a>. The disaster exposed racial- and class-based segregation that resulted in <a href="https://items.ssrc.org/understanding-katrina/toxic-soup-redux-why-environmental-racism-and-environmental-justice-matter-after-katrina/">disproportionate disaster impacts being felt by racialized populations</a>. What started as a natural disaster played out more like a complex humanitarian emergency. </p>
<p>As the aftermath of Hurricane Ida continues to play out, it remains to be seen if the disaster recovery and the economic losses will approach those of Katrina.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419030/original/file-20210902-21-hvb2cy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a damaged car and building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419030/original/file-20210902-21-hvb2cy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419030/original/file-20210902-21-hvb2cy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419030/original/file-20210902-21-hvb2cy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419030/original/file-20210902-21-hvb2cy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419030/original/file-20210902-21-hvb2cy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419030/original/file-20210902-21-hvb2cy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419030/original/file-20210902-21-hvb2cy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward in April 2006.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jack Rozdilsky)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Differences in hurricane behaviour</h2>
<p>A hurricane’s behaviours related to disaster damage include the combination of the effects of high-speed damaging winds, intense periods of rainfall and storm surge flooding in low lying coastal areas. </p>
<p>Katrina’s behaviour is remembered for its devastating water-related hazards with storm surges inundating New Orleans neighbourhoods such as the Lower Ninth Ward.</p>
<p>For Ida, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/31/how-ida-katrina-compare-wind-fingerprints/">the entire breadth of the storm’s wind field stood out as significant</a>. The storm’s behaviour will be remembered for its wind-related hazards. Ida had a slow path of inland movement with <a href="https://www.wftv.com/weather/eye-on-the-tropics/tropical-storm-ida-continues-strengthen-expected-become-hurricane-by-this-weekend/DRSUX54QFNFBTCMSXOZGEY56MA/">highly destructive sustained winds of 200 kilometres per hour for eight hours</a> over a 120-kilometre long path through portions of Jefferson and LaFourche parishes. </p>
<p>In 2005, Katrina crossed a cooler water column in the Gulf of Mexico as it neared the shore, weakening it from a Category 5 to a Category 3 storm at landfall. In 2021, Ida did not encounter any cooler waters, resulting in its <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-climate-rapid-intensification-revved-up-hurricane-ida/2021/08/31/cfb0b5be-0a63-11ec-a7c8-61bb7b3bf628_story.html">rapid intensification</a>. <a href="https://www.wwno.org/coastal-desk/2019-09-30/un-climate-report-suggests-major-changes-in-store-for-gulf-coast">Rising water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico</a> are related to climate change. </p>
<h2>New preparedness challenges</h2>
<p>While the situation remains tenuous in hurricane-stricken locales, at least Ida’s casualty count appears to be nowhere near that of Katrina. As of Sept. 1, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-ida-death-count-rescue-damage/">Ida’s death toll was at six and counting</a>. It is too early to estimate Ida’s economic losses.</p>
<p>Unlike the situation in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina, the levees and drainage systems protecting New Orleans held up under the stress of Ida’s storm surge. Since Katrina, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/explainer-orleans-protected-hurricane-79693042">the U.S. federal government has spent $14.5 billion on levees, pumps, seawalls, floodgates and drainage</a>. Apparently, in the case of Hurricane Ida, that investment in hazard mitigation paid off. </p>
<p>However, while preparations to protect against Katrina-like storm surge flooding appeared to be successful, other aspects of preparation did not fare as well. The region’s electrical grid did not remain functional under the hours of sustained hurricane force winds. Local utilities serving Louisiana said it would take days to assess the damage to their equipment and weeks to fully restore service across the state as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/08/31/ida-entergy-hurricane-louisiana-power/">problems with the electrical grid continue</a>. All the eight main transmission lines bringing electricity from power plants into New Orleans were knocked out, and more than one million people remain without power three days after landfall. </p>
<p>Without power, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/01/ida-recovery-power/">the situation is becoming increasingly desperate</a>. As one example of the collateral damages related to a lack of electricity, the <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/hurricane/article_22652816-0b78-11ec-a80d-3bd9b75da4ca.html">gasoline distribution system imploded</a>. As conditions degrade due to a prolonged electrical outage, people who did not evacuate during the storm may be forced to, and those who evacuated will be prevented from returning.</p>
<p>Looking at the aftermath of Hurricane Ida illustrates how <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/hurricane-ida-aftermath-climate-change-making-hurricanes-devastating/story?id=79727034">climate change is making hurricanes more devastating</a>. While <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0194.1">studies continue to assess the climate change contribution to hurricane intensity</a>, there is little doubt that the increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes impacting the Gulf Coast of the U.S. is being influenced by global warming. </p>
<p>Sixteen years of additional climate change since Hurricane Katrina adds to preparation needs. Even if we are doing better with challenges like protecting against storm surge flooding, the impacts of future hurricanes call for additional measures. These include increasing the resiliency of our infrastructure to better meet the risks of a changing climate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167077/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack L. Rozdilsky is a Professor at York University who receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as a co-investigator on a project supported under operating grant Canadian 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Rapid Research Funding.</span></em></p>Sixteen years after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the Category 4 storm Hurricane Ida reached Louisiana. Planning for future hurricanes must include the need to build resiliency to climate change.Jack L. Rozdilsky, Associate Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1669542021-08-30T12:28:42Z2021-08-30T12:28:42ZHurricane Ida: 4 essential reads about New Orleans’ high hurricane risk and what climate change has to do with the storms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418364/original/file-20210830-21-ihgihz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C84%2C5102%2C3307&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hurricane Ida's winds tore off roofs, including in New Orleans' French Quarter.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXTropicalWeatherAtlantic/8d34a9cf7a294a3b980415af25a2e64f/photo">AP Photo/Eric Gay</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hurricane Ida hit the Louisiana coast with 150 mph winds on Aug. 29, 2021, 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans on nearly the same path. </p>
<p>Ida was one of the <a href="https://twitter.com/WeatherProf/status/1431940280421343232">most intense</a> tropical storms on record in the state. Its storm surge was less than Katrina’s, but it quickly <a href="https://twitter.com/CWatkinsWDSU/status/1432112997363863554">flooded streets and homes</a> outside the levee system where many residents were under mandatory evacuation orders. Most of New Orleans’ <a href="https://www.wwltv.com/article/weather/hurricane/corps-confident-that-levees-will-protect-orleans-jefferson-st-bernard/289-cef4c57e-3086-430b-adc7-a342b49264a4">rebuilt levees</a> appeared to have held, but the powerful winds tore up roofs, knocked down trees and caused “<a href="https://www.nola.com/news/hurricane/article_79e1b5a0-0925-11ec-819a-6f35bf1995ac.html">catastrophic damage</a>” to transmission lines, cutting power across the region. </p>
<p>Four articles from our archives, written by meteorologists and atmospheric scientists, offer some insight into why the New Orleans area is at high risk for intense hurricanes and what climate change has to do with these powerful storms.</p>
<h2>1. Some areas are more prone to hurricane damage</h2>
<p>New Orleans is among the most at-risk places along the U.S. coast for hurricanes. An analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated the area was likely to see a hurricane within 50 nautical miles about <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/">once every seven years</a> and a major hurricane about every 20.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418328/original/file-20210829-19-oit18z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map shows return rate for hurricanes at communities along the coast" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418328/original/file-20210829-19-oit18z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418328/original/file-20210829-19-oit18z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418328/original/file-20210829-19-oit18z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418328/original/file-20210829-19-oit18z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418328/original/file-20210829-19-oit18z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418328/original/file-20210829-19-oit18z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418328/original/file-20210829-19-oit18z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The numbers shown here reflect how often a hurricane would be expected within 50 nautical miles. The red dots suggest a hurricane every five to seven years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several characteristics <a href="https://theconversation.com/some-coastal-areas-are-more-prone-to-devastating-hurricanes-a-meteorologist-explains-why-160765">can put a region at higher risk for destructive hurricanes</a>, University of Florida meteorologist Athena Masson explained.</p>
<p>One factor is timing, she wrote. Storms tend to hit Texas and the Atlantic Coast earlier in the season, while the northern Gulf Coast is at higher risk from late August into October. Trade winds tend to push storms away from the western Gulf later in the fall. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Maps showing U.S. areas most at hurricane risk during each month from June to November" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418332/original/file-20210829-27-p5asso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418332/original/file-20210829-27-p5asso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418332/original/file-20210829-27-p5asso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418332/original/file-20210829-27-p5asso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418332/original/file-20210829-27-p5asso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418332/original/file-20210829-27-p5asso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418332/original/file-20210829-27-p5asso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The busiest areas during each month of hurricane season.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.weather.gov/images/mob/climate/May2018Climate/TC_AreasofOrigin.PNG">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another is the shape of the sea floor. A shallow continental shelf like Louisiana’s can generate a powerful storm surge. Parts of the coast were inundated with <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT4+shtml/292052.shtml?">more than 9 feet of water</a> as Ida arrived.</p>
<p>Conditions along the storm’s path, particularly the water temperature, largely determine whether a tropical storm becomes a dangerous hurricane, Masson said.</p>
<p>“Three key ingredients are needed for a hurricane to form: warm sea surface water that’s at least about <a href="https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/hurricanes.html">80 degrees Fahrenheit</a> (26.5 C), a thick layer of moisture extending from the sea surface to roughly 20,000 feet, and minimal vertical <a href="https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/articles/wind-shear-explainer">wind shear</a> so the thunderstorm can grow vertically without interruption,” Masson wrote.</p>
<p>Hurricane Ida had all three. The Gulf of Mexico’s surface was exceptionally warm as Ida moved through, <a href="https://twitter.com/BradNitzWSB/status/1431370774158446607">with temperatures around 85 to 90 F</a> (29.4 to 32.2 C). The storm also had plenty of moisture and very little wind shear to stop it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/some-coastal-areas-are-more-prone-to-devastating-hurricanes-a-meteorologist-explains-why-160765">Some coastal areas are more prone to devastating hurricanes – a meteorologist explains why</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1431370774158446607"}"></div></p>
<h2>2. What does climate change have to do with hurricanes?</h2>
<p>The 2020 hurricane season broke records with 30 named storms, seven major hurricanes of Category 3 strength or higher, and 10 storms that underwent rapid intensification <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/29/climate/hurricane-ida-category.html">like Ida did</a> before making landfall.</p>
<p>In analyzing the 2020 season, atmospheric scientists James Ruppert, now at the University of Oklahoma, and Allison Wing at Florida State University discussed <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-2020-atlantic-hurricane-season-was-a-record-breaker-and-its-raising-more-concerns-about-climate-change-150495">climate change’s role in raising hurricane risks</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418337/original/file-20210829-13-h7x0sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A satellite view of the hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico and coast." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418337/original/file-20210829-13-h7x0sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418337/original/file-20210829-13-h7x0sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418337/original/file-20210829-13-h7x0sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418337/original/file-20210829-13-h7x0sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418337/original/file-20210829-13-h7x0sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418337/original/file-20210829-13-h7x0sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418337/original/file-20210829-13-h7x0sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hurricane Ida just before landfall on the Louisiana coast on Aug. 29, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/index.php">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the question of whether climate change affects the number of hurricanes, there is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0189.1">no detectable global trend</a> in hurricane frequency, and studies using computer models have had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0452.1">conflicting results</a>, Ruppert and Wing wrote. But, they said, there is a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/22/11975">trend toward more intense storms</a> – those that are Category 3 and higher, like Hurricane Ida.</p>
<p>“Since ocean temperature controls the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/326483a0">potential intensity</a> of tropical cyclones, climate change <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920849117">is likely behind</a> this trend, which is expected to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0194.1">continue</a>,” they said. “The U.S. is also seeing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF000825">more storms with extreme rainfall</a>. With warmer temperatures, more water is able to evaporate into the atmosphere, resulting in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3990.1">greater moisture in the air</a>.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-2020-atlantic-hurricane-season-was-a-record-breaker-and-its-raising-more-concerns-about-climate-change-150495">The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was a record-breaker, and it's raising more concerns about climate change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Climate change and storm surge</h2>
<p>Climate change also affects the level of hurricane damage in another way: It gradually increases the risk from storm surge.</p>
<p>Storm surge – the huge volume of water that the hurricane pushes on shore – is one of the greatest threats to life and property from any hurricane. The height and extent of the storm surge <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-orleans-issues-evacuation-orders-ahead-of-hurricane-ida-as-forecasters-warn-of-dangerous-storm-surge-heres-what-that-means-145369">depend on the strength and size of the hurricane</a>, but <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2680/new-study-finds-sea-level-rise-accelerating/">sea level rise</a> is raising the baseline height of the ocean, Penn State meteorologist Anthony Didlake Jr. explained.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustration shows how higher tides raise storm surge levels." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418381/original/file-20210830-25-1wj2h5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418381/original/file-20210830-25-1wj2h5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418381/original/file-20210830-25-1wj2h5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418381/original/file-20210830-25-1wj2h5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418381/original/file-20210830-25-1wj2h5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418381/original/file-20210830-25-1wj2h5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418381/original/file-20210830-25-1wj2h5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When hurricanes hit at high tide, the tide further raises the water level. Sea level rise also elevates the baseline water level.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/">The COMET Program/UCAR and National Weather Service</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“As water warms, <a href="https://sealevel.nasa.gov/understanding-sea-level/global-sea-level/thermal-expansion">it expands</a>, and that has slowly raised sea level over the past century as <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/global-temperatures">global temperatures have risen</a>. Freshwater from melting of ice sheets and glaciers also adds to sea level rise. Together, they <a href="https://science2017.globalchange.gov/chapter/12/">elevate the background ocean height</a>,” Didlake wrote. “When a hurricane arrives, the higher ocean means storm surge can bring water further inland, to a more dangerous and widespread effect.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-hurricane-storm-surge-and-why-can-it-be-so-catastrophic-145369">What is hurricane storm surge, and why can it be so catastrophic?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. The IPCC on hurricanes</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/ipcc-climate-report-profound-changes-are-underway-in-earths-oceans-and-ice-a-lead-author-explains-what-the-warnings-mean-165588">latest global climate analysis</a> from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change offered similar conclusions. </p>
<p>It discussed evidence that hurricanes are now more intense than they were 40 years ago, are intensifying more rapidly and are slowing in their forward movement, leading to more rainfall. The influence of greenhouse gas emissions in these changes is still being determined; reductions in particulate pollution have also had important effects, said Robert Kopp, an author of the report’s chapter on oceans and sea level rise.</p>
<p>“The clearest effect of global warming is that a warmer atmosphere holds more water, leading to more extreme rainfall, like that seen during Hurricane Harvey in 2017,” Kopp explained. “Looking forward, we expect to see hurricane winds and hurricane rains continue to increase.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ipcc-climate-report-profound-changes-are-underway-in-earths-oceans-and-ice-a-lead-author-explains-what-the-warnings-mean-165588">IPCC climate report: Profound changes are underway in Earth's oceans and ice – a lead author explains what the warnings mean</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166954/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The New Orleans region is likely to see a hurricane about every seven years and a major hurricane about every 20.Stacy Morford, Environment + Climate EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1607652021-05-27T12:04:54Z2021-05-27T12:04:54ZSome coastal areas are more prone to devastating hurricanes – a meteorologist explains why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402981/original/file-20210526-13-cgj0pz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C33%2C2041%2C1299&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Preparing for a hurricane on North Carolina's vulnerable Outer Banks.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/hurricane-veteran-todd-liston-measures-for-plywood-and-news-photo/2500150?adppopup=true">Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every coastline in the North Atlantic is vulnerable to tropical storms, but some areas are <a href="https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd-faq/#landfalls-by-state">more susceptible to hurricane destruction</a> than others. </p>
<p>To understand why, let’s look more closely at how tropical storms form and what turns them into destructive monsters. </p>
<h2>Ingredients of a hurricane</h2>
<p>Three key ingredients are needed for a hurricane to form: warm sea surface water that’s at least about <a href="https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/hurricanes.html">80 degrees Fahrenheit</a> (26.5 C), a thick layer of moisture extending from the sea surface to roughly 20,000 feet and minimal vertical <a href="https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/articles/wind-shear-explainer">wind shear</a> so the thunderstorm can grow vertically without interruption. </p>
<p>These prime conditions are often found in the tropical waters off the west coast of Africa.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402449/original/file-20210524-21-2hp4op.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Storm tracks show the curved track from Africa into the Gulf of Mexico and out to the ocean." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402449/original/file-20210524-21-2hp4op.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402449/original/file-20210524-21-2hp4op.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402449/original/file-20210524-21-2hp4op.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402449/original/file-20210524-21-2hp4op.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402449/original/file-20210524-21-2hp4op.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402449/original/file-20210524-21-2hp4op.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402449/original/file-20210524-21-2hp4op.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Twenty-five years of Atlantic tropical storm tracks, ranging from tropical depressions in dark blue to hurricanes in yellows and reds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atlantic_hurricane_tracks_1980-2005.jpg">Nilfanion</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hurricanes can also form in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, but the ones that start close to Africa have thousands of miles of warm water ahead that they can <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/planet-ocean/waves-storms-tsunamis/hurricanes-typhoons-and-cyclones">draw energy from</a> as they travel. That energy can help them grow into powerful hurricanes.</p>
<p>Wind currents set most tropical storms on a course westward from Africa toward the Caribbean, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. Some drift northward into the midlatitudes, where the prevailing winds shift from west to east and cause them to curve back out into the Atlantic. </p>
