John Barry - Rising Tide Conference III

The New Orleans Times-Picayune carried a short account of John Barry's talk at the conference.

OK, the reporter calls it the "Riding Tide Conference", and it was not about a bit about surfing, but I suppose that's quibbling.

Local bloggers and online activists can play an important role in quashing false impressions about Hurricane Katrina and spreading accurate information about flood protection, coastal erosion and New Orleans' national importance as an economic hub, author John Barry said Saturday.
....

Among the messages Barry urged the Internet activists to spread is that if New Orleans were "wiped completely off the map," the rest of America would go into shock, with grain exports and foreign imports decimated and oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico reduced enough to hurt everyone.

"It's not just the Port of New Orleans" that benefits from ships that call at New Orleans, Barry said. "It's all the cities (upriver) that New Orleans makes into a port."

He also encouraged bloggers to stress that "practically the entire country" has contributed to the deterioration of Louisiana's coastal wetlands.

Dams for producing electricity in North and South Dakota prevent sediment from moving down the Mississippi River to build up wetlands in Louisiana. 10,000 miles of oil and gas pipelines run through the Louisiana marshlands. The pipelines have contributed greatly to land loss. Louisiana produces a large portion of the oil and gas used in the US today, one fourth, I believe. Were the oil and gas wells, the pipelines, and the refineries in Louisiana put out of business, the rest of country would suffer greatly.

It may be hard for folks from other parts of the country to understand that what happens in Louisiana is not simply a local issue. Purely out of self-interest, if for no other reason, attention must be paid.