Hurricane Katrina, 19 years later

so today is um a day I usually memorialize because it's August 29th which makes today August 29th 2024 19 years exactly since Hurricane Katrina hit I grew up on the Mississippi Golf Coast we stayed I had family from New Orleans who was staying with us and it it's honestly defin such a big part of my life it's why I went into understanding natural disasters climate and hurricane specifically um and made that my whole profession and education and the saddest part of it is is that they are worse off now down there than they were 19 years ago I checked all the data for today and since 2005 sea level rise in south Louisiana has risen almost exactly 1 foot 12 in and it's rising between one or two Ines every single year and the rate at which it's rising is increasing land loss has been exacerbated despite the efforts of the coastal protection and restoration Authority um to rebuild parts of land I actually worked for them right out of uh graduate school for the state of Louisiana and Ida which hit on this day in 2021 uh devastated some of the local tribes who people have been living there for thousands of years all but I think three of the people who lived in the traditional location for The Elder Jean Charles tribe um all but three of them completely lost their houses and it's just really sad that we've been 19 years out from the storm and we're still not prepared we're still nowhere near prepared for the Myriad of ways that climate change is going to impact not just our personal lives but our communities how it's going to reshape the world and that we didn't learn our lesson from Katrina they're in worse shape now than ever and um it's a damn shame because a lot of those people are probably the least culpable for causing all this change in the first place and it just it's a rough day um yeah I made a video once and back in 2016 at the hundred years anniversary of the first well that was drilled showing land loss with drilling activity over time and it's truly heartbreaking and yet nothing's changed my thoughts are with everyone in Louisiana and Mississippi today my family all my friends from there everyone who for some reason still notices this day 19 years later [Music] h [Music] n