<p>Others encounter cooler ocean temperatures that rob them of fuel, or high wind shear that breaks them apart. That’s why tropical cyclones rarely hit northern states or Europe, though it does happen.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Map showing return periods for coastal counties" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402461/original/file-20210524-17-6m88i6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402461/original/file-20210524-17-6m88i6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402461/original/file-20210524-17-6m88i6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402461/original/file-20210524-17-6m88i6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402461/original/file-20210524-17-6m88i6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402461/original/file-20210524-17-6m88i6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402461/original/file-20210524-17-6m88i6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The numbers shown here reflect how often a hurricane would be expected within 50 nautical miles. The red dots suggest a hurricane every five to seven years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Time of season also influences hurricane paths</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/">Early in the season</a>, in June and July, sea surface temperatures are still warming and atmospheric wind shear slowly decreases across the open Atlantic. Most early-season hurricanes develop in a small area of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico where prime conditions begin early. </p>
<p>They typically form close to land, so coastal residents don’t have much time to prepare, but these storms also don’t have ideal conditions to gain strength. Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as Central America, are more likely to see hurricane strikes early in the season, as the trade winds favor an east-to-west motion. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/view/globaldata.html#SSTA">As surface waters gain heat</a> over the summer, hurricane frequency and severity begin to increase, especially into the peak hurricane months of August through October. </p>
<p>Toward the end of the season, trade winds begin to shift from west to east, ocean temperatures start to fall, and cold fronts can help divert storms away from the western Gulf and <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL142018_Michael.pdf">push them toward the Florida Panhandle</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Maps of storm activity by month" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402456/original/file-20210524-23-6l9fq3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402456/original/file-20210524-23-6l9fq3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402456/original/file-20210524-23-6l9fq3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402456/original/file-20210524-23-6l9fq3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402456/original/file-20210524-23-6l9fq3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402456/original/file-20210524-23-6l9fq3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402456/original/file-20210524-23-6l9fq3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The busiest areas during each month of hurricane season.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.weather.gov/images/mob/climate/May2018Climate/TC_AreasofOrigin.PNG">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shape of the seafloor matters for destructiveness</h2>
<p>The shape of the seafloor can also play a role in how destructive hurricanes become.</p>
<p>Hurricane strength is currently measured solely on a storm’s <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php">maximum sustained wind speeds</a>. But hurricanes also displace ocean water, creating a surge of high water that their winds push toward shore ahead of the storm.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/?text">This storm surge</a> is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00074.1">often the greatest threat to life and property</a> from a hurricane, accounting for about 49% of all direct fatalities between 1963 and 2012. Hurricane Katrina (2005) is a prime example: An estimated 1,500 people lost their lives when Katrina hit New Orleans, many of them in the storm surge flooding.</p>
<p>If the continental shelf where the hurricane hits is shallow and slopes gently, it generally produces a greater storm surge than a steeper shelf.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TbHO1mWHKq4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">How the shape of the seafloor affects a hurricane storm surge.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, a major hurricane hitting the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast – which has a very wide and shallow <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/?text">continental shelf</a> – may produce a 20-foot storm surge. However, the same hurricane might produce only a 10-foot storm surge along the Atlantic coastline, where the continental shelf drops off very quickly.</p>
<h2>Where are the hurricane hot spots?</h2>
<p>A few years ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration <a href="https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd-faq/#chances-of-tcs">analyzed the probability of U.S. coastlines’</a> being hit by a tropical storm based on storm hits from 1944 and 1999.</p>
<p>It found that New Orleans had about a 40% chance each year of a tropical storm strike. The chances rose for Miami and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, both at 48%. San Juan, Puerto Rico, which has seen some devastating storms in recent years, was at 42%.</p>
<p>Hurricanes, which have sustained wind speeds of at least 74 miles per hour, were also more frequent in the three U.S. locations. Miami and Cape Hatteras were found to have a 16% chance of a direct hit by a hurricane in any given year, and New Orleans’ chance was estimated at 12%.</p>
<p>Each of these locations is vulnerable to a hurricane because of its location, but also its shape. North Carolina and Florida “stick out like a sore thumb” and are often grazed by hurricanes that curve up the east coast of the U.S.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402459/original/file-20210524-13-1k54w9h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of storm probabilities over the Atlantic coasts" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402459/original/file-20210524-13-1k54w9h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402459/original/file-20210524-13-1k54w9h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402459/original/file-20210524-13-1k54w9h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402459/original/file-20210524-13-1k54w9h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402459/original/file-20210524-13-1k54w9h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402459/original/file-20210524-13-1k54w9h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402459/original/file-20210524-13-1k54w9h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The probability that a named storm tropical storm or hurricane will affect a location at some point during hurricane season.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd-faq/">Todd Kimberlain/AOML NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Climate change changes the risk</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/global/time-series/globe/ocean/ytd/12/1880-2021">sea surface temperatures rise</a> with the warming of the planet, more areas outside of these usual hurricane regions may see more tropical storms.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jou.ufl.edu/staff/athena-masson/">I</a> analyzed <a href="https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/92099">tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic that made landfall</a> from 1972 to 2019 to look for changes over the past half-century.</p>
<p>During the first six years of that period, 1972-77, the Atlantic averaged four direct hits per year. Of those, 75% were in the usual hurricane-prone areas, such as the Southern United States, the Caribbean and Central America. Six storms made landfall elsewhere, including New England, Canada and the Azores.</p>
<p>By 2014-19, the Atlantic averaged 7.6 direct hits per year. While the U.S. took the majority of those hits, Europe has been showing a steady increase in cyclones making landfall. Major hurricanes – those with sustained wind speeds of 111 miles per hour and above – are also more common than they were in the 1970s and ‘80s.</p>
<p><iframe id="uZzs4" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/uZzs4/8/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>While southern coastal locations of the United States may be the most vulnerable to tropical cyclone impacts, it is important to understand that a devastating cyclone can hit anywhere along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.</p>
<p>The National Hurricane Center <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/noaa-predicts-another-active-atlantic-hurricane-season">forecast another busy season in 2021</a>, though it is not expected to be as extreme as 2020’s record 30 named storms. Even if an area hasn’t experienced a hurricane in several years, residents are advised to prepare for the season as if their area will take a hit – just in case.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160765/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Athena Masson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New Orleans has about a 40% chance of getting hit by a tropical storm in any given year. Here’s how heat, winds and the shape of the seafloor raise the hurricane damage risk.Athena Masson, Meteorology instructor, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1570772021-03-17T13:21:49Z2021-03-17T13:21:49ZSea levels are rising fastest in big cities – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389828/original/file-20210316-23-18odtnx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C4509%2C3361&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jakarta is sinking while sea levels rise.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">dani daniar / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is well known that climate-induced sea level rise is a major threat. What is less well know is the threat of sinking land. And in many of the most populated coastal areas, the land is sinking even faster than the sea is rising.</p>
<p>Parts of Tokyo for instance sank by 4 metres during the 20th century, with 2 metres or more of sinking reported in <a href="https://www.deltares.nl/app/uploads/2015/09/Sinking-cities.pdf">Shanghai, Bangkok, and New Orleans</a>. This process is known as subsidence. Slow subsidence happens naturally in river deltas, and it can be accelerated by the extraction of groundwater, oil or gas which causes the soil to consolidate and the surface to lose elevation. </p>
<p>Subsidence leads to relative sea level rise (sea level rise plus land sinking). It turns croplands salty, damages buildings, causes widespread flooding and can even mean the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpPJMOp_P3M">loss of entire coastal areas</a>.</p>
<p>Subsidence can threaten flooding in low-lying coastal areas, much more so than rising sea levels, yet scientists are only just realising the global implications of the threat with respect to coastal cities. </p>
<p>In fact, while the average coastal area experiences relative sea level rise of less than 3mm per year, the average coastal resident experiences a rise of around 8mm to 10mm per year. This is because so many people live in deltas and especially cities on deltas that are subsiding. That’s the key finding of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-00993-z">our new research</a>, where we analysed how fast cities are sinking across the world and compared them with global subsidence data including less densely populated coastlines.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389831/original/file-20210316-19-na980a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing relative sea level rise in 23 coastal regions around the world." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389831/original/file-20210316-19-na980a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389831/original/file-20210316-19-na980a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389831/original/file-20210316-19-na980a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389831/original/file-20210316-19-na980a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389831/original/file-20210316-19-na980a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389831/original/file-20210316-19-na980a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389831/original/file-20210316-19-na980a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When weighted by population, relative sea level rise is worst in south east Asia, followed by south and east Asia, and the southern Mediterranean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-00993-z.pdf?origin=ppub">Nicholls et al</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our finding reflects that people often choose to live in river deltas, floodplains and other areas that were already prone to sinking, and in doing so will further enhance subsidence. In particular, subsiding cities contain more than 150 million people in the coastal zone – that’s roughly 20% of people in the world who live by the sea. This means relative sealevel rise will have a more sudden and more severe impact than scientists had originally thought.</p>
<p>Here are a few of the most affected cities:</p>
<h2>Jakarta</h2>
<p>The Indonesian capital <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44636934">Jakarta</a> is home to 10 million people, and is built on low-lying land next to the sea. Groundwater extraction caused the city to sink <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/106/1/012006/meta">more than three metres</a> from 1947 to 2010 and much of the city is still sinking by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44636934">10cm or more each year</a>. </p>
<p>Subsidence does not occur evenly, leading to uneven risks that make <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11069-011-9866-9.pdf">urban planning difficult</a>. Buildings are now flooded, cracks are appearing in infrastructure which is being abandoned. </p>
<p>Jakarta has built <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/jakarta-building-giant-sea-wall-to-stop-city-from-sinking/av-49921821">higher sea walls</a> to keep up with the subsidence. But since groundwater pumping continues, this patching-up policy can only last so long before the same problems occur again. And the city needs to keep pumping since groundwater is used for drinking water. Taking water, the very thing that humans need to survive, ultimately puts people at risk from inundation. </p>
<p>The battle against subsidence is <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2020.00005/full">slowly being lost</a>, with the government proposing in 2019 to move the capital to a purpose-built city on the island of Borneo more than 1,000km away, with subsidence being <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/27/why-is-indonesia-moving-its-capital-city-everything-you-need-to-know">one of many reasons</a>.</p>
<h2>Shanghai</h2>
<p>Developing rapidly in the past few decades, and now with a population of 26 million, Shanghai is another sinker. The city has maximum subsidence rates of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-012-0468-7">around 2.5cm a year</a>. Again this is mostly caused by lowering groundwater levels, in this case thanks to <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11069-012-0220-7.pdf">drainage to construct skyscrapers, metro lines and roads</a> (for instance Metro Line 1, built in the 1990s, caused rapid subsidence).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389853/original/file-20210316-24-18bgv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Body of water in front of lots of skyscrapers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389853/original/file-20210316-24-18bgv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389853/original/file-20210316-24-18bgv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389853/original/file-20210316-24-18bgv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389853/original/file-20210316-24-18bgv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389853/original/file-20210316-24-18bgv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389853/original/file-20210316-24-18bgv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389853/original/file-20210316-24-18bgv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shanghai is found where the river Yangtze meets the sea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John_T / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If no additional protection is built, by 2100 this rate of subsidence and sea level rise mean that a storm surge could flood around 15% of the city.</p>
<h2>New Orleans</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/how-humans-sank-new-orleans/552323/">New Orleans</a>, centuries of embankments and ditches had effectively drained the city and sunk it, leaving about half of it below sea level. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389840/original/file-20210316-15-le51st.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of New Orleans with shaded areas below sea level." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389840/original/file-20210316-15-le51st.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389840/original/file-20210316-15-le51st.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389840/original/file-20210316-15-le51st.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389840/original/file-20210316-15-le51st.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389840/original/file-20210316-15-le51st.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389840/original/file-20210316-15-le51st.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389840/original/file-20210316-15-le51st.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Much of New Orleans is below sea level (red) and relies on sea walls to stay dry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.datacenterresearch.org/maps/reference-maps/#gallery-5">The Data Center, New Orleans</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When Hurricane Katrina breached the levees in 2005, the city did not stand a chance. The hurricane caused <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/103/40/14653.short">at least US$40 billion (£29 billion) in damage</a> and particularly took its toll on the city’s <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0021934706296188">African American community</a>. More than <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/103/40/14653.short">1,570 people</a> died across the state of Louisiana.</p>
<p>If the city had not subsided, damage would have been greatly reduced and lives would have been saved. Decisions that were made many decades or more ago set the path for the disasters that are seen today, and what we will see in the future.</p>
<h2>There are no simple solutions</h2>
<p>So what can be done? Building a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/4/619">sea wall or dike</a> is one immediate solution. This of course stops the water coming in, but remember that the sea wall is sinking too, so it has to be extra large in order to be effective in the long-term. In urban areas, engineers cannot raise ground easily: that can take decades as buildings and infrastructure are renewed. There is no simple solution, and large-scale urban subsidence is largely irreversible. </p>
<p>Some cities have found “solutions”. Tokyo for instance managed to stop subsidence from about 1960 onwards thanks to <a href="https://www.iges.or.jp/en/publication_documents/pub/peer/en/1208/IRES_Vol.6-2_403.pdf">stronger regulations on water pumping</a>, but it cannot get rid of the overall risk as parts of city are below sea level and depend on dikes and pumps to be habitable. Indonesia’s bold proposal to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/27/why-is-indonesia-moving-its-capital-city-everything-you-need-to-know">move its capital city</a> may be the ultimate solution.</p>
<p>Increased urbanisation especially in deltas areas and the demand for freshwater means subsidence will remain a pressing issue in the coming decades. Dealing with subsidence is complementary to dealing with climate-induced sea level rise and both need to be addressed. A combination of rising seas and sinking lands will increasingly leave coastal cities at risk.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157077/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Brown received funding from European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme project: Responses to coastal climate change: Innovative Strategies for high End Scenarios – Adaptation and Mitigation (RISES-AM), grant agreement number 603396.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert James Nicholls received funding from the Deltas, Vulnerability and Climate Change: Migration and Adaptation
project (International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, 107642) under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia programme with financial support from the UK Government’s Department for International
Development, the IDRC, Canada, from European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme project: Responses to coastal climate change: Innovative Strategies for high End Scenarios – Adaptation and Mitigation (RISES-AM), grant agreement number 603396 and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 869304,PROTECT Project.</span></em></p>Sinking land plus rising seas are putting hundreds of millions of people at risk.Sally Brown, Scientist, Bournemouth UniversityRobert James Nicholls, Professor of Climate Adaptation, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1495832020-11-13T13:43:33Z2020-11-13T13:43:33ZOnce a symbol of desegregation, Ruby Bridges’ school now reflects another battle engulfing public education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368354/original/file-20201109-23-1rgbeqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">US deputy marshals escort 6-year-old Ruby Bridges outside William Frantz Public School in New Orleans in 1960.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/RubyBridgesSegregation/83ac2adbc8e147a2b80b20992ef70a97/photo?Query=Ruby%20AND%20Bridges&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=55&currentItemNo=28">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Nov. 14, 1960, after a long summer and autumn of volleys between the Louisiana Legislature and the federal courts, Ruby Bridges, a 6-year-old Black girl, was allowed to enroll in an all-white school. Accompanied by federal marshals, Bridges entered William Frantz Public School – a small neighborhood school in New Orleans’ Upper Ninth Ward.</p>
<p>If that building’s walls could talk, they certainly would tell the well-known story of its desegregation. But those same walls could tell another story, too. That story is about continued racism as well as efforts to dismantle and privatize public education in America over the past six decades.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_allsubj=all&as_sauthors=%22Schaffer%2C+Connie+L%22&as_q=">scholars</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OWsZ31oAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">of</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_allsubj=all&as_sauthors=%22White%2C+Meg%22&as_q=">education</a>, we combed through multiple archives to <a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/67650?format=EPDF">uncover this story</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An older woman stands in front of a painting of a young Black girl walking to school" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368900/original/file-20201111-15-1spz9jk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368900/original/file-20201111-15-1spz9jk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368900/original/file-20201111-15-1spz9jk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368900/original/file-20201111-15-1spz9jk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368900/original/file-20201111-15-1spz9jk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368900/original/file-20201111-15-1spz9jk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368900/original/file-20201111-15-1spz9jk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lynda Gunn, who modeled as Ruby Bridges for Norman Rockwell’s 1964 painting ‘The Problem We All Live With,’ poses in front of the painting in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/lynda-gunn-poses-next-to-the-1964-rockwell-painting-the-news-photo/578335742?adppopup=true">Timothy Tai/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A civil rights landmark</h2>
<p>News outlets covering the Ruby Bridges story published numerous photographs at the time. But the Frantz school, and racist reactions to desegregating it, really captured America’s attention in 1964, after Look magazine ran a photo of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Trz-ijBYg">Norman Rockwell’s iconic painting of Bridges</a> walking to the school.</p>
<p>Disney’s movie “<a href="https://www.euzhanpalcy.net/rubybridges">Ruby Bridges</a>” and an <a href="http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/content/through-my-eyes">award-winning children’s book</a> solidified the school’s iconic role in the civil rights movement. In 2005, just months before Hurricane Katrina caused serious structural damage to the school, Frantz was added to the <a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/73974310">National Register of Historic Places</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CHTJMbWBx6r/">A viral illustration</a> of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris walking alongside a silhouette of Bridges as depicted in Rockwell’s painting has captured that attention again.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CHUdleKjItx","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Resistance of white residents</h2>
