Sublime

The public health risks of drinking water polluted by human waste are well documented. In 2010, some 10,000 people in Haiti died and hundreds of thousands more were sickened by cholera, in an epidemic resulting from the mishandling of septic tanks at a UN Peacekeeper camp and dumping into a river. As late as the 1920s, before the advent of modern

CPRA’s “bold” scheme for saving Plaquemines is to rehabilitate the crevasse for a post-crevasse age. The agency’s master plan calls for punching eight giant holes through the levees on the Mississippi and two more through those on its main distributary, the Atchafalaya. The openings will be gated and channelized, and the channels will themselves be

As the word spread, others flocked southward. Even John James Audubon was a frequent visitor, drawn by the seemingly limitless flocks of sea and shore birds in the area.

In the sunny accounts aimed at tourists, New Orleans is called the “Crescent City,” for the curve of the river it was built along, or the “Big Easy,” for its laid-back vibe. In a less upbeat context, residents refer to it as the “bowl.” By now, most of the bowl lies at or below sea level—some spots as much as fifteen feet below. When you’re in the

Coral reefs make up about one-tenth of one percent of the earth’s surface, and yet roughly a quarter of the known species of marine life make their homes there.

Since the close of the crevasse period, land loss to the south has brought the city some twenty miles closer to the Gulf. It’s been estimated that for every three miles a storm has to travel over land, its surge is reduced by a foot. If this is the case, then the threat to New Orleans has grown seven feet higher. “Drive out nature though you will

Without currents which transport warm water to higher latitudes, western Europe might become as cold as western Canada.