. . . no place in America is safe. Hurricane tidal surges of 10 feet or more could swamp Houston, Charleston, Long Island . . . A tornado in Brooklyn (really), earthquakes not limited to California, an interstate bridge collapsing at rush hour into the Mississippi in Minneapolis (it didn’t take an earthquake) . . . Where will the federal government be when you’re down and out? Northeastern energy grid blackouts, hijacked planes . . . These are matters of survival that concern us all equally, regardless of residence or party affiliation. Without care and maintenance, things fall apart. Without funding, without investment, things fall apart. And the longer our so-called leaders shy away from climate change, the higher the temperature, and so with the sea level.

Source: Goddard Institute for Space Studies

The collapse of the city’s physical infrastructure and the hospitals and schools and the justice system after the storm—what’s happening to New Orleans is taking place all across America, except perhaps in high-rises and gated communities, such as the White House.

The Lower Ninth Ward is the national predicament carried to an extreme.

*