<p>For the remainder of Bridges’ first school year, crowds protested outside the school building. They threatened Bridges, her family and the families of the few white children who continued to attend. Most parents withdrew their children from Frantz and enrolled them in all-white, private schools instead. </p>
<p>Racism drove many white families from the neighborhoods near the school and other areas of New Orleans to abandon the city. White enrollment steadily declined throughout New Orleans’ public schools, dropping more than 50% between 1960 and 1980.</p>
<p>By 2005, only <a href="https://www.louisianabelieves.com/docs/default-source/katrina/final-louisana-believes-v5-enrollment-demographics22f9e85b8c9b66d6b292ff0000215f92.pdf?sfvrsn=2">3% of the students enrolled</a> in the city’s public schools were white – <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ruraled/tables/B.1.b.-1.asp?refer=urban">far below average</a> for midsize American cities.</p>
<p>In the 1970s, the neighborhoods surrounding Frantz <a href="https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/449/">experienced pronounced poverty</a>. A growing number of students throughout New Orleans – <a href="https://teachneworleans.net/nola-by-the-numbers/">most of whom were Black</a> – attended schools that <a href="http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_197911_geisert.pdf">were underfunded</a>.</p>
<p>Still, Frantz teachers and students persevered.</p>
<p>The school offered Black history events, special science programs, anti-drug campaigns, and classes in African dance and social skills. At one point, <a href="https://www.guideposts.org/inspiration/inspiring-stories/stories-of-hope/in-1960-little-ruby-bridges-bravely-entered-an-all-white-school">Bridges volunteered</a> at Frantz as a liaison between the school and families. </p>
<h2>National reform and charter trend</h2>
<p>However, the resilience of the students and the teachers at Frantz proved no match for powerful forces promoting a disruptive approach to public school accountability.</p>
<p>In the late 1980s, school choice advocates like <a href="https://www.aft.org/ae/winter2014-2015/kahlenberg_potter">Albert Shanker</a> promoted charter schools as a means to reform public education in America and to replace academically struggling schools like Frantz. Some school reformers believed these publicly funded yet independently run schools could offer more instructional innovations than centralized school districts. </p>
<p>In the 1990s, <a href="https://www.louisianabelieves.com/docs/default-source/district-support/comprehensive-assessment-system-overview-2017-2018.pdf?sfvrsn=8">Louisiana developed LEAP</a>, an accountability system based on mandatory high-stakes testing. Like similar programs that were popping up in school districts across the country, it didn’t account for the impact of poverty on test scores while generating <a href="https://www.louisianabelieves.com/data/reportcards/">report cards</a> for Louisiana schools.</p>
<p>Frantz’s report cards categorized the school as “unacceptable” or “below average.” In June 2005, the school district voted to <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1320/Thevenot_-_Five_Elementary_Schools_to_Close.pdf?1605058134">close Frantz</a>.</p>
<h2>Guise of recovery</h2>
<p>A year before the school closed, Louisiana passed legislation authorizing the takeover of schools the LEAP system labeled as failing. As local officials shuttered Frantz, state officials stripped the New Orleans school board of its authority and transferred responsibility of five schools to the newly formed <a href="https://www.louisianabelieves.com/schools/recovery-school-district/">Recovery School District</a>. The state Department of Education, which oversaw the schools, promptly converted them to charters.</p>
<p>When Americans turned their attention to New Orleans following <a href="https://theconversation.com/hurricane-kids-what-katrina-taught-us-about-saving-puerto-ricos-youngest-storm-victims-101509">Hurricane Katrina</a>, many wrongly assumed the Recovery School District was part of the massive, multifaceted federal response to the hurricane.</p>
<p>In reality, Katrina provided a convenient opportunity for charter school advocates. They capitalized on the post-Katrina recovery to rewrite the story of public education in New Orleans by establishing a system completely dominated by for-profit and not-for-profit charter schools. </p>
<p>School reformers touted the system as a model to improve struggling education systems. In fact, after Hurricane Maria destroyed much of Puerto Rico, the island’s <a href="https://twitter.com/JuliaBKeleher/status/923724280885661696">secretary of education</a> declared it an “opportunity to create new, better schools,” and called New Orleans a “point of reference.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the building that had housed Frantz sat abandoned and in need of <a href="https://savingplaces.org/stories/desegregation-landmark-new-orleans-education-healing#.X6SjE2hKjcs">massive repairs</a>. Following renovation, it reopened in 2013 as a charter school, <a href="https://akiliacademy.org/">Akili Academy</a>.</p>
<h2>An all-charter district</h2>
<p>The historic building now tells a <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/education/article_30fbef6e-b476-11e9-a3b5-57480c7a30f7.html">contemporary story of an all-charter district</a>.</p>
<p>In the past, New Orleans voters held the school board accountable for its oversight of the former Frantz school and other neighborhood public schools like it. Unlike Frantz, Akili is a charter school that students throughout the city are eligible to attend. It is under the direction of the private board of <a href="https://crescentcityschools.org/">Crescent City Schools</a>, a charter management organization.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368212/original/file-20201109-15-1us9kje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sign saying Akili Academy on a beige brick building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368212/original/file-20201109-15-1us9kje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368212/original/file-20201109-15-1us9kje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368212/original/file-20201109-15-1us9kje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368212/original/file-20201109-15-1us9kje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368212/original/file-20201109-15-1us9kje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368212/original/file-20201109-15-1us9kje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368212/original/file-20201109-15-1us9kje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Akili Academy occupies the former William Frantz Public School building.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mandy Liu</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Government funding provides <a href="https://crescentcityschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/CCS-annual-report-2019-rev-sp-lg.pdf">90% of Akili’s current revenue</a>. The Crescent City board and others like it spend those tax dollars and determine how to educate the city’s children. Privately appointed charter board members face no accountability to voters.</p>
<p>Such a system can mute voices of local voters, most of whom – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1922">in this part of New Orleans</a> – are Black.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Today, a large Akili Academy banner hangs outside the new main entrance, beneath smaller lettering that reads: William Frantz School. Only an inscription by a rarely used side entrance bears the school’s full historic name: William Frantz Public School. A statue of Bridges, erected in 2014, stands in a far corner of the school’s back courtyard.</p>
<p>We see the fate of Ruby Bridges’ historic school as a stark indicator that the public education system she fought to integrate as a little girl may be a relic of the past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149583/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Is the public education that Ruby Bridges fought to integrate a relic of the past?Connie L. Schaffer, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, University of Nebraska OmahaMartha Graham Viator, Associate Professor Emeritus of Education, Rowan UniversityMeg White, Associate Professor of Education, Stockton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1441722020-08-25T12:23:04Z2020-08-25T12:23:04ZBiloxi’s 15-year recovery from Hurricane Katrina offers lessons for other coastal cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354254/original/file-20200823-24-ft3u3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C14%2C4789%2C3161&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A demolished miniature golf course in Biloxi, Miss., in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Sept. 15, 2005.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/broken-miniature-golf-pieces-in-the-ruins-of-biloxi-news-photo/564112973?adppopup=true">Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The one-two punch of tropical storms <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/153825.shtml?cone#contents">Marco</a> and <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/152713.shtml?cone#contents">Laura</a> along the U.S. Gulf coast eerily echoes Hurricane Katrina’s arrival 15 years ago, on August 29, 2005. Katrina, which caused some <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/events">US$170 billion</a> in damages, remains the most costly storm in U.S. history.</p>
<p>Much attention in 2005 focused on the devastating flooding that Katrina wreaked in New Orleans. But other hard-hit towns also have stories to tell. I’ve spent 15 years researching the storm’s effects in Mississippi, centering on the city of <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/biloxicitymississippi/INC110218">Biloxi</a>, home to about 46,000 people.</p>
<p>Biloxi’s <a href="https://biloxi.ms.us/visitor-info/history/">history</a>, culture and economy are tied to the Gulf, driven by seafood and tourism. Its nickname is “<a href="https://www.pnj.com/story/life/2015/09/29/biloxi-the-playground-of-the-south/73052612/">the playground of the South</a>,” an allusion to local beaches and its <a href="https://biloxihistoricalsociety.org/casinos-gambling-liquor-and-vice">long history of illegal gambling</a>. </p>
<p>Today the gaming is legal: <a href="https://biloxi.ms.us/visitor-info/casinos/">Eight</a> of <a href="https://www.msgamingcommission.com/reports/property_data">Mississippi’s casinos</a> are located in Biloxi. Those casinos employ <a href="https://www.msgamingcommission.com/files/quarterly_reports/MRpt7Y20-Property.pdf">over 7,200 people</a> and generate <a href="https://biloxi.ms.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/statereport082020.pdf">close to $20 million annually</a> for the city.</p>
<p>In my forthcoming book, “<a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793610133/Mississippi-after-Katrina-Disaster-Recovery-and-Reconstruction-on-the-Gulf-Coast">Mississippi After Katrina: Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction on the Gulf Coast</a>,” I explore Biloxi’s story and what it can tell other U.S. communities about long-term disaster recovery.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/47191375" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Biloxi residents describe the rebuilding process after Katrina in this 2012 video.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A regional tragedy</h2>
<p>As Katrina made landfall, wind, rain and storm surge devastated the Gulf Coast. Water began <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5200940">flooding New Orleans</a>, pouring through levees <a href="https://www.gao.gov/new.items/d051050t.pdf">designed to protect the city</a>. As President George W. Bush later acknowledged, his administration’s ineffective response was <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/article_9b0ff883-2078-5662-8e6b-b8296249a161.html">his presidency’s low point</a>.</p>
<p>Katrina also ravaged a wide area beyond New Orleans. Towns along the Mississippi Gulf Coast faced the storm’s <a href="https://www.wmcactionnews5.com/2018/09/16/breakdown-what-is-strongest-side-hurricane/">strongest side</a>. In <a href="https://biloxi.ms.us/photosvideos/katrina-video-3/">Biloxi</a>, Katrina <a href="https://biloxi.ms.us/katrina-biloxi/stats/">killed 53 people</a> and destroyed <a href="https://biloxi.ms.us/residents/storm-and-flood-preparedness/hurricane-katrina-preliminary-damage-assessment/">nearly 20% of the town</a>.</p>
<p>Thousands of residents <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1209/ML12093A081.pdf">sheltered locally</a>, and many were left in <a href="https://biloxi.ms.us/wp-content/static/katrina/recovery-newsletters/mailout_2005-12-01_p4.pdf">temporary housing</a> afterward. Over <a href="https://www.congress.gov/109/crpt/srpt322/CRPT-109srpt322.pdf">65,000 jobs were lost</a>. Casino closures cost Biloxi <a href="https://biloxi.ms.us/resources/gaming-revenues/totals/">millions of dollars in revenues</a>. Biloxi’s population <a href="https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=kf7tgg1uo9ude_&met_y=population&idim=sub_county:2806220:2829700:2853520&hl=en&dl=en">dropped by 8%</a> after Katrina, a loss it never recovered.</p>
<h2>Years of challenge</h2>
<p>Biloxi and other communities weren’t out of the woods after Katrina. Other disasters followed – most notably, the 2008-2009 <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/testimony/bernanke20100902a.htm">recession</a> and the 2010 <a href="https://www.wlox.com/story/31777028/effects-of-bp-oil-spill-still-felt-6-years-later/">Deepwater Horizon oil spill</a>.</p>
<p>These events prolonged Katrina’s economic pain. In 2010-2011 I met Biloxians who were still working to rebuild storm-damaged homes. Many lots sat empty, either for sale or awaiting construction. </p>
<p>Biloxians who wanted to return after Katrina told me about challenges they faced. Key issues included finding housing; covering rising costs for rebuilding; elevating structures to meet new flood requirements; paying higher insurance premiums; and waiting for the city to repair utilities and infrastructure.</p>
<p><a href="https://biloxi.ms.us/restore-biloxi/">That work is still ongoing</a>. It took six years to complete planning and secure federal funding for the Restore Biloxi Project, a $355 million effort to <a href="https://www.wlox.com/story/18429633/massive-biloxi-project-restores-damaged-water-sewer-system/">replace water, sewer and drainage systems</a> damaged during Katrina. In 2019 the city <a href="https://www.sunherald.com/news/local/counties/harrison-county/article232410692.html">sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency</a> for refusing to pay some costs for the project, now scheduled for completion in 2024. </p>
<p>Local road repairs and paving continue in the <a href="https://biloxi.ms.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/BnewsMonthlyAugust2020.pdf">hardest hit neighborhoods</a>. This isn’t unusual in heavily damaged areas as attention and funding priorities change over time. But waning attention and support are critical obstacles to rebuilding neighborhoods. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1173346587436826627"}"></div></p>
<h2>Long-term recovery</h2>
<p>Long-term disaster recovery is never just about one event. It is a complex lived experience of simultaneously coping with recovery, new disasters and daily life.</p>
<p>This is especially true along the Gulf Coast, which is frequently struck by hurricanes and tropical storms. Many Biloxians I spoke with described how experiences with previous hurricanes – notably, <a href="https://www.weather.gov/mob/camille">Camille in 1969</a> – influenced their Katrina decision-making. One refrain I heard was “I didn’t evacuate for Katrina because I was okay in Camille.” In this case, <a href="https://theconversation.com/thousands-of-people-didnt-evacuate-before-hurricane-matthew-why-not-66724">past experience was a poor guide</a>.</p>
<p>Some residents supported rebuilding casinos quickly after Katrina because they remembered Mississippi’s <a href="https://www.msgamingcommission.com/about/history">legalization of casinos in 1990</a> as a key point in long-term recovery from Camille. But this perception shifted with time. Critics, such as members of <a href="https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/group-lives-up-to-its-name-coastal-women-for-change/">Coastal Women for Change</a>, a local advocacy group, began to question <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129375373">why government officials prioritized casinos</a> over nearby homes. </p>
<p>Before Katrina, Mississippi had required casinos to be located offshore on barges as a way of confining gambling. After the storm, the state legislature amended the law, allowing casinos to be <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/weather-july-dec05-rebuilding_biloxi">rebuilt on land within 800 feet of the waterfront</a>. This decision gave casinos and other developers access to land that had been formerly housed some of Biloxi’s most racially, ethnically and financially diverse neighborhoods.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354257/original/file-20200823-20-tnnkpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing hurricanes strikes on U.S. coasts 1950-2017." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354257/original/file-20200823-20-tnnkpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354257/original/file-20200823-20-tnnkpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354257/original/file-20200823-20-tnnkpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354257/original/file-20200823-20-tnnkpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354257/original/file-20200823-20-tnnkpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354257/original/file-20200823-20-tnnkpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354257/original/file-20200823-20-tnnkpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hurricanes frequently strike the U.S. Gulf and southern Atlantic coasts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/images/conus_strikes.jpg">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Thinking small and local</h2>
<p>When communities receive disaster aid, the focus is often on large institutions like the <a href="https://www.fema.gov/">Federal Emergency Management Agency</a> and the <a href="https://www.redcross.org/">Red Cross</a>. But I found in my research that Biloxians had much more positive views of efforts by individuals, local organizations and small groups. </p>
<p>People told me about co-workers who sheltered them during extended waits for <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/28/fema-trailers-brought-shelter-problems-katrina-victims/71342988/">FEMA trailers</a>. Local groups like the Biloxi chapter of the NAACP and Coastal Women for Change helped people obtain supplies, child care and computer literacy training to apply for disaster aid. Small groups of volunteers from across the U.S. cleaned up debris. </p>
<p>Local efforts do not guarantee rapid recovery, but they are critical to people’s personal and shared recoveries and well-being. Local aid is typically on the ground first after disasters. Organizations rooted in the community may stay longer than national groups, and can shift to meet other needs. For example, Coastal Women for Change has shifted from Katrina recovery to preparedness, advocacy and recovery from other disasters. </p>
<p>Local organizations often more clearly understand and meet local needs. Church-coordinated volunteers hung sheet rock as people returned to damaged homes. The <a href="http://gccds.org/">Gulf Coast Community Design Studio</a> matched experts with locals to design homes that met personal needs. And the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency provided “<a href="http://katrinacottagehousing.org/original.html">Katrina cottages</a>” that better matched local architecture and were more hurricane-resistant than <a href="https://www.wlox.com/story/6281717/mississippi-cottages-to-replace-some-fema-trailers/">FEMA trailers</a>. </p>
<h2>What can we learn?</h2>
<p>What does Biloxi’s experience indicate for other communities ravaged by disasters, whether they are hurricanes, <a href="https://buttecountyrecovers.org/paradise/">wildfires</a> or <a href="https://wvfloodrecovery.com/">floods</a>? In my view, it shows that recovery is a long-term process that requires ongoing support, and is shaped by local history and culture.</p>
<p>Viewing recovery this way raises important questions. Who gets to make rebuilding decisions? Where does funding go? Are local needs being met?</p>
<p>State and national officials make critical decisions about funding and laws related to recovery, like allowing casinos to rebuild on land in Biloxi. National and international NGOs can bring in much needed financial aid and expertise. But when those officials and organizations fail to incorporate local needs and voices, local residents may remain frustrated and see their recovery delayed by outside decision-making, other funding priorities and competing disasters. </p>
<p>Every storm that hits the Gulf Coast is unique in some way, but some things about the recovery process are constant. As I see it, recovery starts at the local level. Involving a broad and diverse set of local residents in the process and paying attention to the community’s history are essential to ensure a full recovery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Trivedi has received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF #1331269). </span></em></p>After the news media move on from a major disaster site, rebuilding continues for years.Jennifer Trivedi, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Core Faculty Member for the Disaster Research Center, University of DelawareLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1184612019-06-10T13:59:16Z2019-06-10T13:59:16ZDr John: music’s boogie-woogie voodoo man who defied convention but defined New Orleans<p>Few artists straddled the contradictions of popular music like Dr John, who passed away on June 6 at the age of 77. The New Orleans-born musician, defies easy categorisation – his music ranging across blues, jazz, boogie-woogie and rock and roll. Over more than half a century he shared stages and studios with rock aristocracy, like The Rolling Stones and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCRrXZP8b0I">The Band</a>, as well as blues legends like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=capvbqNlLdw">B.B. King and Etta James</a> but didn’t fall easily into either camp.</p>
<p>With Dr John, even the bare facts of the matter were shrouded in ambiguity. His stage name, “Dr John the Night Tripper” was a persona, created by Mac – born Malcolm – Rebennack. Even his date of birth was difficult to pin down and was only established as being 1941 last year when New Orleans newspaper The Times-Picayune unearthed his real birthday in its records. He had lied about his age as a young prodigy, to circumvent age restrictions and get gigs in clubs. Rebennack’s subsequent career exemplified and distorted tropes of musical authenticity. Dr John was both a staged creation and yet a character that Rebennack wore seamlessly on and off stage. A New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/fashion/22with.html">profile noted</a> that talking with him was “an adventure” thanks to his penchant for made-up words in a trademark growl, and his evasiveness. </p>
<h2>The person in the persona</h2>
<p>Authenticity – a sense of the “real deal” – is a slippery concept in popular music. A sense of believability or (not necessarily the same thing) honesty is indispensable. On the other hand, “authenticity” is also the currency of the musical marketing system – it’s what gives their product such appeal to many people. Complicating matters further is that an aura of mystery can be, paradoxically, a marker of individuality and a sense of an artist being true to themselves.</p>
<p>For Dr John this was a combination of stagecraft, musicality and his own idiosyncrasies. It involved deep genre knowledge and simultaneously a “magpie” approach of drawing on a clearly delineated musical world while working across the realms of commercial music (a technique also adopted by the likes of Tom Waits, Prince and, arguably, Madonna). </p>
<p>The character, derived from his interest in voodoo, wasn’t even originally intended for Rebennack. It was based on a 19th-century voodoo practitioner Dr John Monatee, <a href="http://www.conjuredoctors.com/dr-john-montanee.html">who originated in Senegal</a>, and originally developed for Rebennack’s friend and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0057720/">fellow musician Ronnie Barron</a>, who dropped out of the band. Rebennack became the front man, inhabiting the persona that would define his public image.</p>
<p>That said, his own colourful history and musical history were themselves rich enough in incident. While he found fame as a pianist, his first instrument was guitar. After losing part of his left hand ring finger to a gunshot when he intervened in a brawl in Jacksonville Florida to help Barron, who was getting pistol whipped, he switched instruments – first to the bass, and then piano. </p>
