Hurricane Katrina Aftermath
An Editorial View of the Hurricane Katrina Aftermath as an Omen to the Future of Mankind and a Foreshadow of the Human Storm to Come.
 
Hurricane Katrina Aftermath - Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May!
A grotesquelly surreal vision emmerged As the Hallmark image of the Hurricane Katrina Aftermath. It was that of a major U.S. city becoming a stagnant, deadly, and far reaching lagoon of putrid "rainbow water" over night. Like some toxic hellish version of Venice, the numbing images reminded us that nature is still a force to be reckoned with.
Clearly she still has the upper hand when we ecologically careless interlopers drop our guard. And a brilliant counter-attack she did make in a region where our flanks were weakest and our occupation most fool-hearty. In a tempest of biblical proportions she breached our miniscule defenses with a blitzkreig of wind and water, inititated a frantic retreat, and occupied wetland territory that was hers in a bygone era. And now, in place of the flood she has left behind a deadly wasteland poisoned with toxic ordinances of our own chemical making.
The residue of war in New Orleans will remain for posterity silently poisoning the hearts, minds, and bodies of many more interlopers to come.
Yes indeed, there still remains no peace treatty in the age-old battle of man versus nature.
Or at least this is how we personify the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, as if it is us against it. Man against nature. But is it really?
A more realistic and environmentally responcible conclusion which most of us in industrialized cultures have yet to realize is that we are in fact children of mother nature. We are a natural product of our natural environment. In short we are an appendage of nature and she of us. We are one in the same. If we wage war against nature, we are ultimately waging war with ourselves. When we poison our environments we poison ourselves. To conquer nature is to conquer mankind. Given our track record of natural conquest perhaps "man-UNkind" would be a better descriptor for us.
There is a swelling concensus amoung scientists that global warming is underway like never before and that our environmentally careless behaviors are indeed contributing to it. Some have even found evidence that we are affecting our climate to such an extent that the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina may even have been caused indirectly by our contributions to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the resultant warming of ocean surface waters in the Gulf and Atlantic. If that were indeed true, it would be particularly ironic considering that the chemical products who's production resulted in the emission of some of those greenhouse gases are now part of the toxic aftermath of Katrina.
Consider that every aspect of industrialized human existance ultimately results in the production of a plethora of biologically toxic chemicals. Yes, EVERY ASPECT, from birth to death. Each one of us industrialized homo spaiens lives a life which is certain of producing a substantial chemical cost to the planet; from our cars and parking lots to our houses and businesses; from our golf courses and ski slopes to the multitudes of tools, household products, toys, clothing, foods, packaging, septic tanks, medical waste, and plastics that each results in a long chain of environemental consequences. What do we give back to the ecosystem? We are in fact the only species on the planet that does not live in harmony with other species. We take, take, take and never give back.
The only protections to environmental health and safety is done with an intent focused on competitiveness from the human corporate and governmental perspective. Our actions are geared more toward protecting GDP growth rather than toward assuring sustainable and symbiotic existance along side our fellow species. Our widespread and irresponsible manufacturing, usage, and disposal of chemicals is producing a detrimental legacy of our existance on this planet. All these deadly residues and poisons inevitably end up poisoning our natural environment and us. Many of the chemicals accumulate over time, they flow down our drains and sewers (or are quickly strewn across the land by Hurricanes), they foul our rivers, poison the oceans, contaminate the food chain, and silently creep back into us all. Indeed, each of us has an environmental impact but how many of us can even begin to understand this? The out of sight - out of mind mentality is all too common. Most of us are consumers plain and simple from the cradle to the grave. We produce nothing beneficial to the ecosystem, yet have a talent for viral-like production of more consumers.
A government of, by, and for the corporations which is typical to industrialized nations like the U.S. is certainly stimulative to culturally encouraging conspicuous consumption and definately hastens our own demise. Conspicuous consumption goes hand in hand with our unsymbiotic existance with our natural environments. You can't have one without the other and so we continue at an ever more rapid rate down a slippery slope to demise by our own hand.
For evidence of how we are losing the battle against ourselves, consider the chemical aspect of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. If anything, Hurricane Katrina has illustrated the extent to which we have made unnatural synthetic chemical products our calling cards.
The visible aspect of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath is only the tip of a much larger toxic iceburg now lurking in the murky waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pontchartrain. Proof of that is evident by using the EPA's EnviroMapper for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to see chemical test results by the EPA of flood water, surface water, air, soil, and flood sediment in the Rita and Katrina affected areas.
Besides the civil and infrastructure damage from Katrina, we should take a hint from what nature has wrought upon us (or what we have wrought upon ourselves) by realizing that the poisonous chemical filled sludge strewn across the streets, playgrounds, and neighborhoods of New Orleans is the dark side of our "craftyness". Katrina should stand as a glaring example of just how out of tune and out of control of our environments we ultimately are.
