Speed
Captain
I'm not even supposed to be here today!
Posts: 753
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Post by Speed on May 4, 2004 17:41:13 GMT -5
Well, about 400 years ago when the Spanish first began to settle New Orleans, it wasn't below sea level. As time progressed, more and more structures were built on top of this gooey swamp land. The weight of the city is literally causing it to sink down upon itself.
I saw an episode of "Insomniac" with Dave Atell where he went to New Orleans, and visited a pumping station (one of several located in and around the city) that pumps the subterranean water out of the ground to keep the city from sinking any further.
I think I read somewhere that the city is sinking at a rate of a little over a centimeter a year. Better go to Mardi Gras while you still can! LOL!
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Post by voyager on May 4, 2004 19:12:48 GMT -5
New Orleans knew it was coming, but instead of moving and letting the land reclaim itself, they keep expanding farther and farther out.
20 years ago, a massive hurricane would barely affect New Orleans, as they had miles and miles of wide ipen land to allow for the surge of water, now they have built onto that land and now if a category 3 hurricane were to hit New Oreleans, there be billions of dollars of damages. Imagine what a category 5 would do
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xkamelx
Global Moderator
Check Those Corners
Posts: 11,108
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Post by xkamelx on May 4, 2004 22:32:48 GMT -5
There's hurricanes in the Gulf all the time, it wouldnt surprise me to see one hit sometime in the near future.
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Post by voyager on May 4, 2004 22:42:05 GMT -5
Oh it will happen.
BTW t get back to the global warming part, it is a problem, but I also can see the way some countries(like USA) react as well to treaties like the Kyoto Protocols.
The main reason why Bush pulled us out of the Kyoto protocols is because the US would have to put so much money and effort(rightfully so I say) into retrofitting current industrial plants, yet developing cvountries like India and China(who could build state of the art new plants) can get away with building the same type of plants that the US has, but not have to follow the same standards as the US.
To me that is unfair because if those protocols are to benefit all of Earth, then every single country in the world should have to follow them, and there be no exemptions.
Thats like my cvountry having to pay an additional $15 for state license plates for my vehicles because we are required to have emissions tests, yet the county next door doesn't have the emissions tests and don't have the added fee, yet the air quality is just as bad there as here, but because they recently changed the standards, they no longer fit the bill for emissions testing. How fair is that?
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