<p>Despite emerging from a tradition of New Orleans players – Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, James Booker – Rebennack spent much of his career in exile from the city. Like his “Night Tripper” character he had a history of working in the shadows, and was involved in the drugs and prostitution that surrounded the club milieu of New Orleans in the 1950s and 60s. He fell into and out of heroin addiction before finally kicking the habit in 1989. Following an arrest on drugs charges and a spell in federal prison, he was advised to leave the city in the midst of a crackdown on the music scene by the then district attorney Jim Garrison (better remembered as a Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorist).</p>
<p>His career developed, instead, in Los Angeles, initially as part of the loose grouping of elite session musicians known as the “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-session-musicians-who-dominated-nineteen-sixties-pop">Wrecking Crew</a>”, including recordings for Sonny and Cher, Canned Heat and Frank Zappa. His first solo album, Gris Gris, was recorded in <a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/city-slang/archives/2015/02/25/dr-john-on-going-to-church-sonny-and-cher-louis-armstrong-cossimo-matassa-bobby-charles-the-stooges-and-much-more">studio time left unused in sessions for Sonny and Cher</a>. </p>
<p>Rebennack operated at the intersection of tradition and innovation. Gris Gris, named after a voodoo amulet, set the tone for a catalogue drawing on a melange of influences, infusing New Orleans blues and funk with elements of psychedelic rock. Having established this template, the theatrical, psychedelic-voodoo element of his show slowly made way for a more traditional approach, exemplified by “Dr John’s Gumbo” – a set of covers of New Orleans classics such as Iko Iko.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S_UYPu5RFXI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Quintessentially New Orleans</h2>
<p>Ultimately, the key to Dr John’s musical identity is less a matter of genre, or of “character”, than a question of geography. His recording career was prolific – at over 40 albums – and acclaimed. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011 and was the recipient of six <a href="https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/dr-john">Grammy Awards</a>, across the categories of jazz, blues, rock and pop. </p>
<p>He managed to combine “authenticity” in terms of being true to a tradition and place while also – through expanding the scope of that tradition – a sense of a unique musical voice. Quintessentially “New Orleans”, he threaded a host of other American musical traditions through that sound, while taking the New Orleans rhythmic and melodic feel into the broader popular musical culture, peppering his output with his distinctive wordplay and patois. Indeed his own musical and personal cadences came to stand for New Orleans in the broader cultural shorthand.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SCRrXZP8b0I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Dr John’s sound and image permeated popular culture. Dr Teeth, of the Muppet’s band was based on him and his best paydays came from advertising jingles – for Popeye’s Chicken, Oreos cookies and others. His voice also graced the theme tune <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdvHzoOnmDI">My Opiniation</a> to the otherwise unremarkable (but very popular) 1990s sitcom Blossom. When Disney needed to exemplify a New Orleans sound for The Princess and the Frog song Down in New Orleans, he was the obvious choice. As Randy Newman – the song’s composer and a contemporary of Rebbenack on the 1960s session scene – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/arts/music/07john.html">put it</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They wanted his voice, which is not a bad idea if you’re going to do New Orleans. He’s the real thing in every kind of way.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The sound of the streets</h2>
<p>His emphasis on New Orleans became, perhaps, more explicit in later years. There’s something about adversity than can focus a sense of identity. The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and, particularly, the feeling that the city’s residents had been abandoned by the authorities energised albums including 2005’s Seppiana Herricane and 2008’s City That Care Forgot. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QSzw7LDAjlU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>His concerns mirrored the relationship between New Orleans’ social fabric and its musical heritage. The city’s recovery from the hurricane, for instance, was marred by its effect on second lines – the drum-led parades that accompany funeral processions. Gentrification had brought noise complaints and, ten years after the hurricane, Dr John railed against local government officials trying to discourage musicians <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dr-john-talks-new-orleans-music-10-years-after-katrina-37840/">from marching in second lines</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I mean, they are trying to get guys in the bands not to march in the second lines. That’s ridiculous. That wasn’t in the picture before … In a way, the second lines are vital to New Orleans’ recovery; they are the medicine that comes with the grieving.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>His legacy, then, is both international and intensely local. Creating a personal sound, indelibly stamped on a globally recognised recording career, he also acted as the torchbearer for decades of New Orleans tradition. Despite his brushes with the law, he ended up feted by City Hall, receiving a proclamation from New Orleans City Council of his birthday, incorrectly designated as November 21, as “<a href="https://www.nola.com/music/2018/11/new-orleans-music-legend-dr-john-is-turning-78-or-is-he.html">Dr John Day</a>”. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1137353227119267840"}"></div></p>
<p>Louisiana’s governor John Bel Edwards added his “acknowledgement of countless musical contributions embodying the culture of the state from New Orleans to the Bayou and for celebrating 77 years in the music industry”. But his music was, literally, of the streets, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dr-john-second-line-new-orleans-845958/">as the second line</a> that formed in New Orleans to pay tribute on June 7 amply demonstrated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118461/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Behr has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>Mac Rebennack took the stage name Dr John and a persona based on a real-life voodoo prince.Adam Behr, Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1048972018-12-20T11:33:41Z2018-12-20T11:33:41ZWhat lies beneath: To manage toxic contamination in cities, study their industrial histories<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251022/original/file-20181217-185243-1t3dsl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mural at Rockaway Brewing Company in Long Island City, Queens, New York, a longtime industrial and transportation hub that now is rapidly redeveloping.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Amazon-HQ-Two-Cities/58557d8f018c4edc9c85401ead978738/9/0">AP Photo/Mark Lennihan</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Philadelphia’s hip <a href="https://www.phillymag.com/citified/2016/10/20/northern-liberties-gentrification/">Northern Liberties community</a> is an old working-class neighborhood that has become a model of trendy urban-chic redevelopment. Crowded with renovated row houses, bistros and boutique shops, the area is knit together by a pedestrian mall and a 2-acre community garden, park and playground space called Liberty Lands. </p>
<p>First-time visitors are unlikely to realize they’re standing atop a reclaimed Superfund site once occupied by Burk Brothers Tannery, a large plant that employed hundreds of workers between 1855 and 1962. And even longtime residents may not know that the 1.5 square miles of densely settled land around the park contains the highest density of former manufacturing sites in Philadelphia. </p>
<p>Over the past 60 years, more than 220 factories operated in this same small area. Nearly all did business before the mid-1980s, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency started <a href="https://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/30th-anniversary-toxics-release-inventory-tri-program">requiring businesses to report releases of toxic materials</a></p>
<p>In our book, <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/sites-unseen">“Sites Unseen,”</a> we set out to discover how many such former sites exist and why, over time, they simultaneously seem to proliferate and disappear from view. The data we collected from state manufacturing directories dating back to the 1950s don’t tell us whether specific addresses we found are presently contaminated. But they do provide richly textured maps of where and for how long hazardous industrial activities operated in four very different cities – New Orleans, Minneapolis, Portland and Philadelphia. Our findings strongly suggest that these and many other American cities now face a legacy hazardous waste problem they don’t even know they have. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251374/original/file-20181218-27764-m62jkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Crescent Brass and Pin Company manufactured nails and plumbing supplies in this building in Detroit from 1905 through 1984.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_Brass_and_Pin_Company_Building#/media/File:Crescent_Brass_and_Pin_Company_Building_-_Detroit_Michigan.jpg">Andrew Jameson/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hazardous waste legacies</h2>
<p>According to <a href="https://iaspub.epa.gov/triexplorer/tri_release.chemical">data recently released by the EPA</a>, in 2017 industrial facilities (excluding mining operations) released 1.1 billion pounds of hazardous waste at the point of production or “on site.” That number is an understatement, because government records rely on voluntary reporting and exclude smaller manufacturing facilities that also pollute. And there is virtually no public documentation of similar releases before the 1980s.</p>
<p>To investigate the scope and scale of this problem, we identified relic and active sites from state manufacturing directories, which can be found in public libraries nationwide. These guides are largely untapped sources of information about where manufacturing activities occurred, for how long, and what each facility produced. In each city we analyzed, we were surprised to learn that government databases ostensibly designed to identify hazardous sites actually captured less than 10 percent of historically existing manufacturing sites. </p>
<p>Through follow-up surveys, we learned that 95 percent of relic manufacturing sites are used today for activities other than hazardous industry. We found coffee shops, apartments, restaurants, parks, child care centers and much more at these locations. These patterns corroborate processes which we now suspect drive both the spread of contaminated urban lands and the concealment of their past uses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251581/original/file-20181219-45388-1fd3rdb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hazardous industrial sites in Houston’s Inner Loop zone, bounded by Interstate 610. Sites marked ‘o’ were active sites in 2015; those marked ‘x’ are relic and largely uninvestigated sites where industrial activities took place between 1950 and 2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Elliott and Scott Frickel</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Erasing sites’ history</h2>
<p>Like other businesses, most hazardous industrial facilities operate for a time, then go out of business or move their operations elsewhere. This constant turnover is an ongoing, fundamental feature of urban economic development. And because urban land is limited and valuable, those lots typically are redeveloped for non-industrial uses when they become available. </p>
<p>Our data show that hazardous industrial sites turn over every eight years, on average. This means that an individual lot can be redeveloped multiple times, sometimes over the span of just a few decades. For example, one Portland, Oregon address that we investigated housed a neon sign and sheet metal fabricator during the 1950s, then the office of a dry bulk trucking company, and is now a doggy day care center. </p>
<p>These interlocking processes of land use and reuse have far-reaching environmental impacts that social scientists are only beginning to recognize. Lot by lot, small but ongoing changes in urban land uses spread toxins across urban areas. At the same time, pressures for redevelopment often cover up the evidence. </p>
<p>In these ways, large, long-lived industrial sites, like the former Burk Brothers Tannery in Philadelphia, represent the tip of the iceberg of urban industrial activities and resulting contamination. Government agencies typically identify and clean up these large, visible sites that are known or widely suspected to be contaminated. And often they offer developers <a href="https://theconversation.com/cleaning-up-toxic-sites-shouldnt-clear-out-the-neighbors-74741">incentives to build on them</a>, including <a href="https://www.hklaw.com/publications/brownfields-redevelopment-initiatives-03-01-2003/">liability waivers</a>.</p>
<p>All the while, thousands of smaller, less prominent but potentially polluted sites go unnoticed, contributing to a much more systemic environmental risk. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HvprdMZsIus?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An ongoing cleanup of Brooklyn’s heavily polluted Gowanus Canal is triggering a development boom in this industrial neighborhood.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Look back to move forward</h2>
<p>Based on the research we did for our book, we believe the problem of relic industrial waste is far greater and more vexing than many scholars, regulators and developers appreciate. And this complexity has important implications for environmental justice and the question of who lives, works and plays in neighborhoods burdened by relic industrial contaminants. Communities can’t set priorities for cleaning up contaminated land until they identify relevant sites.</p>
<p>Environmental justice studies that use more limited government data on hazardous sites provide consistent evidence that polluting industries and environmental hazards are <a href="https://theconversation.com/flints-water-crisis-is-a-blatant-example-of-environmental-injustice-53553">more frequently imposed on poor and minority communities</a>. But our findings suggest that, over time, risks also accumulate over broader areas – including white working-class neighborhoods of yesteryear, lower-income and minority neighborhoods that superseded them, gentrifying areas such as Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties that are now selectively following, and whatever comes after that. </p>
<p>It is a basic social fact of urban life that industrial hazards accumulate and spread relentlessly. The sooner this problem is recognized, the sooner Americans can reclaim their cities and the environmental regulatory systems that are designed to ensure our collective well-being. </p>
<p>One way forward is for regulatory agencies to undertake historical investigations of relic industrial sites, using the same publicly available sources that we have used. Concerned citizens and neighborhood groups can do so as well, and the DIY User’s Guide at the end of our book describes how to do it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104897/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James R. Elliott receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Frickel receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. </span></em></p>Many homes, parks and businesses in US cities stand on former manufacturing sites that may have left legacy hazardous wastes behind. A new book calls for more research into our urban industrial past.James R. Elliott, Professor of Sociology, Rice UniversityScott Frickel, Professor of Sociology and Environment and Society, Brown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1015522018-08-21T20:58:02Z2018-08-21T20:58:02ZBuilding housing on flood plains another sign of growing inequality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232700/original/file-20180820-30590-1s7d1ib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman gets back into her flooded car on the Toronto Indy course on Lakeshore Boulevard in Toronto on July 8, 2013. Housing developers are building housing on known flood plains in cities around the world.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many cities around the world face a lack of affordable housing in and around expensive central business districts. <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/real-estate/video/waterfront-toronto-races-to-add-40-000-affordable-homes%7E1094087">Employers want cheaper</a> <a href="http://www.waterfrontforall.ca/wfa_letter_on_portlands_planning">labourers, who need more affordable housing in accordance with their lower salaries, to live nearby</a>. So <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/google-sidewalk-toronto-waterfront/article36612387/">developers are invited to build on flood plains</a>, without consequences. And often there is no public involvement in the decision.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/27/homes-and-companies-should-be-built-on-flood-plains-despite-risks-says-panel">Flood plains are easy to build on because they are flat and, in cities, they tend to be close to amenities</a>. Yet all parties involved in housing know that cities are facing <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2008.01035.x">more rainfall</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/27/homes-and-companies-should-be-built-on-flood-plains-despite-risks-says-panel">flooding due to climate change</a>. Cities are now starting to prepare for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/miami-floods-sea-level-rise-solutions-2018-4">catastrophic floods.</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800906003041">research has estimated flooding losses in the United States to be increasing dramatically</a>. </p>
<p>Irresponsible and autocratic choices made by elites, at Waterfront Toronto for example, leave unsuspecting, <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/real-estate/video/waterfront-toronto-races-to-add-40-000-affordable-homes%7E1094087">lower-paid professionals</a> in <a href="https://urbanomnibus.net/2014/10/the-storm-that-will-be-protecting-public-housing-in-the-new-100-year-floodplain/">dangerous circumstances</a> with <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-flood-finding-ways-to-insure-the-uninsurable-without-breaking-the-bank-23110">rising insurance costs</a> and potentially bad investments. That’s because, in the future, flood insurance may become prohibitively expensive or insurers may decide not to cover such high-risk properties, making them difficult to sell.</p>
<h2>Flood risks worldwide</h2>
<p>Difficult housing choices are reflective of a broader <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lawrence-summers-its-time-to-balance-the-power-between-workers-and-employers/2017/09/03/b1c9714e-901e-11e7-8df5-c2e5cf46c1e2_story.html?utm_term=.16519767438f">loss of worker power and associated income inequality</a>. Research shows that densely populated areas <a href="https://www.prb.org/disaster-risk/">are more vulnerable to disasters</a> — the same disaster affects more people in dense environments. And where there is income inequality, there are more victims of natural catastrophes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/storms-hit-poorer-people-harder-from-superstorm-sandy-to-hurricane-maria-87658">Storms hit poorer people harder, from Superstorm Sandy to Hurricane Maria</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Cities dominated by appointed, un-elected officials, such as the <a href="https://waterfrontoronto.ca/nbe/portal/waterfront/Home/waterfronthome/about-us/who-we-are/board%20of%20directors/!ut/p/a0/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOL9DF1cDQ39DbwNXF2MDBydfSyc_DxDjIyCDPULsh0VAaApXSE!/pw/Z7_N1DE11O0K0ED20ACL8BNIT2Q46/ren/p=CTX=QCPwaterfront_content_libraryQCPWaterfrontQCAHomeQCPabout-usQCPwhoQCAweQCAareQCPboardQCAofQCAdirectors/p=WCM_PI=1/p=ns_Z7_N1DE11O0K0ED20ACL8BNIT2QFB46_WCM_Page.1cfc636a-d084-4f3d-bd2d-404abce32ee0=5/=/">board members of Waterfront Toronto</a>, are helping to generate <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9af7/ebd0b4debeb334e2cd97dd1b67ebb8ff2916.pdf">this inequality.</a></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232714/original/file-20180820-30590-oozh20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232714/original/file-20180820-30590-oozh20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232714/original/file-20180820-30590-oozh20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232714/original/file-20180820-30590-oozh20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232714/original/file-20180820-30590-oozh20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1052&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232714/original/file-20180820-30590-oozh20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1052&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232714/original/file-20180820-30590-oozh20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1052&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this August 2006 photo, two New Orleans women grieve for a relative who died in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the U.K., where there’s an ongoing housing crisis, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/27/homes-and-companies-should-be-built-on-flood-plains-despite-risks-says-panel">government has approved building on flood plains as long as the new homeowners are made aware of the risks in advance</a>. At least the British are having an honest conversation about it. <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2018/07/31/sidewalk-labs-deal-unlocks-40-million-us-for-quayside-high-tech-district.html">In Toronto, we are not</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/concentrated-poverty-in-new-orleans-and-other-american-cities/">New Orleans has long relegated its poorer populations to lower elevations by the Mississippi River</a>, where floods and subsequent disease have devastated the city. The terrible treatment of Hurricane Katrina’s victims in New Orleans is a continuation of an enduring history of racism.</p>
<p>Research also describes how in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2007.00884.x">flood plains of Bangladesh, income inequality</a> is related to a higher risk of flooding and lower preparedness to deal with floods. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/9083-South-China-faces-worst-floods-in-decades">South China</a>, <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/992632/typhoon-ampil-shanghai-latest-news-flights-cancelled-shanghai-tower-disney-resort-china">increasing rainfall</a> has left millions of the poor living in such dangerous low-lying areas that China’s president has called in the army. </p>
<h2>Public space can be climate-adaptive</h2>
<p>Today, most North American coastal cities are in danger of climate-related sea level elevations and storm surges. <a href="http://thiseastside.com/new-york-city-flooding/">Hurricane Sandy caught New York’s elite off guard</a> because they became victims too. It didn’t matter whether you were <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/hugh-hogan/hurricane-sandy-recovery_b_2067605.html">in the Upper East Side or in Harlem</a>. </p>
<p>In wealthy south Florida, saltwater rises not only directly from the sea, but also up through <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/miami-floods-sea-level-rise-solutions-2018-4">porous limestone</a>, so Miami cannot use the same climate adaptation approaches as in some other cities, like adding green space. <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article129284119.html">Miami is working to add pumps and other infrastructure instead.</a></p>
<p>Toronto could turn its remaining waterfront space into parkland, instead of housing developments, as a protective barrier.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/toronto-needs-more-beauty-in-its-waterfront-designs-100871">Toronto needs more beauty in its waterfront designs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-flooding-manhattan-coastal-barriers-2018-4">New York City is going to build a wall</a> around the lower part of Manhattan, and add a park. The Dutch are using public space to absorb floodwater. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/miami-floods-sea-level-rise-solutions-2018-4">New Orleans is building parks</a> to double as reservoirs for floodwaters, on the advice of the Dutch. </p>
<h2>Toronto’s recent floods a wakeup call</h2>
<p>Toronto has had a few waterfront floods over the years, including <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-waterfront-repair-budget-shortfalls-1.4748644">this year</a> and last, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-flood-repair-delay-1.4479580">damaging the Toronto Islands in 2017</a>. The city faced <a href="https://www.blogto.com/city/2018/06/toronto-wind-and-rain-storm-wreaks-havoc-toronto/">several storms in 2018</a> with violent winds and flooding downtown. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/16/realestate/muskoka-the-malibu-of-the-north.html">Some wealthy Torontonians leave the city for private lakefront properties in cottage country</a>, but others live within limited space affected by the aftermath of catastrophes.
