Very short diary because there's not much I can add to this excellent, interactive article that went live today on ProPublica: "Losing Ground", by Bob Marshall, Brian Jacobs, and Al Shaw. Here's the lede:
In 50 years, most of southeastern Louisiana not protected by levees will be part of the Gulf of Mexico. The state is losing a football field of land every 48 minutes - 16 square miles a year - due to climate change, drilling and dredging for oil and gas, and levees on the Mississippi River. At risk: nearly all of the nation's domestic energy supply, much of its seafood production, and millions of homes.
None of the information in the site is, strictly speaking,
news to anyone who's followed this issue, but it's assembled impressively, with an interactive map showing the extent of the devastation and projections for further losses, interviews with locals whose livelihood and culture are most at risk, and a thoroughly documented history of negligence, with the scant hopes for a better set of policies in the future. It's a great example of how technology, politics, journalism, and research can combine into a gorgeously-rendered vehicle for (we hope?) social change.
Please read this, share this, and get this article the attention it deserves. Thanks, y'all.