Levee Finale: "Ain't Dere No Mo"

Levee Finale: "Ain't Dere No Mo"

(New Orleans)

This post is coming to you live from New Orleans, Louisiana herself! Here for Thanksgiving in my favorite place in the world. Before I get down to the nitty-gritty of this final post, I have interviewed my cousin on his opinion of levees here in the city. Just a little tid-bit of what they think of this structure:

“Levees are a good thing. Before and after Katrina thing, I feel like the engineering standards weren’t there. They didn’t do enough research for a standard acceptance of a levee. They did it the way they always did it. After Katrina, there is more of a building of how to make these things sturdy. I don’t know if there’s a better way to keep the water. Dream up of another way and try to make it work. Too expensive.  A city like New Orleans, you can’t just change it. Anybody from their home city isn’t going to want to change their cities or move. Like tornadoes and Oklahoma.”

I don’t think quite along the same lines as my cousin, but I see his point. I see where he comes from. Home cities are always a thing to be protected. Now moving into my final blog post…

I remember from my childhood sitting in the back seat of our family car, staring out the window at the odd ditches with pipes and wheels constructed about that eventually led to large cement walls that you couldn’t see over. I don’t remember the age at which I learned that these less than aesthetically pleasing walls were levees but I do remember wondering what was beyond the ledge I couldn’t see over (little did I know that this was the Tragedy of the Commons, something I learned this semester).

As I grew up and fell more in love with the culture and history and people of New Orleans, I learned that the entire essence of the city relied on these levees. The more I understood their necessity, the less I judged them for contrasting against the beauty of New Orleans. I understood that they kept the water out but I always wondered how such a comparatively small area could keep out the massiveness of the Gulf of Mexico or the Mississippi River.

From doing my blog on the levees of New Orleans this semester, I have perpetuated my opinion that they are only a temporary fix to the problem of the waiting waters surrounding the great city. I still do not understand why the New Orleans government does not seek alternate ways of protecting their city or preserving their culture and people. Especially since Hurricane Katrina absolutely devastated the city and it wasn’t even hit by the worst part of the storm. There are only plans to reinforce the levees and “patch them up”. Patching up the cement walls is a waste of money and only delays the inevitable.

On a lighter note, I also learned that the levees are used as a vital source for producing and supporting the massive seafood industry that makes this city thrive. Levee ponds are actually an ingenious idea despite the fact that they use up what little land New Orleans has.

Engineering risk is one point I would like to make about the New Orleans levees in relation to environment and society. Humans are humans and we are going to continue doing what we have been doing until it comes to a complete end out of our control. Keeping this water out has worked for centuries and therefore it will work for centuries more as far as we’re concerned. I really do not think there is any point in convincing people otherwise. The probability of someone listening that can do something about it is slim (Yes, yes, I know…so optimistic!). Human beings have a socially constructed concept of be superior to the land. The hard truth is that we aren’t. And engineering any risk out of any environmental situation only buys time. The next natural disaster and New Orleans will completely adopt the phrase "Ain't Dere No Mo". 

Cornucopian New Orleans

Cornucopian New Orleans

(Cornucopia)

Humans have an odd desire to engineer risk--"the known or estimated probability that a hazard-related decision will have a negative consequence" (Dr. Peppler)--out of nature which feeds our urge to live in risky places (cornucopians). This ties in with social construct in some ways. Humans construct the dangerous conditions to be seen in a tamed sense. It becomes an aspect of the local culture.

The notion that human beings believe that they can change any situation to play in their favor is a bit egocentric. It is nearly impossible to take the danger out of environmental situations. Inhabiting land along coasts and in natural disaster (tornadoes, earthquakes, etc.) prone areas has been, is, and will be dangerous no matter how much humans try to engineer the risk out.

New Orleans is one of these dangerous cornucopians that exists in America. As mentioned in previous posts, New Orleans must keep water out in order to remain afloat. The system of levees has proven to do just this for the city during mild to medium hazardous weather events, but full fledged natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 wreck this engineered adaptation.

Yes, rebuilding has already begun in the region after the disaster. But should it have been allowed in the first place? The danger of the region is a serious risk to the lives of the people that live there and the cost to rebuild is so expensive. What if this were to happen again? Another hurricane or a bad tropical storm and the levees breech? More money will be spent to clean up the mess and the amount of bodies lost will be too much.

The egocentric aspect of human kind in thinking that we can take the risk out of any situation is not rational. It might work for a little while, but the danger will always return and in exponential force. If we want to keep going on with the dream of engineering out risks, New Orleans needs to implement something other than levees. Levees will not stand against the wrath of natural disasters.

