Gulf oil spill is just the latest blow for Delacroix (4-part series)

[MountainLaurel]

A close-up view of the destruction of the Louisiana wetlands over the past 100 years, from the perspective of one small community. The usual villains are here: the oil and gas industry, the Corps of Engineers, local cronyism. All 4 parts are available.

On a blustery spring day, Delacroix native Lloyd Serigne stands on the banks of Bayou Terre aux Boeufs, 30 miles south of New Orleans, talking about the village that raised him in the 1950s. Reaching into a deep well of memories, he paints an idyllic picture: A community of several hundred fishers, farmers and trappers whose homes were surrounded by a wetlands paradise of high ridges, marshes and swamps. The outside world -- unwanted, unneeded -- seemed a thousand miles away.

There was a time when Delacroix was a thriving community of 700 fishers and trappers, surrounded by forests of oak, maple and sycamore trees. Now barely a sliver remains as the marsh continues to succumb to subsidence and hurricanes. This photo was taken June 20.
But the scene surrounding him only mocks that vision.

Naked slabs and raw pilings that once supported homes stand like tombstones in open, soggy ground. Bare tree trunks rise from a salt marsh that used to be a vegetable field. Battered home appliances, ice chests and derelict boats litter the bank while a high tide moves through the remains of a hardwood forest. And a steady stream of heavy equipment heads down the road to fight the invasion of BP's oil.
None of it matches memories that seem as sharp as yesterday's news.

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/08/gulf_of_mexico_oil_spill_is_ju.html

[primavera]

1. Sorry, can't be bothered with those pesky details

We've got Hummers we need to get back to driving. You wouldn't want us to have to feel guilty or anything about being the world's biggest energy gluttons, would you? Nope, nope, move along, nothing to see here, just an isolated freak instance, nothing any of us need to be concerned about, go home and crank the a/c with the windows open as usual.

[BeFree]

2. A good sign of...

...rising sea levels. "High tide through the oak forests".

Oak forests grow only well above the high tide lines. They take centuries to develop and in just s few years time they have been inundated with salt water.