<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-flood-repair-delay-1.4479580">The Toronto Islands recovery, for example, is still ongoing and has not yet been fully paid for</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232694/original/file-20180820-30581-zn4nz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232694/original/file-20180820-30581-zn4nz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232694/original/file-20180820-30581-zn4nz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232694/original/file-20180820-30581-zn4nz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232694/original/file-20180820-30581-zn4nz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232694/original/file-20180820-30581-zn4nz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232694/original/file-20180820-30581-zn4nz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toronto’s east-end beaches flooded badly in 2017 amid a rainy spring. Housing developers are nonetheless building housing on known flood plains, in Toronto and around the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, new Toronto lakefront condominium developments <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2018/07/31/sidewalk-labs-deal-unlocks-40-million-us-for-quayside-high-tech-district.html">are proceeding</a> in the Quayside and Portlands neighbourhoods, near the Islands, on <a href="https://nationalpost.com/posted-toronto/brown-fields">flood plains historically contaminated by heavy metals, oil and coal</a>. <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/real-estate/video/waterfront-toronto-races-to-add-40-000-affordable-homes%7E1094087">“Workforce housing”</a> is a required part of the plan. </p>
<p>Will Flessig, former Waterfront Toronto CEO, says that middle-income professionals are expected to settle in the waterfront condominiums so that they can be closer to where they work.</p>
<p>But no one in Toronto is talking about the flood plains, <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/breaking-ground-on-1-25b-flood-protection-project-at-toronto-s-port-lands-1.3755189">since elected officials apparently consider the issue resolved</a>. Based on a plan developed in 2007, the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/toronto-waterfront-to-undergo-1185-billion-flood-protection-makeover/article35488214/">federal and provincial governments are investing $1.185 billion to reconstruct the mouth of the Don River</a> so that the water safely flows into Lake Ontario.</p>
<p>However, the waterfront area still remains a flood plain, and is still affected by storm surges associated with climate change.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232945/original/file-20180821-149496-1435h5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232945/original/file-20180821-149496-1435h5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232945/original/file-20180821-149496-1435h5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232945/original/file-20180821-149496-1435h5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232945/original/file-20180821-149496-1435h5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232945/original/file-20180821-149496-1435h5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232945/original/file-20180821-149496-1435h5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Klever Freire, left, and Gabriel Otrin pose for a photograph in the building where they were trapped in a rapidly flooding elevator during a heavy rainstorm in Toronto in August 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Building on flood plains has serious consequences, including future <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/water-is-the-new-fire-national-strategy-needed-for-flooding-says-insurance-expert">uninsurable</a> buildings as insurance companies anticipate they won’t be able to afford the payouts. A single major flood causes a great deal of damage and requires insurance companies to pay all at once. With a higher frequency of catastrophic floods and the corresponding required payouts, the pool of insurance premiums collected to cover the losses dries up, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2008.01035.x">and insurance companies face bankruptcy.</a></p>
<p>Before that happens and buildings are left derelict, people and property are endangered. We recently saw <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4375978/toronto-flooding-rescue-elevator/">life-threatening flooding of buildings</a> in Toronto, and there are limited rescue personnel <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/heavy-showers-1.4777111">to address all of the issues at the same time when mass floods happen</a>. </p>
<p>Simultaneously, damage to personal property can be overwhelming — for example, to cars and contents within condominium lockers in underground parking garages. In Toronto, we have also seen <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/08/08/lucky-passengers-escape-flooded-streetcar.html">streetcars submerged in water</a> recently with people trapped inside. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232715/original/file-20180820-30578-rvykn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232715/original/file-20180820-30578-rvykn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232715/original/file-20180820-30578-rvykn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232715/original/file-20180820-30578-rvykn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232715/original/file-20180820-30578-rvykn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232715/original/file-20180820-30578-rvykn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232715/original/file-20180820-30578-rvykn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flooding stops a streetcar on King St. W. in Toronto on Aug. 7, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Shlomi Amiga</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fixing the damage therefore adds costs to public transit. Water quality and disease concerns are also heightened as storm <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/08/09/flash-flooding-has-created-sickening-mess-in-toronto-harbour-water-monitoring-group-says.html">sewage systems cannot handle increasing rainfall volumes</a>. Over the longer term, <a href="https://rimkus.com/news/structural-damage-due-to-floods">repeated flooding also weakens building foundations</a>.</p>
<h2>Hard to manage water levels</h2>
<p>On a broader scale in the Great Lakes region, the ability <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378001000267">to adapt to changing</a> conditions is reduced. That’s because the ability of water officials to manage water levels is much more difficult when condominiums and other housing is built on flood plains. </p>
<p>For example, water flows are somewhat controlled in the <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/03/14/news/water-flowing-out-lake-ontario-hit-record-high-last-month">Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River</a> watersheds through an international agreement called Plan 2014. If buildings are in the path of water flow, this complicates and limits the range of adjustment options. </p>
<p>We know now what we’re confronting. Let’s learn from past mistakes. In the best interests of homeowners, the public and climate adaptation, what’s left of Toronto’s waterfront should be public parks, not condominiums billed as “workforce housing.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101552/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah de Lange is affiliated with the Urban Land Institute. </span></em></p>Cities around the world, including Toronto, are building housing on flood plains knowing the risks in the era of climate change. Here’s why that will contribute to growing inequality in our cities.Deborah de Lange, Associate professor, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/879822018-01-15T00:17:55Z2018-01-15T00:17:55ZDonald Trump doesn’t understand Haiti, immigration or American history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201801/original/file-20180112-101483-169uyt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C597%2C438&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After Haiti signed its Declaration of Independence from France, in 1804, the U.S. started a nearly 60-year political and economic embargo that hobbled the young nation's growth.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Trait%C3%A9_France_Ha%C3%AFti_1825.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Donald Trump’s <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/trump-shithole-remarks-spur-international-anger-180112084723204.html">denigrating comments about Haiti</a> during a recent congressional meeting <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/12/trump-shithole-comment-reaction-337926">shocked people around the globe</a>, but given his track record of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/08/donald-trumps-false-comments-connecting-mexican-immigrants-and-crime/">disrespecting immigrants</a>, they were not actually that surprising. </p>
<p>Despite campaign promises that Trump would be Haiti’s “<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/donald-trump/article102349877.html">biggest champion</a>,” his administration had already demonstrated its disregard for people from this Caribbean island. In November 2017, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/11/20/acting-secretary-elaine-duke-announcement-temporary-protected-status-haiti">end the Temporary Protected Status</a> that had allowed 59,000 Haitians <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2010/01/15/secretary-napolitano-temporary-protected-status-tps-haitian-nationals">to stay</a> in the U.S. after a calamitous <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/12/world/haiti-earthquake-fast-facts/index.html">Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake</a>. </p>
<p>Their TPS was extended after <a href="http://www.inured.org/uploads/2/5/2/6/25266591/reportonline__051117.pdf">Hurricane Matthew devastated Haiti again in 2016</a>. Without protected status, these Haitian migrants have until July 2019 to get a green card, leave voluntarily or be deported. </p>
<p>As a scholar and first-generation Haitan-American, I can attest that Trump’s statements and policies reflect not just disrespect for Haiti but also a profound ignorance about how migration occurs. </p>
<h2>Why history matters</h2>
<p>As shown in my recent book, <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/haiti-and-the-uses-of-america/9780813585192">“Haiti and the Uses of America,”</a> history shapes where immigrants choose to build their lives.</p>
<p>Outsiders head to the United States in times of crisis not at random but because historic ties point them in this direction. When <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/what-is-nativist-trump/521355/">nativists</a> like President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/jeff-sessions-trumps-radical-attorney-general-w495995">refer to immigrants</a> as “criminal aliens” – perpetuating the idea that foreigners are “<a href="https://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/opinion/item/18524-the-illegal-immigration-invasion">invading</a>” the country – they ignore this key fact. </p>
<p>Movement from Haiti to the U.S. has its roots in colonial times, when British, French and Spanish traders <a href="http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/landing.cfm?migration=5">exchanged coffee, cotton and mahogany between the two territories</a>. </p>
<p>In the 1790s, thousands of white and mixed-race residents sought refuge from a revolutionary war <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/encountering-revolution">in colonial Haiti, which was then called Saint Domingue</a>. Fleeing an uprising by enslaved men and women of African descent, French colonists boarded ships following historic trade routes to U.S. port cities like New Orleans, Philadelphia and New York. Some brought with them the people they had enslaved. </p>
<p>An estimated <a href="https://www.lib.lsu.edu/sites/all/files/sc/exhibits/e-exhibits/creole/CreoleCity/creolecity.html">10,000 Saint Dominguan revolution-era refugees</a> eventually resettled in Louisiana, contributing to the distinct Creole <a href="http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11261-haiti-notice-exhibition-at-mupanah-of-the-works-of-ulrick-jean-pierre.html">history</a>
and <a href="http://wwno.org/post/home-away-home-haitian-exile-finds-new-orleans">culture that characterizes Gulf cities like New Orleans</a> today. </p>
<p>By 1804 the <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5309/willmaryquar.69.3.0541">island’s revolutionaries had driven out France to found Haiti</a>. The U.S., however, did not <a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469625621/haitian-connections-in-the-atlantic-world/">formally recognize Haitian independence until 1862</a>. </p>
<p>Born of a slave rebellion, Haiti <a href="https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/products/61067">challenged</a> the legitimacy of an American economy and society dependent on racial hierarchies. In 1806, the U.S. government <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctt18kcvjm.13.pdf">imposed an economic embargo on the island</a>. </p>
<p>But a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=N39oAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=illicit+trade+us+haiti+embargo+19th+century&source=bl&ots=5oGVY2kdo9&sig=oqEMByIUv6dFw2oFP3dJfhJFfU8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiuiraxpdPYAhVhTd8KHZRiD08Q6AEIPjAE#v=onepage&q=illicit%20trade%20us%20haiti%20embargo%2019th%20century&f=false">vibrant illicit trade persisted</a>. In 1821, <a href="https://monthlyreview.org/product/haiti/">45 percent of Haitian imports</a> still came from the U.S. </p>
<p>As a result, migration between the two nations continued, too – and not just from Haiti to the U.S. In the 1820s, some <a href="https://nyupress.org/webchapters/fanning_intro.pdf">13,000 African-Americans sought refuge in Haiti</a>, seeking freedom from slavery, anti-black violence and lack of economic opportunity in the U.S. </p>
<p>From the 1820s to the 1870s, civic and religious leaders, notably <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=EAwUCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA262&lpg=PA262&dq=richard+allen+migration+to+haiti&source=bl&ots=JgviuJearR&sig=6xwlErfA_p21kjb_OORwwbAq2hk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjLuP7EhtXYAhWpYt8KHWElCSwQ6AEISzAH#v=onepage&q=richard%20allen%20migration%20to%20haiti&f=false">Richard Allen of the African Methodist Episcopal Church</a> and <a href="http://www.blackpast.org/aah/theodore-james-holly-1829-1911">the Episcopalian Theodore James Holly</a>, enabled similar journeys by <a href="http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm;jsessionid=f830530881515802940484?migration=4&topic=5&bhcp=1">negotiating directly with Haitian heads of state</a>. </p>
<p>President Abraham Lincoln supported such <a href="http://www.inmotionaame.org/print.cfm?migration=4&bhcp=1">schemes to send African-Americans</a> abroad – not just to Haiti but also to Liberia, Central America and elsewhere. Even many abolitionists of the era <a href="https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/abraham-lincoln-racist/">believed that blacks and whites could not co-exist as equals in the U.S.</a>. </p>
<p>Many of the African-Americans who went to Haiti later returned to the U.S., in part drawn by the <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/CivilWarAmendments.htm">promise of new legal rights</a> after the Civil War.</p>
<h2>American meddling leads to migration</h2>
<p>By the time the American embargo of Haiti ended in 1862, the U.S. was openly striving for <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=u4GVKXN8SWYC&pg=PA7&dq=monroe+doctrine+imperialism+hemisphere&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiG7LbtqtPYAhVRdt8KHY8vC64Q6AEIODAD#v=onepage&q=monroe%20doctrine%20imperialism%20hemisphere&f=false">political and economic domination</a> of the Western Hemisphere, including in the Caribbean. </p>
<p>Starting with President Ulysses S. Grant, who <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2607/">wanted to annex Haiti</a>, American politicians <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25102262.pdf">militarily pursued U.S. interests on the island nation</a>. Between 1862 and 1915, American warships were active in Haitian waters <a href="http://www.isreview.org/issues/35/haiti_under_siege.shtml">17 times</a>. </p>
<p>Powerful commercial lobbies with a business stake in Haiti – <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/haiti-and-united-states-inextricably/">particularly the financial and sugar industries</a> – also meddled in the island’s affairs. Foreign merchants and bankers in Haiti <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/165902?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">paid armed groups</a> known as cacos to overthrow standing presidents and empower leaders who would give them preferential terms of trade.</p>
<p>The political and economic instability that resulted helped perpetuate <a href="https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/products/61066">the racist perception of Haitians as incapable of self-rule</a>. </p>
<p>It also fueled emigration. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/empires-guest-workers/0F2AE7339EB095A1D0E8157DAF275F00">New research</a> shows that in the first decades of the 20th century, some 200,000 rural Haitians left to work as guest laborers for American sugar companies in Cuba. They were among more than 1 million <a href="https://networks.h-net.org/node/11717/reviews/141155/neptune-putnam-radical-moves-caribbean-migrants-and-politics-race-jazz">Caribbeans who traveled across the Americas</a> between 1840 and 1940. Some of them eventually landed in the United States. </p>
<h2>A series of military interventions</h2>
<p>In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=xkzoLWt_-NMC&q=4+the+intervention#v=snippet&q=4%20the%20intervention&f=false">invaded</a> Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. The occupation, which lasted until 1934, was the first in a series of U.S. military actions on the island.</p>
<p>The next interventions came in 1994 and 2004, under the <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2004/03/08/an-interview-with-robert-fatton/">auspices of the United Nations</a>. The impetus was the 1991 ouster of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who’d been elected during Haiti’s <a href="http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3954&context=etd">contested four-year transition from dictatorship to democracy</a>. Through an <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1993-2000/haiti">economic embargo</a> initiated by President George Bush and a <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/DPKO/Missions/unmih_b.htm">military engagement</a> under President Bill Clinton, Aristide was restored to power in 1994.</p>
<p>When he was again forced out <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2004/03/08/an-interview-with-robert-fatton/">10 years later</a>, President George W. Bush ordered the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/international/americas/haitis-president-forced-out-marines-sent-to-keep.html">U.S. Marines back into Haiti</a>.</p>
<p>The actions preceding and during these interventions have <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/07/monroe-doctrine-1915-occupation-duvalier">destabilized Haiti</a>. In other words, for over a century, the U.S. has helped to <a href="https://nacla.org/article/disaster-capitalism-rescue-international-community-and-haiti-after-earthquake">perpetuate and exacerbate</a> the <a href="http://www.inured.org/uploads/2/5/2/6/25266591/women_in_haiti_after_jan_earthquake.pdf">political fragility and economic struggle</a> that leads Haitians to seek refuge on American shores.</p>
<p>Today, an estimated <a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-18.pdf">830,000 people of Haitian descent live in the U.S.</a>, primarily in Florida and New York. Approximately 40 percent of them were born in the U.S. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201803/original/file-20180112-101511-1t66exr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201803/original/file-20180112-101511-1t66exr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201803/original/file-20180112-101511-1t66exr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201803/original/file-20180112-101511-1t66exr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201803/original/file-20180112-101511-1t66exr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201803/original/file-20180112-101511-1t66exr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201803/original/file-20180112-101511-1t66exr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">With their TPS status revoked, nearly 60,000 Haitians will face deportation from the U.S. starting in July 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lynne Sladky/Ap Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Few Haitian-Americans are wealthy – in 2009, census data shows, 1 in 5 households lived in poverty – but they are <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/haitian-immigrants-united-states#English_Proficiency">employed at higher rates than the general American public</a>. </p>
<p>The Haitian-American population is also <a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-18.pdf">growing</a>, more than tripling between 1990 and 2015. Within this group are the nearly 60,000 people granted Temporary Protected Status after the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/12/world/haiti-earthquake-fast-facts/index.html">2010 earthquake</a>, who have now lived in the U.S. for an <a href="https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2017/10/19125633/101717_TPSFactsheet-USA.pdf">average of 13 years</a>. </p>
<p>In countless ways, Haiti is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/20/opinion/l-haiti-s-unrequited-gifts-to-us-history-and-culture-429188.html">woven into the fabric of the United States</a>. Haitian-Americans have made their homes in South Florida, Brooklyn, and <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Geographies-of-the-Haitian-Diaspora/Jackson/p/book/9780415887083">Detroit</a>, among many other places. </p>
<p>The deep historic ties binding Haiti and the U.S. <a href="https://uncpressblog.com/2013/01/30/lara-putnam-families-and-the-cost-of-borders/">will persist</a> with or without Donald Trump. What the president’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/11/us/politics/trump-shithole-countries.html?_r=0">repugnant language</a> and short-sighted policy changes can do is spur <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2017/11/27/ending-temporary-protected-status-haitians-will-hurt-haitians-us/">new crises in both Haiti and the United States</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87982/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chantalle F. Verna does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trump’s anti-Haitian rhetoric ignores a long pattern of migration from Haiti to the U.S., often driven by American meddling in Haitian affairs. Today, the two nations are irrevocably bound by history.Chantalle F. Verna, Associate Professor of History and International Relations, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/832052017-09-13T02:37:40Z2017-09-13T02:37:40Z5 things that have changed about FEMA since Katrina – and 5 that haven’t<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185550/original/file-20170911-30152-nv5g94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">FEMA's handling of Hurricane Katrina inspired resentment in the affected communities – but did it bring about real change in the organization?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/84806031@N00/105307858">Dental Ben</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hurricanes, wildfires and earthquakes – is the Federal Emergency Management Agency ready for the new era of disasters?</p>
<p>I’m a professor of public administration and policy at <a href="https://www.cpap.vt.edu">Virginia Tech</a>, and I’ve written <a href="http://admin.cambridge.org/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/american-government-politics-and-policy/disasters-and-american-state-how-politicians-bureaucrats-and-public-prepare-unexpected?format=PB">a book</a> explaining why expectations of this agency are so high – unrealistically so.</p>
<p>After Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992, the emergency manager of Dade County, Florida famously asked the media, “<a href="http://www.sptimes.com/2002/webspecials02/andrew/day3/story1.shtml">Where in the hell is the cavalry?”</a> after her requests for aid from FEMA went unanswered. Picking up on the anger, some members of Congress wanted to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0898588X06000010">abolish the agency</a> as punishment for its poor response. </p>
<p>FEMA survived, but it came under blistering criticism again after Hurricane Katrina killed <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/23/us/hurricane-katrina-statistics-fast-facts/index.html">1,833 people</a> and caused <a href="https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/extremeevents/specialreports/Hurricane-Katrina.pdf">more than US$100 billion in damage</a>.</p>
<p>The response to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fema-avoids-disaster-in-houston--so-far/2017/08/31/f8f709d0-8dc3-11e7-8df5-c2e5cf46c1e2_story.html">gone much more smoothly</a> – at least so far. So what has changed with FEMA since Katrina?</p>
<h2>5 things that have changed</h2>