Engineering risk out of environment will only work for so long. New Orleans has horrible obstacles in its future if it sticks to using just levees. The city needs to have a better plan with regards to evacuating the city and manning the pump stations. They also need to consider moving inland and decreasing their playing with risk. Only time will tell what New Orleans will be forced to do and if they do not start planning now, irreplaceable lives will be lost and millions of dollars will be down the toilet.    

New Orleans Shrimping Industry: Levee Ponds

Levee Ponds

“Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That, that’s about it.” 

-Bubba (Forrest Gump)

Bubba Gump had it right when he told of all the different ways a person can eat shrimp! All of these shrimp eating styles are exactly why the shrimping industry is and has been so crucial to New Orleans since 1774. Everyone flocks to NOLA for the shrimp! The sea food industry in general is massive in this city due to the easy access to gulf water, but especially shrimp.

Shrimp in this context are water crustaceans with elongated abdomens and tails, long antennae, and and skinny legs. They propel themselves through the water by locomotion (how a train moves on tracks) and use their legs for perching. Shrimp can be found individually or in packs (especially during spawning season) on the sea floor or in rivers, lakes, and estuaries. In addition to these locations, levees ponds have been recently implemented in the harvesting of shrimp in coastal areas, including New Orleans.

Levee ponds are what they sound like! Man-made ponds surrounded by a levee system. In this case, however, the levee is not built to prevent the overflow of a river as the definition holds, but rather to prevent the movement of shrimp from the pond.

(Diagram of a levee pond)

 Levee ponds usually are built in the marshes and estuaries surrounding New Orleans. They tend to look like rice fields, built next to each other on acres of land and produce large amounts of shrimp for the industry of the city. The massive catches of shrimp aid in the $50 million per year shrimping industry. Right now, the profit made from this expenditure is essential and positive to New Orleans' economy. But for how long?

Drawbacks of the levee ponds are important to note. Due to the more recent implementation of this form of shrimping, huge ramifications have not yet been seen. They definitely have the potential to rear their ugly heads though. The most obvious set back of these structures is the pollution that occurs. Anything man made produces pollution. There is always a negative product of human progression. Waterways and marshes around the city are becoming polluted with dirt and other by-products of creating these ponds. Metal pipes have to be constructed into the structures as well as an electrical set up to drain them once a harvest is ready. These are not natural to the environment and pollute the ecosystem. Another ramification of these levees are the fact that the marshes are disappearing. This means that the ecosystems within are not only being polluted but killed off as well. In the long run, these consequences will add up to more than the benefits of this form of shrimping.

(Levee Ponds)

As with any form of expanding an industry, there are costs and benefits that are hard to ignore. For the levee pond industry in New Orleans, citizens of Louisiana need to begin thinking about what they value more: a booming economy or the preservation of the fleeting land that they love and is hard to come by.

The Tragedy of the Commons: New Orleans Levees

The Tragedy of the Commons: New Orleans Levees

(New Orleans Levee)

Understood as the common depletion of a resource at the expense of a community's overall well-being and personal gain, the Tragedy of the Commons is, ironically, very common. Whether it be in Oklahoma with the use of Lake Thunderbird for luxury gains and not caring enough for the state of the water, to the depletion of the Ogalala Aquifer to feed the overuse/wasting of water the each person participates in, the Tragedy of the Commons is everywhere. New Orleans is no exception. The Tragedy of the Commons is not as evident in this city, but once pointed out, there is no going back.

The tragedy in this city is the depletion of available land by the implementation of levees. This may seem far-fetched, but let me explain.

This land was not meant to be above sea level in the first place, so the fact that there is land at all is a force of human kind, not nature. Residing eight feet below sea level is a feat that is constantly being achieved by the use of levees. The levees are in place to keep the water out and channeling the excess water through canals and containing it as best possible. This necessity in order to maintain water levels has taken away a lot of available land for residents. Land that is used for levees is not available for anything but grass to live on and it is in the people's best interest that it stays this way. No one wants to give up the land that they already have in New Orleans, and in order to keep it for personal gain, levees must be used. While this is happening, the overall well being of the land is diminishing due to the previously stated fact that it naturally should not exist in the first place and the creation of levees is destructing to the land as well.

The Tragedy of the Common land is a necessary force for this culture of America to stay alive. This tragedy would not exist if the French had not needed a port town way back when!

Socially Constructed Aspect of New Orleans' Nature

Socially Constructed Aspect of New Orleans' Nature

Within the realm of the social construction of nature, levees are not the tourist spots of New Orleans and at first thought would not fall in this category. The constructed landscapes that have been created by these man-made walls are not for aesthetic purposes, but for functionality.

