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October 3, 2008 Post-Knoxville, Post-Hurricanes, Post-VP debates New Orleans. by moe. Coming off of Highway 39 into the Lower 9th Ward, the noise level drops like a weight in water. Traffic sounds gone, and suddenly: crickets, frogs, the squaks and tweeks of countryside nightttime. The 9th Ward feels like a place that should be country. Besides the usual series of levees meant to keep the Mississippi at bay, alterations to the Louisiana landscape have included the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet Canal (MRGO), originally intended to shave time off of shipping routes. As a result, all of the silt coming down the mighty river doesn't filter through the wetlands, but is flushed out to the gulf, leaving a them exposed to lighting-fast erosion and a dead zone at the river's mouth. Part of the reason this neighborhood was so badly hit during Katrina was the simultaneous failure of several of these engineered attempts to shape the river: a runaway barge broke through the levees, MRGO is believed to have increased the strength of the storm surge, and the 9th ward was plunged under 15 feet of water. These days the levee along the 9th is now a storm wall, and the neighborhood is a surreal mix of abandoned ruins, cutely cultivated homes and the techo-bunkers of Brat Pitt's Make it Right Foundation. It feels like a kind of post-apocalyptic summer camp, with several groups working in this isolated area to restore the community. Common Ground have been on the front lines in New Orleans since seven days after Katrina hit, gutting houses, providing legal aid, teaching workshops on sustainable living, and generally spooning out hope. Since the old-church post-Katrina days, some of the projects have developed lives of their own, but Common Ground Relief, which provides short-term volunteers to relief efforts, has settled down into a baby-blue house with a vegetable garden in the Lower 9th. They were forced to flee their home in the face of the recent Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which also canceled Make it Right's grand plans for the 3rd anniversary of Katrina. Though the damage from those two hurricanes was not as extensive as from Katrina, it has taken some time for the group to recover and reorganize. The Sustainable Living Roadshow is parked with Common Ground over the weekend. Most of us will be working the Heritage Festival in Greta, LA, but some of us remain here to support Common Ground in their efforts. These days that means mostly cleaning out the home base rooms, supporting NOLA 100 in their rebuild efforts, working in the gardens, and cooking meals to keep everyone fueled. Never mistake sustainability for anything other than work. More Blog Entries: |
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