<h2>1. Leadership</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/our-responder-in-chief">Presidents</a> learned the importance of placing experienced emergency managers in charge of FEMA. During the Katrina disaster, President George W. Bush told FEMA Director Michael Brown, <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4548480/katrina-10-years-later-brownie-youre-heck-job">“you’re doing a heck of a job.”</a> Ten days later, Brown resigned in disgrace. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185691/original/file-20170912-7125-19xak8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185691/original/file-20170912-7125-19xak8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185691/original/file-20170912-7125-19xak8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185691/original/file-20170912-7125-19xak8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185691/original/file-20170912-7125-19xak8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185691/original/file-20170912-7125-19xak8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185691/original/file-20170912-7125-19xak8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">FEMA director Michael Brown was forced to resign over his mishandling of Hurricane Katrina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/LM Otero</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Brown was only one of the agency’s problems at the time. An academic <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8663.html">analysis</a> found that turnover among FEMA leadership and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-5705.2008.03658.x/full">appointees without sufficient qualifications</a> contributed to the agency’s halting response. Before joining FEMA, Brown supervised judges at horse shows. He joined FEMA through <a href="http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2016/08/michael_brown_fema.html">a connection with his friend</a> Joe Allbaugh who was President Bush’s first campaign manager and FEMA director.</p>
<p>Since Brown, presidents have appointed FEMA directors with emergency management experience. Current FEMA Director Brock Long was director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, and had previously worked at FEMA. </p>
<h2>#2. Community perspective</h2>
<p>One of the signature initiatives of FEMA during the Obama administration was the “whole community” approach, intended to involve the private sector, community groups and individual citizens in disaster preparedness. The <a href="https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1813-25045-0649/whole_community_dec2011__2_.pdf">whole community approach</a> was intended to harness the assets of civil society, draw attention to disaster resilience and improve coordination. </p>
<p>For example, businesses played a key role in the Harvey response. Individual store owners opened as soon as they could to help distribute what people needed. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inside-story-what-took-keep-texas-grocery-chain-running-chip-cutter">Texas grocer H.E.B.</a> sent convoys to the affected region. The whole community approach is not the only driver of private sector involvement, but it reflects FEMA’s commitment to approaching the private sector and groups of concerned citizens as partners rather than as subordinates in disaster response. </p>
<h2>#3. Cell phones and the web</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-social-media-apps-should-be-in-your-disaster-kit-83743">Social media</a> inspired collaborative, bottom-up responses that we have only begun to understand. During Katrina, social media was a hobby of techie students. Facebook was not yet available beyond universities. Today, government agencies and rural Texans and Floridians use social media. People found out which shelters were open and who needed help during the storm through texts and tweets. Social media also drives the government’s response because government responds to what’s on CNN. Imagine if pictures of the <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/203207/five-days-at-memorial-by-sheri-fink/9780307718976/">dangerous conditions at Memorial Hospital</a>, hidden from news cameras during Katrina, had been circulated on the internet and broadcast on television. Lives might have been saved. </p>
<h2>#4. Going beyond rebuilding</h2>
<p>After Katrina, resilience replaced sustainability as the organizing concept in disaster management. Government agencies and private foundations used the term as a rallying cry to focus efforts on how to prepare for inevitable disasters rather than just avoid them. The <a href="http://www.100resilientcities.org/">Rockefeller Foundation</a> even funded resilience officers in local government beginning in 2013.</p>
<p>At its best, <a href="http://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/823/823">resilience</a> refers to the idea that communities can do more than just rebuild. They can invest in levees, canals, wetlands and insurance to adapt to a changing normal. </p>
<p>At its worst, resilience is an empty term that gives the impression that cities can bounce back if only they try hard enough. In truth, low-lying regions will have to decide to limit construction and inform people about true risks – both difficult in the face of a worldwide trend toward <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/program/urban-sustainability-laboratory">urbanization</a> and pressures to develop land and make money in the short term. </p>
<h2>#5. Early movers</h2>
<p>After Katrina, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-bill/3721">Congress gave FEMA greater authority</a> to move resources to a disaster zone before a storm rather than wait for formal requests from governors after the event. Before Harvey, truckloads of food, water and tents were positioned outside of the flood zone, waiting for rains to subside so they could be sent to the recovery zone. <a href="https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2017/aug/27/fema-arranges-aid-texas-louisiana/">Supplies from FEMA</a> and the Department of Defense arrived within hours, not days, after the rains ended. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/opinion/sunday/houston-texas-harvey-government.html?smid=fb-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&_r=0">FEMA’s pop-up hospital drew praise</a>. </p>
<h2>5 things that are the same</h2>
<p>Despite the lessons learned, some things have not changed. </p>
<h2>#1. Agency misfit</h2>
<p>FEMA is still a part of the Department of Homeland Security – an agency that has other priorities. The department was <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Disasters-American-State-Politicians-Bureaucrats/dp/1316631206">focused on terrorism during Katrina</a>, and now its chief policy priorities are immigration and borders. </p>
<h2>#2. Still not the cavalry</h2>
<p>Neighbors, city and county governments, and then the state are the first responders, not the federal government. Even at the federal level, FEMA primarily coordinates responses led by other agencies like defense, housing and agriculture. Meanwhile, businesses, nonprofits and even <a href="https://theconversation.com/cajun-navy-rescuers-in-hurricane-harvey-show-vital-role-of-volunteer-boats-83200">individuals with bass boats</a> mounted their own response. </p>
<h2>#3. Limited powers</h2>
<p>Decisions about land use, zoning and development are made at the state and local level, not by FEMA. <a href="http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%29NH.1527-6996.0000222">State and local emergency managers</a> have very little pull over development, and changing the building stock to strengthen 100-year-old homes or make wise investments in new ones requires a larger effort.</p>
<h2>#4. Inequality matters</h2>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1540-6237.8402002/full">Socioeconomic status and vulnerability</a> still shape response. People with money are able to evacuate themselves, or return home and rebuild more quickly. People without financial resources, jobs or social connections <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/09/08/549295524/poor-in-miami-hoping-to-ride-out-irma-on-bread-and-cans-of-tuna?sc=tw">face greater obstacles</a> to returning to a normal life, and they need help. </p>
<h2>#5. Timing matters</h2>
<p>The best time to prepare for the next disaster is immediately after the current one. Now is the time to communicate true flood risks through <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/09/here_s_why_fema_s_flood_maps_are_so_terrible.html">flood mapping</a>, strengthen <a href="https://www.fema.gov/building-codes-toolkit">building and zoning guidance</a>, organize <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1022917721797?LI=true">community planning</a> efforts to know what to do when the worst happens, and build new infrastructure to <a href="https://www.projectbrays.org/about-project-brays/">send water out</a> of vulnerable areas. FEMA can be a partner in these efforts, but it requires leadership from politicians and bureaucrats at all levels of government. Until then, people will settle in risky places without reducing their vulnerability to storms, making the next disaster even more likely than the last. </p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story has been updated. An earlier version misstated that Michael Brown and Joe Allbaugh were roommates in college. Also, a typo has been corrected. Hurricane Katrina caused over $100 billion in damages, not $100 million.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83205/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Roberts has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Woodrow Wilson Center. </span></em></p>Is the Federal Emergency Management Agency ready for the new era of disasters?Patrick Roberts, Associate Professor, Virginia TechLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/832622017-08-31T00:06:24Z2017-08-31T00:06:24ZAfter Harvey, many Texans will think differently about hurricane risks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184038/original/file-20170830-24262-1fn1zsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Interstate 69 in Humble, Texas is covered by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Harvey/dbc8793b75af482f88a966ea13cafd79/46/0">AP Photo/David J. Phillip</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hurricane Harvey was the most powerful hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland since <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/24/harvey-is-life-threatening-hurricane-center-says.html">Hurricane Wilma in 2005</a>. It also was the strongest storm to hit Texas since <a href="https://weather.weatherbug.com/news/Harvey-is-Worst-Texas-Storm-Since-Carla-in-1961">1961’s Hurricane Carla</a>. </p>
<p>Although Harvey quickly was downgraded to a tropical storm, it has caused severe damage to the Texas coast, including unprecedented flooding in Houston. As of this writing, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/us/hurricane-harvey-storm-flooding.html?mcubz=3&_r=0">death toll stands at 30</a> with thousands displaced from their homes.</p>
<p>Many communities in Harvey’s path issued mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders. Some residents obeyed these orders and moved to shelters. But as in other recent disasters, many <a href="https://theconversation.com/thousands-of-people-didnt-evacuate-before-hurricane-matthew-why-not-66724">chose to stay in their houses</a> and became stranded as waters rose. </p>
<p>We have studied <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.4805">perceptions of hurricane-related risks</a> along the Gulf Coast and how they influence <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.05.072">public support for flood management policies</a>. What we have found is that residents have low motivation to take voluntary steps to reduce their risks before a storm unless they have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2016.11.021">timely, up-to-date information from trusted sources</a> about how serious those risks are. Past experience with hurricanes also is an important factor. In the case of Harvey, we believe that many victims did not correctly perceive the risks they faced, and failed to anticipate or prepare adequately for this unprecedented catastrophe. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184042/original/file-20170830-24262-fe4eto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184042/original/file-20170830-24262-fe4eto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184042/original/file-20170830-24262-fe4eto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184042/original/file-20170830-24262-fe4eto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184042/original/file-20170830-24262-fe4eto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184042/original/file-20170830-24262-fe4eto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184042/original/file-20170830-24262-fe4eto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184042/original/file-20170830-24262-fe4eto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hurricane strikes, western Gulf Coast, 1900-2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/images/strikes_wgulf.jpg">National Hurricane Center</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Recent experiences shape perceptions of storms</h2>
<p>Previous studies have found that individuals’ past experience significantly affects their perceptions of hurricanes and their thinking about <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2011.01606.x">mitigating hazards</a> and <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916515578485">evacuating</a>. The last two major hurricanes that hit Texas were Celia in 1970 and Carla in 1961, so vivid memories of catastrophic hurricanes have faded from many people’s minds. </p>
<p>As an example, a <a href="http://www.southernclimate.org/documents/resources/Climate_change_perception_survey_summary_NOAA_Sea_Grant_2012.pdf">2012 survey</a> asked residents of four coastal counties in Texas (Kleberg, Neuces, Refugio and San Patricio), all of which were significantly affected by Hurricane Harvey, about their perceptions of changing patterns of hurricane frequency and strength, coastal water levels and flooding amounts. A majority of respondents thought that the trajectory of these coastal hazards had remained constant or decreased, when in fact many experts believe that climate change is increasing these coastal risks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184034/original/file-20170830-24237-ggrhhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184034/original/file-20170830-24237-ggrhhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184034/original/file-20170830-24237-ggrhhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184034/original/file-20170830-24237-ggrhhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184034/original/file-20170830-24237-ggrhhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184034/original/file-20170830-24237-ggrhhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184034/original/file-20170830-24237-ggrhhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184034/original/file-20170830-24237-ggrhhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Perceptions of hurricane number and strength, flooding amount, and sea level among coastal residents in Kleberg, Neuces, Refugio and San Patricio counties, Texas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.southernclimate.org/documents/resources/Climate_change_perception_survey_summary_NOAA_Sea_Grant_2012.pdf">Goidel et al, 2012 Gulf Coast Climate Change Survey</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our own studies, we have found that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.4805">maximum wind speed associated with the last landfall</a> is the most powerful predictor of how coastal residents perceive changes in hurricane strength along the Gulf Coast. People who experienced higher maximum wind speeds in the last hurricane landfall are more likely to think hurricanes are becoming stronger. </p>
<p>Water is also a major threat to life and properties. Storm surge flooding <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/">can cause substantial damage</a>, as we saw when Superstorm Sandy inundated lower Manhattan in 2012. Although coastal residents may not directly relate storm surge to their perceptions of hurricane strength, the power of storm surge can be reflected in perceptions of coastal flooding. The study found that people perceived more flooding if the peak storm surge height was higher in the previous hurricane. </p>
<p>Overall, it appears that the strength and impacts of the most recent hurricane tend to leave the deepest impression in coastal residents’ memories. We suspect that collective memory of extreme events from the distant past diminishes, and therefore has limited influence on risk perceptions, let alone on decisions and behaviors to cope with such risks.</p>
<h2>Linking risks and responses</h2>
<p>Since risk perceptions have a powerful effect on risk reduction and mitigation decisions, we also investigated how risk perceptions impacted Gulf coastal residents’ support for two adaptation policies: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.05.072">providing incentives for relocation, and funding for educating residents about emergency planning and evacuation</a>. We found that when people experienced severe weather conditions, such as high wind speeds and storm surges, their perception of risk grew along side their support for adaptation policies.</p>
<p>Specifically, individuals who have perceived increasing hurricane strength and flooding in the past are more likely to express support for policies such as providing incentives for relocation and funding for educating residents about emergency planning and evacuation. The fact that Texas Gulf Coast residents do not appear to have perceived increasing threats from hurricanes may explain why more people did not evacuate from the region ahead of Harvey.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184043/original/file-20170830-24262-z46y8c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184043/original/file-20170830-24262-z46y8c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184043/original/file-20170830-24262-z46y8c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184043/original/file-20170830-24262-z46y8c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184043/original/file-20170830-24262-z46y8c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184043/original/file-20170830-24262-z46y8c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184043/original/file-20170830-24262-z46y8c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184043/original/file-20170830-24262-z46y8c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Texas National Guardsman carries a resident from her flooded home following Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Aug. 27, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.defense.gov/Photos/Photo-Gallery/igphoto/2001798917/mediaid/2165038/">Lt. Zachary West/U.S. Department of Defense</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Anticipating the next storm</h2>
<p>Recovery from Harvey should include better channels and methods for communicating scientific information about risks and ways to respond to future disasters. Local governments in the coastal area need to consider using venues such as public meetings, education campaigns and social media to disseminate scientific information about environmental risks to the public.</p>
<p>Given the devastation Harvey has incurred among coastal residents in Texas, we expect that these communities will be shell-shocked in the foreseeable future. This heightened risk perception will translate into adaption and mitigation actions. If another big storm hits Texas in the near future, residents will be more ready. New Orleans, where local officials <a href="http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2017/08/tropical_storm_harvey_what_you.html">issued detailed instructions</a> last week about preparing for Harvey, is a perfect example for Houston to follow.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wanyun Shao receives funding from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siyuan Xian does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many people may have stayed put during Hurricane Harvey because no storm that big had struck Texas since 1961. But like New Orleans after Katrina, Texas is likely to be much better prepared next time.Wanyun Shao, Assistant Professor of Geography, Auburn UniversitySiyuan Xian, PhD candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/780202017-06-05T01:03:54Z2017-06-05T01:03:54ZWhy taking down Confederate memorials is only a first step<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172057/original/file-20170602-20605-97655i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is removed on Friday, May 19, 2017, from Lee Circle in New Orleans.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Scott Threlkeld</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently the city of New Orleans <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/05/20/529232823/with-lee-statues-removal-another-battle-of-new-orleans-comes-to-a-close">removed several Confederate monuments</a> from a prominent, downtown location. The decision to remove these memorials has <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/29/politics/baltimore-mayor-catherine-pugh-confederate-monuments/">touched off a debate</a> throughout several other major U.S. cities who have memorials dedicated to the Confederacy. While critics of the removal say <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/are-removing-confederate-monuments-erasing-history-n750526">the effort erases history</a>, <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2017/04/25/new-orleans-wrong-remove-confederate-monuments/">supporters argue</a> that these memorials celebrate racism and memorialize white supremacy. </p>
<p>We are scholars of memory and cultural landscape. Our work shows that challenging Confederate symbols that legitimize white supremacy is certainly the right thing to do because of the historic legacies of racism they represent. However, taking down Confederate symbols cannot just be a feel-good moment or a substitute for the hard work of racial reconciliation and understanding to advance justice. </p>
<h2>Symbols of Jim Crow era</h2>
<p>Monuments and other commemorative sites <a href="http://sundown.tougaloo.edu/liesacrossamerica.php">tell at least two stories</a>, according to sociologist <a href="http://sundown.tougaloo.edu/">James Loewen</a>. The first is the story of the people and events commemorated by the memorial. The other is a deeper tale of how the monument was created, by whom and for what political purpose. </p>
<p>Memorials, thus, are shaped by a broad range of political, economic and social relationships. For example, the contested Confederate memorials of New Orleans, along with those in many other cities, were dedicated during a Jim Crow era in which <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/the-stubborn-persistence-of-confederate-monuments/479751/">whites actively discriminated</a> against African-Americans.</p>
<p>In this respect, the monuments to the Confederacy in New Orleans and many other cities are doubly problematic. They not only publicly honor the Confederacy, but also are a symbol of an era that saw the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/maghis/18.2.7">continuation of institutionalized racism</a> and black disenfranchisement. During the era of segregation white elites employed these statues to take advantage of the racial anxieties of poor whites and to remind civil rights-seeking black communities of who really mattered and belonged (and who did not) in the city. </p>
<p>As New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/05/23/read_mitch_landrieu_s_confederate_monuments_speech.html">recently stated in a speech</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Can you look into that young [African-American] girl’s eyes and convince her that Robert E. Lee is there to encourage her? Do you think she will feel inspired and hopeful by that story? Do these monuments help her see a future with limitless potential? Have you ever thought that if her potential is limited, yours and mine are too? We all know the answer to these very simple questions. When you look into this child’s eyes is the moment when the searing truth comes into focus for us. This is the moment when we know what is right and what we must do. We can’t walk away from this truth.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What Mitch Landrieu recognizes is a fact that many contemporary scholars have known for some time: Memorials can and do <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8306.9303008">exact a painful toll</a> on the sense of belonging and place of African-Americans in the American landscape. Simply taking down the memorials to the Confederacy is not the same as creating a society in which all people – regardless of color, religion, gender or sexuality – are able to live out their limitless potential.</p>
<h2>Building a community’s capacity</h2>
<p>Our own work suggests that <a href="http://doi.org/10.1353/sgo.2016.0003">“memory work,”</a> the necessary labor of coming to grips with the stories of past traumas like racism and its wounds, is a key component of healing. </p>
<p>Memory work is building the capacity of a community to recover from past injustices. This capacity-building needs to recognize not only those injustices but also how they continue to have an impact on inequality today. Scholar <a href="https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/people/karen-till">Karen Till</a> argues that it needs to be <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629811001806">rooted in activities</a> such as truth commissions, collecting oral histories, museum exhibitions, or public performances and art that help connect a community’s history to contemporary inequality. So, the removal of the Confederate memorials is an important first step, but it cannot end there. </p>
<p>Memory work also means that addressing racial injustices takes sustained heavy lifting. And the removal of Confederate monuments cannot be mistaken for a solution for longstanding racial inequality. To understand, let’s look more closely at New Orleans – which brings together two cities – <a href="http://cfed.org/assets/pdfs/Racial_Wealth_Divide_in_New_Orleans_RWDI.pdf">one white and one black</a>. </p>
<p>The white city is relatively wealthy, while in the African-American city 30 percent of black households are under the poverty line (compared to 4.9 percent of white households). In addition, these disparities have led to gentrification and the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2014.961359">disappearing of many black communities</a>. This is changing not only the historic makeup of the city, but also its cultural landscape. As Geographer <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41412796?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Clyde Woods</a> notes, the civil rights movement is <a href="http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/index/development_drowned_and_reborn">“unfinished business”</a> in New Orleans. This is true for the rest of United States as well. </p>
<h2>Truth and reconciliation commission</h2>
