Why Budget Cuts and Global Warming Don't Mix

[Dead_Parrot]

Sometimes you stumble on a case where politics, ideology, and reality collide in a way that provides you with a strikingly clear view of the contradictions that threaten America today.

This morning’s Washington Post described a situation in the state of Louisiana where a global trend—climate change—is leading to a situation—rising sea levels—that YOYO (you’re-on-your-own) economics can’t solve.

Sea levels have been rising in Louisiana and they’re threatening to washout a highway that’s a supply route for – wait for it – oil and gas:

Highway 1, unprotected by levees, connects critical oil and gas resources in booming Port Fourchon to the rest of the nation...

Local residents and business leaders are demanding that the federal government help pay to rebuild and elevate the remaining section of Highway 1, adding two miles to span the levees. Federal officials have provided scientific and technical expertise but will not contribute funding unless the state pledges to complete the road.

Louisiana says it doesn’t have the money.

More: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/why-budget-cuts-and-global-warming-dont-mix-20120319
WP article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/as-climate-changes-louisiana-seeks-to-lift-a-highway/2012/03/12/gIQAJoEQLS_story.html?hpid=z4

[guardian]

1. So how is this a global warming problem?

According to the cited article:

"In 1991 this stretch of road through the marshlands of southern Louisiana was 3.9 feet above sea level, but the instrument — which measures the ground’s position in relation to sea level — shows the land has lost more than a foot against the sea. It sank two inches in the past 16 months alone."

Sounds like a subsidence problem, not a sea level increase problem. But then I forget, EVERYTHING is tied to global warming.

[kurt_cagle]

2. Kharmic Justice

Agreed - the reality for Louisiana is not that Global Warming is going to sink it, but that when you build a massive infrastructure on a fragile flood plain, eventually, that flood plain will win. Developers and oil companies have removed most of the protective natural infrastructure, which means that every year, waves that would have been damped by the marshlands are now making their way further and further inland, while at the same time nothing is stopping the silt that would normally replenish the soil in the marshlands from slipping into the sea.

Gee, guys, maybe its time to invest some of those billions of dollars in shareholder dividends into building you some new roads, huh?

[guardian]

3. You are absolutely right.

I just wish alarmist newspapers and uneducated journalists wouldn't mislead readers by explicitly stating that this is a global warming problem. (q.v. the WP article title: "As climate changes, Louisiana seeks to lift a highway&quot


"Gee, guys, maybe its time to invest some of those billions of dollars in shareholder dividends into building you some new roads, huh?" Yes. Absolutely. That is the approach to take here...not worrying about CO2.