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Perhaps we have become too smart for our own good. I'm sure some evolutionists would agree that our complex brains might prove to be a detrimental adaptation leading to our own demise. Cognitive advances got us to where we are today, but that doesn't mean those same beneficial adaptations will allow us to survive in the overpopulated circumstances which are quickly approaching mankind. Even though we can now control our own evolutionary destinies in certain regards, can we really be completely self-sustainable without living in harmony with nature, as opposed to at her expense? There is actually fine balances of physical, chemical, and biological forces and cycles in existance all over this planet which have been eons in the making. We are now upsetting these interconnected balances and feedback loops.
Will we be able to manipulate these systems such that we will be immune from the consequences when they begin to collapse in rapid chain succession? As an example, consider the Thermal-Haline Conveyor which controls the ocean currents and regulates climate in a vast portion of the Northern Hemisphere. There is already evidence to suggest we are impacting the amount of ice melt which could ultimately introduce enough fresh water into the North Atlantic such that the Gulf current would no longer sink due to decreased salinity and hence density. This would be a global cataclism because a domino affect would result as climates drasticly change in areas far from the source of the inbalance. An ice age in Europe? A rise in ocean temperatures in certain areas. Extinction of species would occur at a much faster rate than we are even now seeing as a result of our environmentally damaging activities. Animals and plants could not live where they had before. How would we feed ourselves if there was a global upset to the major agricultural areas or if energy usage skyrocketed due to climate upset. Disease, famine, war over resources? All very possible as we increasingly shake the table upon which the house of cards is built.
Likewise, the rate of our chemical inventivness may overcome our ability to survive the detriments of them via adaptation through natural selection. Our success as a species based on our shear population growth may ultimately lead to a dead end on the evolutionary tree. Ambition is not always a good thing. Afterall, we are subject to population dynamics just like any other species on this planet. Our numbers may grow exponentially for a while, but there is no doubt that the Earth has a finite carrying capacity. Our sustainance by limited natural resources is limited in proportion to our locust like expansion across the face of the Earth.
Overcrowding in animals can be self-regulated by increased predation, disease, and competition for resources. In our case we are definately at the top of the food chain, but through our careless environmental practices we are basically self-predatory. As far as disease is concerned, one has to wonder if our medical sciences (such as Immunological advances practiced by the CDC for example) will be able to keep up with the emergence of new communicable diseases that inevitably arise and spread due to close proximity in overcrowded animal populations. These diseases will increasingly emerge and spread as population densities continue to rise and competition for resources grows. And while demand for resources increases rapidly, the supply of life sustaining resources like clean air and water are concurrently decreasing. So as the mad dash for resources hastens with up and coming China and India scrambling to achieve Western standards of living its obvious the increased poisoning of the environments and thus our bodies via contaminated food, water, and air will only hasten. This too will greatly increase epidemics due to weakened immune systems from pollution. Now throw in the far reaching effects of global warming and we have a perfect storm of factors culminating in what may prove to be the coming demise of the human species in the worst case scenario or massive "dye-offs" in the least.
The evidence for the coming human storm are just now appearing on the horizon and is likely to intensify very quickly. Currently the population of humans on planet Earth stands at about 6.5 billion with about 153 "new consumers" born every minute. This growth is completely unsustainable and it is a certainty that over the next 25, 50, or 100 years there WILL be a major inflection point in human population growth likely toward a negative slope due to the factors discussed above. Other clues may be found in the hundreds of biologically toxic man-made chemicals being detected in all of our bloodstreams now. Fisheries are declining rapidly on a global scale due to over fishing. Most wild populations of harvested fish are expected to be gone in 40 years at the current rate of fishing. And pollutants are affecting marine species that remain. For example, Mercury levels in fish has become a serious public health issue and is just one small clue as to how unsustainable our environmental practices really are. We are also raping the forest of Earth. Africa alone has lost over 15,000 square miles of forests. That's equivalent to an area the size of Switzerland. We not only are destroying our lungs, but we are dessimating the planets lungs too. Therefore, the increase in carbon dioxide belched out by human activities following the consumption of these forests and the reduced capacity for the planet to buffer atmospheric change via forests' ability to photosynthetically consume carbon dioxide is also greatly contributing to global climate change. The oceans are also increasing in acidity due to this increased carbon dioxide absorption from the atmosphere. This is further upsetting sensitive balances in marine populations.
The United States only has about 5% of the world's total population; however, we are producing about 25% of the carbon emmisions implicated in global warming. We Americans also use roughly 6 times the amount of water compared to over half the Earth's population. We also use about 23% more resources than planet Earth can regenerate. Economically speaking, this unsustainable consumption means we no longer are living on the interest of resource regeration but are spending the principle. As far as ecological footprint is concerned Americans are using about 24 times the amount of land and water that is estimated to be biologically sustainable per person on the entire planet. Bangledeshis use approximately 20 times less than Americans. However, planet wide each human is producing an average deficite of 1 acre of biologically sustainable land and water. E. O. Wilson has estmated that roughly half of biologically sustainable acreage has to be reserved for other species to maintain biological diversity. So yet again we have a major cataclism on the horizon as we exceed Earth's carrying capacity and crowd out other species upon which we ourselves depend. This problem will continue to worsen rapidly. China and India are already aspiring to American levels of consumption and each country has well in excess of a billion people each. China has already surpassed the U.S. in steal, meat, grain, and coal consumption. Commodity prices skyrocketing the last several years is the first clues of the catastrophe to come.