<p>Bringing about commemorative reform without beginning this broader work of remembering and recovering from white supremacy runs a great risk of <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/214306">perpetuating the tradition of manipulating memorial symbols</a> for political advantage and expediency. </p>
<p>We suggest that cities such as New Orleans follow the lead of a growing number of cities in organizing a <a href="https://theconversation.com/dealing-with-hate-can-americas-truth-and-reconciliation-commissions-help-73170">truth and reconciliation commission</a> to examine the material, social and symbolic consequences of the reality of racism and racial inequality. </p>
<p>These commissions would help engage in memory work and the healing of historic wounds – something much-needed today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78020/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Monuments to the Confederacy in New Orleans and many other cities are problematic. But a mere erasure will not address the issues around racism and racial inequality.Joshua F.J. Inwood, Associate Professor of Geography Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, Penn StateDerek H. Alderman, Professor of Geography, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/781492017-05-31T11:07:30Z2017-05-31T11:07:30ZConfederate memorials support a white supremacist ideal whose time has long since passed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171439/original/file-20170530-16269-fxhmbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Robert E Lee Monument at Lee Circle, New Orleans, Louisiana.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_E_Lee_Monument_at_Lee_Circle._New_Orleans_Louisiana.jpg">Paulscrawl</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The city of New Orleans just <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/g00/news/columnists/schmich/ct-new-orleans-confederates-mary-schmich-met-20170523-column.html">took down a massive statue to Confederate General Robert E Lee</a> that bestrode its skyline for well over a century. </p>
<p>Surrounded by the World War II Museum and Martin Luther King Boulevard, Lee’s statue dominated the local landscape until Mayor Mitch Landrieu made good on his promise to drag it down. In the Washington Post’s words, that put an end to a relic “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/new-orleans-begins-removing-monument-to-confederate-gen-robert-e-lee/2017/05/19/c4ed94f6-364d-11e7-99b0-dd6e94e786e5_story.html">publicly honouring a man who embodied Southern pride and racial oppression</a>”.</p>
<p>The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates that over 1,500 such monuments and schools commemorate the Confederate side in the Civil War, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/20160421/whose-heritage-public-symbols-confederacy">littering Southern states</a>. (Full disclosure: one of my ancestors was a doctor on that side of the war; I am opposed to what the Confederacy stood for then and how it is valorised today.) </p>
<p>The last year has seen a very significant struggle over the past, present and future of these objects and names, led locally by the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=take%20%27em%20down%20nola">Take ‘Em Down NOLA</a> social movement of African Americans and their supporters. It culminated with New Orleans’ decision to remove four major “pale male” monuments.</p>
<p>Taking those statues down attracted the ire of assorted white supremacists. Opponents from across the American South gathered to hear their leaders invoke whiteness as part of who they were and what they believed in. Some protesters abjured such talk, but nevertheless regarded the Reconstruction period after the Civil War with horror and view today’s anti-monument activism as a Marxist assault on the South’s heritage that must be resisted at all costs. </p>
<p>These insults, as they see them, took place in the poignant month of May. For while the left around the world celebrates labour on the first of that month, these people call it “Confederate Memorial Day” – part of what they regard with pride as the “<a href="http://civil-war-journeys.org/the_lost_cause.htm">Cult of the Lost Cause</a>”. As recently as 1991, the statue of Lee had been <a href="http://www.crt.state.la.us/dataprojects/hp/nhl/view.asp?ID=540">placed on the National Register of Historic Places</a>, and plans to remove it led to <a href="http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/16/16-30107.0.pdf">a court appeal that only concluded in March</a>.</p>
<p>These white supremacists and Confederate apologists came ready to do battle. One contractor hired to remove the statue had his <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39697984">car set on fire</a>, and the job was finally accomplished by masked contractors who wore bulletproof vests and were protected by snipers. One Mississippi politician said over the weekend that politicians responsible for taking down the monuments <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/05/karl_oliver_lynch_confederate.html">should be lynched</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171499/original/file-20170530-23699-qkl8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171499/original/file-20170530-23699-qkl8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171499/original/file-20170530-23699-qkl8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171499/original/file-20170530-23699-qkl8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171499/original/file-20170530-23699-qkl8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171499/original/file-20170530-23699-qkl8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171499/original/file-20170530-23699-qkl8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The memorial without Lee, casting a slightly less long shadow over New Orleans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The backdrop to the long shadow cast until recently from Lee Circle is the reassertion of white supremacy after the period of Reconstruction, the enactment of Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise free African Americans, ongoing terrorism against the black community, and Southern whites switching party loyalty from the Democratic Party to the Republicans. This was achieved via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/books/phillips-southern.pdf">Richard Nixon’s Southern Strategy</a> in 1968, progressing through Ronald Reagan’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/sunday-review/the-sun-belt-eclipsed.html">Sun Belt victory of 1980</a> and culminating – one hopes – in Donald Trump’s election in 2016.</p>
<p>Originally the party of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party’s turn against civil rights used (Southern) states’ rights as a coded rallying cry for white supremacy. That cry is both made and heard by white people, many without means, who are seeing the demography and elite of US society shifting beyond their ken and control. They have been taught that a supposed racial superiority can compensate for de-industrialisation and cultural change.</p>
<p>Lesser conflicts over the commemoration of slavery are occurring elsewhere in the US, too. That shows how incomplete the project of Reconstruction was, how far the US must travel towards fulfilling civil rights goals, and how central the idea of white supremacy is to the collective identity of those who deem themselves central to the national narrative, yet damned and excluded by what should be “their” institutions.</p>
<p>For the vast majority of African Americans, and many others, these monuments commemorate slavery. They are reminders of a past that many feel has been neither fully rejected nor transcended. New Orleans was the country’s principal entrepôt for slaves, dispatched from there to lives of unspeakable mistreatment and exploitation across the South. Today, the city can embrace its multicultural past and present, and slough off any and all celebration of the horrors that still colour race relations in this beautiful yet benighted society.</p>
<p>The terrorism of slavery and Jim Crow are not matters for celebration, but recognition and struggle. And until the Republican Party acknowledges its role in perpetuating racial injustice, that terrorism will continue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78149/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Toby Miller received funding from the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University that enabled him to take leave without pay and undertake research in New Orleans </span></em></p>Memorials to confederate generals are lightning rods today for the same racist views they fought for 150 years ago.Toby Miller, Director of the Institute for Media and Creative Industries, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/716572017-02-24T16:37:31Z2017-02-24T16:37:31ZThe destructive life of a Mardi Gras bead<p>Shiny, colorful bead necklaces, also known as “throws,” are now synonymous with Mardi Gras. </p>
<p>Even if you’ve never been to the Carnival celebrations, you probably know the typical scene that plays out on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street every year: Revelers line up along the parade route to collect beads tossed from floats. Many try to collect as many as possible, and some drunken revelers will even expose themselves in exchange for the plastic trinkets. </p>
<p>But the celebratory atmosphere couldn’t be more different from the grim factories in the Fujian province of China, where teenage girls work around the clock making and stringing together the green, purple and gold beads. </p>
<p>I’ve spent several years researching the circulation of these plastic beads, and their life doesn’t begin and end that one week in New Orleans. Beneath the sheen of the beads <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Beads-Bodies-and-Trash-Public-Sex-Global-Labor-and-the-Disposability/Redmon/p/book/9780415525404">is a story that’s far more complex</a> – one that takes place in the Middle East, China and the United States, and is symptomatic of a consumer culture built on waste, exploitation and toxic chemicals.</p>
<h2>‘The same thing over and over’</h2>
<p>The Mardi Gras bead originates in Middle Eastern oil fields. There, under the protection of military forces, companies mine the oil and petroleum, before transforming them into polystyrene and polyethelene – the main ingredients in all plastics. </p>
<p>The plastic is then shipped to China to be fashioned into necklaces – to factories where American companies are able to take advantage of inexpensive labor, lax workplace regulations and a lack of environmental oversight.</p>
<p>I traveled to several Mardi Gras bead factories in China to witness the working conditions firsthand. There, I met numerous teenagers, many of whom agreed to participate in the making of my documentary, “<a href="http://beadsbodiesandtrash.com/">Mardi Gras: Made in China</a>.”</p>
<p>Among them was 15-year-old Qui Bia. When I interviewed her, she sat next to a three-foot-high pile of beads, staring at a coworker who sat across from her.</p>
<p>I asked her what she was thinking about.</p>
<p>“Nothing – just how I can work faster than her to make more money,” she replied, pointing to the young woman across from her. “What is there to think about? I just do the same thing over and over again.”</p>
<p>I then asked her how many necklaces she was expected to make each day.</p>
<p>“The quota is 200, but I can only make close to 100. If I make a mistake, then the boss will fine me. It’s important to concentrate because I don’t want to get fined.”</p>
<p>At that point the manager assured me, “They work hard. Our rules are in place so they can make more money. Otherwise, they won’t work as fast.”</p>
<p>It seemed as if the bead workers were treated as mules, with the forces of the market their masters.</p>
<h2>Hidden dangers</h2>
<p>In America, the necklaces appear innocent enough, and Mardi Gras revelers seem to love them; in fact, <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/15/nation/la-na-mardi-gras-beads-20120216">25 million pounds</a> get distributed each year. Yet they pose a danger to people and the environment.</p>
<p>In the 1970s, an environmental scientist named Dr. Howard Mielke was directly involved in the legal efforts to phase out lead in gasoline. Today, at Tulane University’s Department of Pharmacology, he researches the links between lead, the environment and skin absorption in New Orleans.</p>
<p>Howard mapped the levels of lead in various parts of the city, and discovered that the majority of lead in the soil <a href="http://dhh.louisiana.gov/assets/oph/Center-PHCH/Center-PH/genetic/LEAD/NewsandUpdates/MardigrassBookmarkLeadPoisoning.pdf">is located directly alongside the Mardi Gras parade routes</a>, where krewes (the revelers who ride on the floats) toss plastic beads into the crowds. </p>
<p>Howard’s concern is the collective impact of the beads thrown each carnival season, which translates to almost 4,000 pounds of lead hitting the streets.</p>
<p>“If children pick up the beads, they will become exposed to a fine dusting of lead,” Howard told me. “Beads obviously attract people, and they’re designed to be touched, coveted.” </p>
<p>And then there are the beads that don’t get taken home. By the time Mardi Gras is over, thousands of shiny necklaces litter the streets, and partiers <a href="http://nola.curbed.com/2017/1/19/14325568/nola-seeks-temporary-workers-mardi-gras-sanitation-trash-clean-up-2017">have collectively produced roughly 150 tons of waste</a> – a concoction of puke, toxins and trash.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ecocenter.org/healthy-stuff/article/news-ecolink-press-releases/holiday-and-mardi-gras-beads-found-contain-lead-and-hazardous">Independent research</a> on beads collected from New Orleans parades has found toxic levels of lead, bromine, arsenic, phthalate plasticizers, halogens, cadmium, chromium, mercury and chlorine on and inside the beads. It’s estimated that up to 920,000 pounds of mixed chlorinated and brominated flame retardants were in the beads.</p>
<h2>A thriving waste culture</h2>
<p>How did we get to the point where 25 million pounds of toxic beads get dumped on a city’s streets every year? Sure, Mardi Gras is a celebration ingrained in New Orleans’ culture. But plastic beads weren’t always a part of Mardi Gras; they were introduced only in the late 1970s. </p>
<p>From a sociological perspective, leisure, consumption and desire all interact to create a complex ecology of social behavior. During the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, self-expression <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Beads-Bodies-and-Trash-Public-Sex-Global-Labor-and-the-Disposability/Redmon/p/book/9780415525404">became the rage</a>, with more and more people using their bodies to experience or communicate pleasure. Revelers in New Orleans started flashing each other in return for Mardi Gras beads at the same time the free love movement became popular in the U.S.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157749/original/image-20170221-18627-1otnhq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157749/original/image-20170221-18627-1otnhq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157749/original/image-20170221-18627-1otnhq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157749/original/image-20170221-18627-1otnhq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157749/original/image-20170221-18627-1otnhq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157749/original/image-20170221-18627-1otnhq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157749/original/image-20170221-18627-1otnhq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157749/original/image-20170221-18627-1otnhq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The aftermath.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/neaththetwilightsky/234952280/">Jaime/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The culture of consumption and ethos of self-expression <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Beads-Bodies-and-Trash-Public-Sex-Global-Labor-and-the-Disposability/Redmon/p/book/9780415525404">merged perfectly with the production of cheap plastic in China</a>, which was used to manufacture disposable commodities. Americans could now instantly (and cheaply) express themselves, discard the objects and later replace them with new ones. </p>
<p>When looking at the entire story – from the Middle East, to China, to New Orleans – a new picture comes into focus: a cycle of environmental degradation, worker exploitation and irreparable health consequences. No one is spared; the child on the streets of New Orleans innocently sucking on his new necklace and young factory workers like Qui Bia are both exposed to the same neurotoxic chemicals.</p>
<p>How can this cycle be broken? Is there any way out? </p>
<p>In recent years, a company called <a href="http://www.zombeads.biz/">Zombeads</a> have created throws with organic, biodegradable ingredients – some of which are designed and manufactured locally in Louisiana. That’s one step in the right direction. </p>
<p>What about going a step further and rewarding the factories that make these beads with tax breaks and federal and state subsidies, which would give them incentives to sustain operations, hire more people, pay them fair living wages, all while limiting environmental degradation? A scenario like this could reduce the rates of cancers caused by styrene, significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions and help create local manufacturing jobs in Louisiana.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, as Dr. Mielke explained to me, many either are unaware or refuse to admit that there’s a problem that needs to be dealt with.</p>
<p>“It’s part of the waste culture we have where materials pass briefly through our lives and then are dumped some place,” he said. In other words: out of sight, out of mind.</p>
<p>So why do so many of us eagerly participate in waste culture without care or concern? Dr. Mielke sees a parallel in the fantasy told to the Chinese factory worker and the fantasy of the American consumer.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The people in China are told these beads are valuable and given to important Americans, that beads are given to royalty. And of course [this narrative] all evaporates when you realize, ‘Oh yes, there’s royalty in Mardi Gras parades, there’s kings and queens, but it’s made up and it’s fictitious.’ Yet we carry on with these crazy events that we know are harmful.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, most people, it seems, would rather retreat into the power of myth and fantasy than confront the consequences of hard truth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Redmon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Each Mardi Gras, 25 million pounds of beads hit the streets of New Orleans. One researcher went to the Chinese factories that make them – and spoke to the workers who believe the beads will be given to royalty.David Redmon, Lecturer in Criminology, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/473792015-10-08T11:15:45Z2015-10-08T11:15:45ZA carbon tax in waiting: we’re not adapting as fast as climate is changing<p>Although football and fall are in the air, it’s worth the time to reflect back to President Obama’s two trips he took just before Labor Day to New Orleans and Alaska. The locations are thousands of miles apart and the weather could not be more different, but the visits had one common theme: the impacts of climate change. </p>
<p>As an academic and as a former director of the Navy’s Task Force Climate Change, I understand the many aspects of risk related to climate change. Obama’s trip emphasized for me the importance of adapting to the components of climate change that are already inevitable. An analysis of the trip also highlights the costs of adapting – or responding – that we are paying today and will pay tomorrow.</p>
<p>I can boil down what we’ve learned from the presidential trips to three climate takeaways: it’s all about the water; we need to respond now; and, alas, it won’t be cheap. </p>
<h2>Happening now</h2>
<p>From New Orleans to Alaska, the focus was on climate impacts relating to water. Along the Gulf Coast and in the Arctic, rising sea levels and associated higher storm surges were a focal point of each visit.</p>
<p>Each coastal location, though, deals with its own specific water challenges. For the Gulf Coast, an increase in hurricane intensity, when combined with rising sea levels, means already dangerous storm surges become even more destructive and lethal. Along the Bering Strait and in the Arctic Ocean the issue is not hurricanes but rather the significant loss of sea ice. This lack of ice means there is more open water. Open waters in turn allow bigger and more powerful waves to form during storms and erode the soft beaches, endangering long-standing small towns and settlements. </p>
<p>In Alaska, <a href="http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/regions/alaska#intro-section">thinning and melting of sea ice, melting of glaciers and disappearance of permafrost</a> will cause fundamental changes in both ecosystems and the very lifestyles of indigenous peoples. Native people’s <a href="http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/sectors/indigenous-peoples#intro-section-2">water supplies, critical transportation venues and even their physical communities </a> are all under threat.</p>
<p>Climate impacts in the north are not limited to ice, though. Alaska is dealing with ever more ferocious wildfires, caused by rising temperatures drying out the formerly cool, damp forests. These fires impact air quality and any buildings that might be in their path, and even contribute to permafrost melt. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, along the Gulf Coast temperatures continue to rise, stressing people, animals and crops. When it rains, <a href="http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/our-changing-climate/heavy-downpours-increasing">the rainfall is more intense</a>, leading to more flash flooding, while coastal freshwater supplies are threatened by <a href="https://theconversation.com/rising-seas-bring-heavy-burden-to-florida-coastal-economy-can-it-adapt-38766">saltwater seeping in</a> from an ever-higher ocean. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are few cheap solutions to dealing with the above-listed impacts. The post-Katrina New Orleans levees cost US$14.6 billion to date – and there are already reports that sea levels are rising at a rate that will <a href="http://www.nola.com/futureofneworleans/2015/08/new_levees_inadequate_for_next.html">force another redesign of the system in a few decades</a>. The costs in Alaska are similarly stunning: relocating the dozens of small coastal villages may cost around <a href="http://tribalclimate.uoregon.edu/files/2010/11/AlaskaRelocation_04-13-11.pdf">$100 million per village</a>. </p>
<p>The dramatic changes in the Arctic are also forcing the United States to consider seriously its investment in overall Arctic capabilities. The president promised to expedite building a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-pledges-faster-action-on-new-icebreakers-to-keep-up-in-arctic/2015/09/01/14f655de-5075-11e5-933e-7d06c647a395_story.html">new icebreaker for the Coast Guard</a>, to take advantage of opening shipping lanes in the melting Arctic and provide a year-round US presence on Arctic waters. While very welcome news, it’s only the tip of the, well, you know. </p>
<p>Ports and other improvements to ensure the safety of shipping in the far north such as better navigation charts and weather forecasts will add much more to the budget. These costs do not even consider the potential increased costs for any Arctic security posture we may be required to invest in, depending on the actions of Russia or other adventurous countries. </p>
<p>The bottom line is we have yet to make even our initial down payment funding the most basic adaptations to the changing climate. </p>
<h2>Costs adding up</h2>
<p>The president stated correctly that the climate is <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/09/01/remarks-president-glacier-conference-anchorage-ak">changing faster than we are adapting to it</a>. To adapt to the changing climate, to rising seas, to bigger floods and to increased heat stress and drought will cost <a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/climate/2014/12/climate-change-could-cost-u-s-coasts-1-trillion-2100">hundreds of billions of dollars over the coming years.</a> </p>
<p>The alternative is to walk away from major cities and infrastructure, as some experts <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-and-hurricane-katrina-what-have-we-learned-46297">have suggested</a>. We did not do that following Katrina or Sandy, and it would be political suicide to even hint we would not protect Houston, Miami or the Sacramento Delta region, to name just a few places. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95247/original/image-20150917-7517-1qlgp9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95247/original/image-20150917-7517-1qlgp9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95247/original/image-20150917-7517-1qlgp9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95247/original/image-20150917-7517-1qlgp9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95247/original/image-20150917-7517-1qlgp9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95247/original/image-20150917-7517-1qlgp9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95247/original/image-20150917-7517-1qlgp9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95247/original/image-20150917-7517-1qlgp9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Obama called for spending money on icebreakers to take advantage of opening shipping lanes as the Arctic region melts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/coastguardnews/2869523258/in/photolist-j4m5pJ-5nz4hW-oj7CHs-om4REx-j4iWqn-mhzABZ-y6EwAq-j4o63f-j4j4Ht-jMbq5J-6ch6yf-rh8cbE-qWwuom-j4j28t-j4kraT-j4kw8t-8hX298-oEZgeG-tQw1Qn-q32d5y-jXPA6n-fbMuv1-hivLP7-fbxe3i-qhiBB5-j4o2Gs-j4ktvp-j4o3wd-j4kvkX-j4mdkU-j4kmvn-j4o8q1-8gTFVg-hivrX8-8gWXqo-jZZAX9-oQzCqF-q3aSbg-q39kRc-q39kT6-rWo5D2-qQogbq-oA5m8d-okC5k8-c1gvCw-hivLLb-4Nuu1V-b2F6Ci-qQpHny-mhBuim">US Coast Guard</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our challenge is that the science tells us the weather and oceans are only beginning to change. If the world does not soon enact meaningful cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the cost of adapting to the changing climate will become staggering. </p>