The definition of nature provided to us is “the state, condition, or quality that is before, separate from, or outside of society, human history, and volition”. This definition automatically denies the levees as unnatural as well as outside the sphere of social construction. Levees are in contradiction to all of the above.  They are very much so included in society, human history, and are under complete control of the state.

For technical reasons, however, the levees could fall under the natural or socially constructed category in some views. For the geographical situation of this city—residing eight feet below sea level—levees are an inevitable component to the continuation of the city. Without the water walls, New Orleans would become the contemporary lost city of Atlantis. Inevitability is a factor that constitutes a socially constructed aspect of nature. There really is not a social or political argument for the levees, just an environmental one.

The city relies on levees to survive its plot in the world. You will never see a photograph of the levee on a tourist brochure, but you will see them snaking throughout the parameters of New Orleans.     

(Outline of the Levees that line New Orleans [post Katrina] Source.)

10 NOLA Facts Everyone Should Know

10 NOLA Facts Everyone Should Know

(Cross Streets of Toulouse and Bourbon)

1. Sandwichs are not "subs", they're "poboys". Don't forget it.

(Shrimp Poboy)

2. The name of old random theme parks of Dixieland? Yeah that name originated in New Orleans for the old south jazz music back in the day.

3. Although the French had major control over the city, most of the architecture is of Spanish origin. The French buildings were lost in the Great New Orleans Fire.

(St. Louis Cathedral)

4. The bridge that crosses Lake Pontchartrain is the longest in the world.

5. Superdome is up at the top of the list for greatest amount of area enclosed.

(Superdome)

6. A TON of celebrities call NOLA their hometown (Reese Witherspoon and Ellen DeGeneres to name drop a few).

7. This is voodoo's gateway to America.

(Voodoo Doll)

8. It's not New Or-leans. Try New Or-luns.

9. Mardi Gras actually didn't start here, but it certainly became the hub.

(Mardi Gras)

10. Don't forget the champions of the Super Bowl in 2010, the New Orleans Saints! Who Dat Nation! Geaux Saints!!!

(Saints Symbol)

Bibliography: Broussard, M. (n.d.). 25 Things You Should Know About New Orleans - Movoto. Retrieved from http://www.movoto.com/blog/real-estate-tips/25-things-you-need-to-know-before-moving-to-new-orleans/

The Cajun History

The Cajun History

Grounded in the Mississippi delta, New Orleans has a history that is quite possibly larger than Texas.

(New Orleans near the Superdome. Source)

The original elevation of the land came from the Native American Indians that built mounds for habitation above the water level 1300 years before French traders and colonists arrived through Lake Pontchartrain. Upon arrival of the French settlers, the natives were slowly pushed out of their land and by 1701, Nouvelle-Orleans (after the Duke of Orleans) was founded as an official city.

The head of the establishment was a French native by the name of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville and he chose the location of the city for many reasons. The land New Orleans rests upon was elevated to such an extent that it became a natural levee against the water; the position gave remarkable access to the trade routes in the area; and finally, it allowed the French to have access to the entire Mississippi River Valley. With these benefits of positioning, New Orleans eventually became the new capital of French Louisiana.

In 1722 a massive hurricane destroyed the city for the first time in recorded history and the preservation of the city's future became the priority. Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville created and implemented the grid plan layout of the city that would aid in directing and containing flood waters should there ever be a breach. This plan designed by de Bienville is still seen in New Orleans today in the historical French Quarter.

(City plan of New Orleans by de Bienville int the 1720s. Source)

Just after the Seven Year's War with Britain in 1763, New Orleans was given as compensation to Spain for the loss of Florida (as dictated by the Treaty of Paris) and a new power ruled the city. There existed a power struggle in the city between France and Spain until the year 1800 with the Treaty of San Ildefonso. New Orleans stayed under French control until 1803 when Napoleon sold the city with the Louisiana Purchase to America.

Being the most coveted city in southern America in this century, the War of 1812 and the American Civil War were the next two wars that had a significant impact on New Orleans. Under the former, British troops were sent to invade and conquer the city until Andrew Jackson and his forces stopped them in their tracks and sent them home. For the latter, New Orleans was captured without a fight in the fighting and therefore suffered less damage compared to other southern cities.

Epidemics such as Yellow Fever and Cholera haunted the progression of the city as well as the numerous hurricanes that struck the city hard--Fort Lauderdale Hurricane, Hurricane Betsy, Hurricane Katrina, etc. Although the city went through a lot with regards to warfare involvement, it also went through a lot in terms of environmental adaptation. The most notable adaptation being the systems of pumps and levees New Orleans uses to push water out and evade the water coming in. Further posts will further examine the history and purpose of the levee system.

(View of flooded land post Katrina. Source)

Bibliography: Source