WINNER OF THE 2018 LOUISIANA LITERARY AWARD GIVEN BY THE LOUISIANA
LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
For centuries, outlanders have openly denigrated Louisiana's coastal
wetlands residents and their stubborn refusal to abandon the region's
fragile _prairies tremblants_ despite repeated natural and, more
recently, man-made disasters. Yet, the cumulative environmental
knowledge these wetlands survivors have gained through painful
experiences over the course of two centuries holds invaluable keys to
the successful adaptation of modern coastal communities throughout the
globe. As Hurricane Sandy recently demonstrated, coastal peoples
everywhere face rising sea levels, disastrous coastal erosion, and,
inevitably, difficult lifestyle choices.
Along the Bayou State's coast the most insidious challenges are
man-made. Since channelization of the Mississippi River in the wake of
the 1927 flood, which diverted sediments and nutrients from the
wetlands, coastal Louisiana has lost to erosion, subsidence, and
rising sea levels a land mass roughly twice the size of Connecticut.
State and national policymakers were unable to reverse this
environmental catastrophe until Hurricane Katrina focused a harsh
spotlight on the human consequences of eight decades of neglect. Yet,
even today, the welfare of Louisiana's coastal plain residents
remains, at best, an afterthought in state and national policy
discussions.
For coastal families, the Gulf water lapping at the doorstep makes
this morass by no means a scholarly debate over abstract problems.
_Ain't There No More_ renders an easily read history filled with new
insights and possibilities. Rare, previously unpublished images
documenting a disappearing way of life accompany the narrative. The
authors bring nearly a century of combined experience to distilling
research and telling this story in a way invaluable to Louisianans, to
policymakers, and to all those concerned with rising sea levels and
seeking a long-term solution.
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Louisiana's Disappearing Coastal Plain
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781496809490
Publisert
2017
Utgiver
University Press of Mississippi
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter