Not only did Hurricane Katrina strike a near-lethal blow to New Orleans, it also flattened many coastal towns and cities in Mississippi and Alabama. Katrina was followed closely by Hurricane Rita, and this storm also compromised the levees in New Orleans. Rita left a swath of destruction in its path that stretched all the way to Houston, Texas.

Global warming is a scientific fact, and the world’s climate is changing rapidly. The worst hurricane season on record is only one example of recent natural disasters that includes the Indonesian tsunami and mud slides in Mexico. What are we do about it? Maybe we should look at the Netherlands as an example.

In 1953, record flooding in that country resulted in extensive property damage and almost 2,000 deaths. They spent three billion dollars to revamp its system of outdated dikes. Today, the Netherlands' system of dikes is a state-of-the-art masterpiece of thought and engineering. Are the Dutch resting on their laurels? Anything but! A rise in sea level - the likely scenario as the glaciers melt - will make their dikes obsolete. They are already thinking of ways to improve their system in order to impede the future encroachment of the sea.

The destruction in New Orleans captured the attention of the nation and the world. Still, the wonderful old city is but a small portion of the Gulf Coast. It will take far more than simply raising the existing levees in New Orleans three feet, or so, to cure its flooding problems. That would be like putting a band aid on a serious gash. Let’s don’t simply treat the symptoms, let’s address the stone cold fact that the problem is endemic to the entire Gulf Coastal Region. There is already an engineering plan on the table that will go a long way to save our barrier islands and marshlands, and mitigate the effects of future storms and hurricanes. This plan is already approved.

Then what’s the problem? The answer is funding. No one wants to fund this plan. Like the Dutch, we need to suck it up and spend the money to cure the problem. If we don’t, someday soon the citizens of the United States - and I mean everyone of us - will lose far more than the culture and cuisine of New Orleans.  http://www.ericwilder.com  http://energyissues.blogharbor.com