<p>The president’s trips already showcased tens of billions of federal dollars in the rebuilding of New Orleans and its levees and the implied commitment of billions more to Alaska. This is just the beginning of a carbon tax we are paying now: a tax that no one got to vote on.</p>
<h2>All roads lead through Washington</h2>
<p>The magnitude of the challenge and the budgets that will be required ensures the path for long-term solutions to the climate challenge ultimately goes through the Congress. While the administration has been helpful through the bully pulpit and <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/epa-clean-power-plan">executive policies</a>, only the Congress can pass laws and has the power of the purse. </p>
<p>Local, state, regional and even Executive Branch efforts by themselves are useful steps in the right direction, and can accomplish much. However, lasting solutions require both resources and laws to address the root causes of climate change and adequate funding to prepare the nation for what lies ahead. This will happen only when the Congress is onboard.</p>
<p>In summary, the president’s visits to New Orleans and Alaska were very useful. He shined the spotlight of climate impacts on two very different parts of the country and focused, for a few days, the national conversation around a changing climate and its impacts. He acknowledged that much more must be done, and that the climate is changing faster than our response to it. </p>
<p>Now, though, it is time for the hard work to begin. The president needs to work with the Congress in a nonpartisan manner to meet this climate threat, moving beyond the polarizing rhetoric, and putting in place laws that fund both the needed adaptations to protect ourselves from the coming changes and move us to sustainable, non-carbon-based energy sources – all while sustaining our economy and way of life. As we tragically saw in <a href="http://mashable.com/2015/10/05/south-carolina-floods-global-warming/#GHHiSWgUVPq4">South Carolina</a>, the weather extremes will not pause while we put our policies in place.</p>
<p>So did the president’s trips make a difference? Will the needed actions happen in the run-up to a general election? The jury is still out. However, the sooner we start that journey, the less pain we, and our children, will endure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47379/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Titley is a Professor of Practice at the Pennsylvania State University and Director, Penn State's Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk. He is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for New American Security, anda member of the CNA Military Advisory Board and Hoover Institute's Arctic Security Initiative. </span></em></p>Obama’s trips to vastly different areas – New Orleans and Alaska – laid bare the rising costs of adapting to climate change, now and in the future.David Titley, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Center for New American Security, Professor of Practice in Meteorology & Director Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/468342015-08-28T21:30:03Z2015-08-28T21:30:03ZDisappearing acts: reflecting on New Orleans 10 years after Katrina<p>In this season of anniversaries, no two are more stark in their parallels than Ferguson a year after the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/14/michael-brown-ferguson-missouri-timeline/14051827/">shooting</a> of Michael Brown and New Orleans 10 years after Hurricane Katrina killed 1,800 and displaced thousands.</p>
<p>Both involve the senseless loss of black lives and the public horror at revelations long known in many isolated communities. Each said a lot about race relations in a country where the “postracial” election of the first black president suggested that we were too far beyond Katrina to produce Ferguson. Each also speaks of structural inequality and the idea of disappearance.</p>
<p>But for the moment, let’s focus on Katrina and New Orleans’ slow journey through grief and devastation. </p>
<p>Disappearance was both symbolic and very real when that category 3 hurricane failed to veer away from the magical city, crashed the levees and inundated the low-lying areas populated overwhelmingly by the city’s African Americans. </p>
<h2>The disappearance of whole neighborhoods</h2>
<p>From its impoverished but <a href="http://www.journalofamericanhistory.org/projects/katrina/Landphair.html">historic Lower Ninth Ward</a> to its middle-class but geographically vulnerable New Orleans East, whole neighborhoods disappeared. Some people died and floated adrift down the rivers of streets. Some waited on rooftops or at the Superdome for rescuers that would not come. And some left town and waited to return. Many are still waiting. New Orleans has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/magazine/why-new-orleans-black-residents-are-still-under-water-after-katrina.html?_r=0">lost 100,000 black residents</a> since the storm.</p>
<p>Academics like me were fascinated and horrified by the public reaction to so many instantaneous deaths; we knew that slow deaths of similarly situated Americans across the nation receive little attention. I edited a collection of essays on the disaster’s meaning called <a href="http://thenewpress.com/books/after-storm">After the Storm:</a> Black Intellectuals Explore the Meanings of Hurricane Katrina and wondered what recovery would look like in New Orleans. </p>
<p>The consensus worry among the authors was that a Democratic city in a Republican state, with such a large number of blacks living in dangerous conditions, would, with the cooperation of surrounding parishes and federal disaster policy, jettison the survivors, ignoring their needs in the rebuild and remake itself as a thriving “Disney on the Mississippi.” </p>
<p>When I visited the empty city 100 days after the storm, I could see that it was already clear that real estate on dry ground was being bought up in a feverish investment market. Certain areas were prepared to profit from the billions in federal aid that was pledged, while others saw sparse activity.</p>
<p>The larger question was whether the singular spectacle of black suffering the nation had witnessed in 2005 would give rise to a set of 21st-century solutions to the spatial problems of segregation, predatory policing, concentrated poverty, awful schools and wide income inequality.</p>
<h2>Did the burst of national attention produce real results?</h2>
<p>The results of New Orleans’ 10-year recovery appear mixed, in a racially familiar way. The city is no doubt a different place. A <a href="https://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/pprl/files/2012/07/Views-of-Recovery-August-2015.pdf">survey</a> by the Public Policy Research Lab at Louisiana State University found that four out of five whites believe the city has mostly recovered, while three out of five blacks do not. The results seem an accurate reflection of segregated realities in a gentrified city. The New Orleans is whiter and wealthier now. </p>
<p>The federal money helped it withstand the Great Recession better than most, and it has become a hotbed of social entrepreneurism; many new companies grew out of the immense outpouring of public sympathy after Katrina. The suffering clearly stirred consciousness and drew many to the Gulf to help. High start-up rates have attracted college grads under 40. Mayor Mitch Landrieu, the first white mayor in many years, is <a href="http://theadvocate.com/news/neworleans/neworleansnews/12494710-123/mayor-mitch-landrieu-gives-state">cautiously giddy</a> about his city on the rise.</p>
<p>Black survey responses reflect black realities in New Orleans. According to figures provided by the <a href="http://www.datacenterresearch.org">Data Center</a> (formerly the Greater New Orleans Data Center), median income for black households in 2013 was 20% below that for whites. The difference between them – a measure of income inequality – is 54%, higher than the national average. Black male employment is 57%, compared to 77% for whites. Incarceration rates have dropped, but are still sky-high. Poverty rates are returning to pre-Katrina levels. The schools are a laboratory in the charter school revolution, with mixed academic results and a labor legacy of many teacher firings. (See the report <a href="http://www.datacenterresearch.org/reports_analysis/new-orleans-index-at-ten/">here.</a>) </p>
<p>These trends reflect deeper fissures for many black New Orleanians, already disproportionately displaced by the storm.</p>
<h2>The hard-hit Ninth Ward remains blighted</h2>
<p>In the hard-hit Ninth Ward, only 36% of residents have returned, and the area remains deeply blighted. These homeowners suffered from the fate of having only informal property documents or they lost them altogether, with many parcels passing deedless through generations of family members.</p>
<p>Like many black homeowners, Ninth Ward residents were discriminated against by the rules of the federal <a href="https://www.road2la.org">Road Home</a> project, which compensated for the prestorm market value of the property rather than the cost of repair. A successful <a href="http://dev.gnofairhousing.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/11-12-08_citybusiness_Lawsuit_filed_against_Road_Home1.pdf">lawsuit</a> by the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center and others reversed those rules in 2011, but for many the changes came too late. </p>
<p>And New Orleans East, the sprawling middle-class black community that grew up in the 1980s despite white flight, still lacks 20% of its residents. The <a href="http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2011/08/decision_pending_on_mass_firin.html">mass firing</a> of so many mostly black teachers by the state legislature had a devastating effect on the area’s black middle class.</p>
<p>Still, some factors indicate a trend toward gentrification of New Orleans since Katrina. But gentrification is a funny and complicated thing. </p>
<h2>Displacement and disappointment</h2>
<p>In my <a href="http://thenewpress.com/books/after-storm">essay,</a> “Many Thousands Gone, Again,” the best scenario I could predict was that federally financed rebuilding would produce lots of construction employment and a land grab. I proposed a jobs trust on behalf of displaced, underskilled New Orleanians and a land trust to ensure affordable places to return. </p>
<p>I had also hoped that survivors would find at least temporary housing in the surrounding parishes of the New Orleans metropolitan area, so that they could participate in the planning processes that were forecast.</p>
<p>Not much of any of that happened. Instead the public housing that had been such a killing field for poor black New Orleanians was shuttered – not because it was uninhabitable. Projects like <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/05/bw_cooper_housing_sites_slow_m.html">B W Cooper</a>, which sits within sight of the Central Business District on higher ground, were razed or transformed to become mixed-income housing. A good idea? In theory, but only as long as there is provision for all residents who once lived there. There was not, and many remain displaced.</p>
<h2>The role of the suburbs</h2>
<p>Did the suburbs welcome the survivors? Not particularly. Three surrounding parishes became home to a growing Latino population, mostly from Honduras, whose labor was instrumental in the rebuilding. By 2012, eight of the surrounding 13 parishes saw no increase in the number of poor households at all, a sign that desperate survivors did not move there. In fact, these areas saw improved growth, according to the <a href="http://www.datacenterresearch.org/reports_analysis/new-orleans-index-at-ten/">Data Center.</a> </p>
<p>The metro suburbs did see an increase in overall poverty relative to the city – a trend that mirrors the nation – but that may be because the city is pricing poor people out, and many elderly either stayed in suburbs on fixed incomes or left the city when it became unaffordable.</p>
<p>It’s hard to gauge from any distance the complexity of a city’s 10-year recovery from a disaster that multiplied across families, neighborhoods and institutions. Statistics miss the continuing effects of trauma suffered by thousands of New Orleanians who saw horror, survived despite unimaginable fear and struggled through long periods of homelessness, neglect, anger and longing. Sudden death leaves even the most resource rich among us forever changed.</p>
<p>A few conclusions seem warranted. First, the city’s recovery was not transformative for the very citizens whose spectacular suffering occasioned the wave of resources pledged to match the storm. The pre-Katrina normalcy of low black wealth and incomes, high unemployment, housing instability and economic vulnerability has resettled in southern Louisiana. The <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-avenue/posts/2015/08/26-post-katrina-new-orleans-liu">output per capita trends </a>reported by the Brookings Institute, for instance, indicate that the economy was hottest for new residents and cooled to familiar low wages for more recent returning natives. </p>
<p>For all the federal government’s prodigious activity in New Orleans, we cannot tell a story of economic revitalization for the city’s majority black population. </p>
<p>The gentrification of multiple New Orleans neighborhoods and the suburbanization of poverty present yet another argument for the regionalization of certain public services, such as affordable housing, education and social services. Urban gentrification pushed some of the poor to surrounding parishes, where more affordable suburbs had to shoulder social service costs the city would have had to bear. </p>
<p>Those parishes that could resist an influx of poor households did, if through discriminatory real estate practices, unconstitutional ordinances (eg, “blood-only” deed restrictions) or just the higher housing costs associated with their own prosperity. Those that couldn’t probably suffered in tax base and market attractiveness.</p>
<p>This burden-shifting dynamic occurred more quickly in the New Orleans metro area because of the storm and federal money; it has happened more slowly in other areas of the country. The unfairness of winner and loser municipalities across the region is manifest. Democratic participation – a hallmark of sovereignty – demands that all citizens across a relevant region have some say in the public institutions paid for with their tax dollars. The regionalization of institutional obligations therefore requires greater regional voice in their governance.</p>
<p>Re-disappearance is a formidable cruelty made possible by something too systemic to ignore. The idea that people whose poverty we didn’t know would appear before us in shocking desperation, engage our sympathy and billions later disappear again into the same cycle of marginalization is unthinkable.</p>
<p>Of course, we should be proud of the affluence and ingenuity that brought back so many parts of New Orleans. But we should be worried that the same people once marginalized are still being left out of our best efforts.</p>
<p>We are not yet finished, and we have much still to learn.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46834/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David D. Troutt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ten years after Katrina, recovery in New Orleans is mixed – divided in familiar patterns between white and black, rich and poor. The same groups that suffered the brunt of the storm still struggle.David D. Troutt, Professor of Law and Justice John J Francis Scholar, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/467712015-08-28T18:55:25Z2015-08-28T18:55:25ZThe New Orleans class of 2015: what it tells us and what it doesn’t<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93317/original/image-20150828-19912-1ni8owp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Where did the children go post-Katrina?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lori Peek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hurricane Katrina led to the largest population displacement in the United States since the Dust Bowl. Over one-third of the <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:8845">450,000 Louisiana and Mississippi residents</a> displaced from their homes were children. </p>
<p>What happened to these children? Where did they go? What has the disaster meant in their lives?</p>
<p>As researchers, we have explored the impact of catastrophic events on communities and children in numerous disasters – the 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the <a href="http://www.flu.gov/about_the_flu/h1n1/">H1N1 pandemic</a>, the <a href="http://www.nist.gov/el/disasterstudies/weather/joplin_tornado_2011.cfm">Joplin tornado</a>, the <a href="http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/deepwater-horizon-oil-spill">Deepwater Horizon oil spill</a> and <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/13/world/americas/hurricane-sandy-fast-facts/">Hurricane Sandy</a>, among others. We believe Katrina’s impact has been among the most profound.</p>
<h2>What happened in schools</h2>
<p>Here are some of the things we know. </p>
<p>Katrina made landfall on August 29 2005. In the year that followed, approximately 125,000 elementary and secondary students from Louisiana and Mississippi were <a href="http://www.coweninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/legacy_katrina_children.pdf">displaced</a> from their homes, according to census and school enrollment data. </p>
<p>They and their families scattered across all 50 states. As researchers, we heard many stories of parents who held their children out of school for either some portion or all of that 2005-06 year. </p>
<p><a href="http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/fothergill-peek-children-of-katrina">Many were moving</a> from trailer park to trailer park, or motel to motel, and wanted their children close to them. Some didn’t trust the local schools. </p>
<p>All too often, the children were <a href="http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/fothergill-peek-children-of-katrina">labeled</a> the “Katrina kids” and bullied or stigmatized. The children often had a hard time keeping up with their academic peers in these new schools, either because of the challenges of studying in the chaotic household and neighborhood environments in which they landed, or because they were so ill-prepared by their pre-Katrina schools. </p>
<p>When we surveyed a representative sample of displaced households from Louisiana and Mississippi between 2006-08 and then again from 2009-10 as part of <a href="http://www.gcafh.org">Gulf Coast Child and Family Health Study</a>, we found that approximately one-third of the children were too old for their grade level. </p>
<p>It was not <a href="http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/fothergill-peek-children-of-katrina">unusual to hear stories</a> of 15-year-old seventh graders, for instance. </p>
<h2>The missing children in the class of 2015</h2>
<p>Although we have learned much in the decade since the storm, many puzzles remain. </p>
<p>One of the most perplexing is related to counting Katrina’s youngest survivors. To make this case, let us use the illustration of one cohort of children: the New Orleans “class of 2015.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93338/original/image-20150828-19906-jexpc8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93338/original/image-20150828-19906-jexpc8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93338/original/image-20150828-19906-jexpc8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93338/original/image-20150828-19906-jexpc8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93338/original/image-20150828-19906-jexpc8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93338/original/image-20150828-19906-jexpc8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93338/original/image-20150828-19906-jexpc8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many children were too old for their grade level.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lori Peek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to information provided to the author by the director of vital statistics at the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, there were only 3,964 seniors in that class of 2015, representing about half of that original birth cohort. And among those seniors, only about three-quarters actually graduated with their class. </p>
<p>These numbers are drawn from all the schools in New Orleans, including the public charter schools, the private schools and the parochial schools.</p>
<h2>Where did “Katrina kids” go?</h2>
<p>So, what happened to these children? How many have resettled in other cities and graduated with other classes of 2015? How many have dropped out, or been left behind, or have found themselves incarcerated, or worse?</p>
<p>We have been tracing the recovery trajectories of the children of Katrina in several ways.</p>
<p>For instance, in one such study (the Gulf Coast Child and Family Health Study), the author and his team <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:15265">followed</a> 1,079 randomly sampled households from Louisiana and Mississippi who had been displaced or greatly impacted by the storm. </p>
<p>For five consecutive years after Katrina, we interviewed members of these households, wherever they were. </p>
<p>When we <a href="http://www.gcafh.org">last collected data</a> from these families in 2010, only about 60% had found stable housing, and fewer than half had returned to their pre-Katrina neighborhoods. </p>
<p>At the time, we found that <a href="http://www.childrenshealthfund.org/sites/default/files/files/Children_As_Bellweathers.pdf">over one-third</a> of the children were experiencing “serious emotional disturbance” at rates that were five times the norm. </p>
<p>In addition to following this large, representative group, co-author, Lori Peek and her colleague, <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/sociology/faculty/faculty_bios/Fothergill/">Alice Fothergill,</a> spent extensive time over a seven-year period with a select number of children and their families as part of an intensive, ethnographic study of the impact of disasters on children. </p>
<p>The individual stories that they heard reveal the depth of the challenges confronting so many of these children. The “accounting” of where they have ended up is often heartbreaking.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93319/original/image-20150828-19943-1ov72rw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93319/original/image-20150828-19943-1ov72rw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93319/original/image-20150828-19943-1ov72rw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93319/original/image-20150828-19943-1ov72rw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93319/original/image-20150828-19943-1ov72rw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93319/original/image-20150828-19943-1ov72rw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93319/original/image-20150828-19943-1ov72rw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Post-Katrina, children experienced serious emotional disturbances.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lori Peek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Consider Daniel. He was only 12 years old at the time of the storm. After a harrowing evacuation experience in which he and his mother and baby sister were forced to wade through waist-deep flood waters, they ended up being evacuated and ultimately displaced for years after the storm. </p>
<p>In the decade after Katrina, <a href="http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/fothergill-peek-children-of-katrina">Daniel and his family moved</a> nearly a dozen times and endured homelessness. Daniel missed close to two years of school. Although he was strong and inspiring in many ways, his educational experience was seriously diminished due to the disaster and displacement. </p>
<p>“We were always moving around and I was never in school,” Daniel told us, “but I can’t fault my mom for it or nobody else for it. It was just something that happened.”</p>
<h2>When data are not enough</h2>
<p>The 10-year anniversary of the storm and the Katrina accounting is upon us. With it is the question prompted by Daniel and so many other children: were their experiences “just something that happened”? </p>
<p>At this moment, it is important to pause and ask: what exactly are we counting? In a world in which “what is measured, matters,” this is a defining question. Are we counting houses rebuilt, jobs or economies restored, or tax bases regained? </p>
<p>Or are we interested in the restoration of social and psychological states: a sense of community, normalcy and daily routines? How do we account for children’s recovery, in particular?</p>
<p>School enrollment data and graduation rates represent two important measures of recovery. They are not sufficient, however, as these rates are “fixed in place.” </p>
<p>They only measure a group of students at a specific location and specific time. They reveal nothing regarding what happened to the children who did not return, to those who dropped out or were otherwise pushed out of school.</p>
<p>We firmly believe that when we consider children’s recovery, we must assemble the numbers, but also paint a more nuanced portrait that allows us to think carefully about children’s stability and opportunity for growth in terms of their personal, social, economic and educational trajectories. </p>
<p>Katrina still ripples through many children’s lives, and we now believe we will likely see generational effects as a consequence of the disruption that so many children have endured. </p>
<p>If we are going to truly invest in children’s futures, we must invest in helping them recover fully from disaster.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Abramson receives funding from the Children's Health Fund, NIH, NJ Department of Health, CDC</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lori Peek receives funding from National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, Applied Technology Council/Federal Emergency Management Agency, State of New Jersey Department of Health, National Institute of Standards and Technology. </span></em></p>There were only 3,964 seniors in the graduating New Orleans class of 2015, which represents only half of the original cohort of babies. What happened to the missing children?David Abramson, Associate Professor of Public Health, New York UniversityLori Peek, Associate Professor of Sociology, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.