It is likely that our crimes against nature and ourselves will prove to have negative effects which are synergistic, meaning the total affect of these damages may well be much greater than the sum of their parts. One impact may beget or catalyze another, such as in the immune example above. Unfortunately, our government systems are set up to be reactionary rather than proactionary. We are living for today at the expense of tomorow and may already have passed a point of no return. Little acitons are being taken thanks to governments of, by,and for the corporations. The media gives roughly equal time to the industry favored view of natural climate fluctuations in argument against man-made global change. Campaigns funded by the petroleum and other industries only clouds the true picture of what is now happening. Therefore, the public and governments seem to be indiferent and skeptical about the mounting evidence. Nevertheless, most scientists are all in agreement now that significant global climate change is underway as a result of human activities.
One thing is certain though, at our current pace of environmental abuse, energy and resource consumption, and population growth the next century of human existance on planet Earth will be an era of never before seen upheaval and turbulence at all levels and social orders. The Hurricane Katrina Aftermath is but a miniscule foreshadow of what's to come for mankind. Katrina is a tempest in a teapot in relation to the human storm quickly approaching on the horizon as resources are rapidly depleted and translated into epidemic pollution problems in our air, water, and food. One only has to consider the massive growth in popultion and consumption now well underway in countries such as the U.S., South America, India, and China to see the telltale storm clouds gathering. How will we all eat? Answer: chemical pesticides, chemical fertilizers, cleared forests and more errosion of chemically contaminated sediments into waterways. Where will we get the coal, copper, uranium, steal, and crude oil to support these complex, overcrowded cities? Answer: environmental damaging practices such as strip mining and drilling. How will we control the mercury, arsenic, organic chemicals, and lead that will increasingly bioaccumulate throughout the foodchain as we mine the copper, burn the coal, flush the byproducts, make the steel, refine the crude, make the plastics, and buiry the wastes? Answer: not possible.  As mentioned above, every aspect of human existance results in some kind of chemical legacy to the environment. This is why it may be the beginning of the end of mankind. Of course, space travel and the ability to populate other planetary bodies is an emmerging ability of human beings; however, it is a variable that will not likely prevent major upset in the civilation of mankind on Earth before we can jump to new "life boats" of resources.
Perhaps there is no going back for us humans since our aggressive abilities to dominate nature is in the genetic blueprints for each one of our brains. We should all look to the Hurricane Katrina aftermath as an omen of how we are un-naturally selecting against ourselves. The greater human created storm of global chaos quickly approaches. Batten down the hatches!
The Chemical Aspect of the Hurricane Katrina Aftermath
On 11/09/2006 The EPA announced that more than 4.5 million hazardous material containers have been recovered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers from areas damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in southern Louisiana.
More than 17 Million pounds of Hazardous Waste collected since September 2005, including:
Also collected was:
- 40,000 55-gallon drums
- 45,000 propane tanks
- 76,000 cylinders
- 6,400 larger containers containing hundreds to thousands of gallons of hazardous materials
The EPA requests that household hazardous waste not be put in plastic bags so as to protect the state's landfills and citizens. They recommend setting the wastes curbside and for the areas where trash collection has ceased they say to drop any household hazardous wastes off at any of the following sites:
- 2301 Hendee Street
- 2829 Elysian Fields
- Crowder Road and I-10
For more information about Hurricane Katrina aftermath or hurricane-related environmental issues contact the EPA’s Hurricane Response Public Information Office at (504) 736-7731, or send an e-mail to R6IMT_InformationOfficer@epa.gov.
For residents and cleanup personnel in Katrina affected areas, you can also find extensive information at the following sites:
The EPA's Response to 2005 Hurricanes website with specific information about the Hurricane Katrina aftermath from the EPA. Or click the below links for detailed information from the EPA on each topic:
Another helpful tool for victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in Louisiana, Mississippii, and Alabama is the EPA's EnviroMapper for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita which is the EPA's online tool for finding sampling locations and results for the EPA's testing of flood water, surface water, air, soil, and flood sediment. EnviroMapper is an interactive combination of maps and aerial photographs to show the geographical locations of tests and their results. EnviroMapper includes testing and results for all of the following:
The EPA has been testing flood waters for bacteria commonly found in raw sewage, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), herbicides, total metals, pesticides, semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and a host of other chemicals.
For more information about the specific household chemicals and their toxic ingredients which are likely being collected from the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, visit our
Famous Household Chemical Encyclopedia which has over 100 common household chemicals and products and their chemical ingredients and safety tips.
Also of interest is our Guide to Hazardous Substances.
Find out who makes what products - 6,000 specific brands and 354 company contacts - visit our Household Product Manufacturer Directory with 6,000 household products.
Thank you for visiting our page about the Hurricane Katrina aftermath and editorial about the larger human storm on the horizon.
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