Coastal Louisiana may be ground zero for climate migration in the U.S., but a new study argues that planning now could turn displacement into agency.

The physical stakes are still stark. Southern Louisiana is facing a convergence of rising seas, wetland erosion, stronger storms and land subsidence, much of it worsened by decades of oil and gas canals cut through the coast. The state contains what theIPCC has identified as the world’s most exposed coastal zone, where the shoreline is projected to move more than 30 miles inland of New Orleans.

By comparing today’s warming trajectory with the last interglacial period roughly 125,000 years ago, when global temperatures were similar and seas were much higher, the new study estimates that the region could eventually face three to seven meters of sea-level rise and lose as much as three-quarters of its remaining coastal wetlands.

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“Outmigration is often framed as tragedy or failure, but in some cases it signals agency,” said Brianna Castro, a co-author of the paper, who highlights that this is a chance to plan around choices people are already making.

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    I mean ya built the city in one of the largest river deltas in the world. Pretty sure the Muskogee were even like “oh yeah this shit floods. Be ready to move it all at any time”.

    That being said NO is one of the greatest cities on the continent. Truly a gem and it’s loss a tragedy.

    • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyzOPMEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      That being said NO is one of the greatest cities on the continent. Truly a gem and it’s loss a tragedy.

      There is the potential here to move a city but I fear the US does not have even an ounce of the imagination and vision required for that.

      I do not mean physically move all the bricks, I mean there is a chance here for the US to look at New Orleans and realize some kind of wholistic sense of helping the city move has to be done not just helping individuals fracture away and go their separate ways.

      This is one of the reasons I am passionate about covering collapse, we have agency now and we can make the future far better if we acknowledge that certain systems are collapsing and cannot be stopped from doings so with reformist measures, the collapse of these systems has to be dealt with as coming wave of new paradigms that we will be forced to adapt to and the sooner we begin anticipating that adaption the better it will be for everyone.