Building Wetlands

Last night President Obama called for 30,000 more troops to be sent to Afghanistan. Apparently, Obama hasn´t read his history. Everywhere in this country there are clear signs that we need to invest our money at home, but given the calamity of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is once place where everyone is clear on the correlation between defense spending and failing domestic infrastructure.

This weekend the BBC Worldservice carried a piece that talked about the disappearing wetlands here on the Gulf Coast. It´s estimated that it would cost around $1.5 billion dollars to rebuild the wetlands, thus ensuring that the local fishing industry can continue to operate, and that cities such as New Orleans, Mobile and Biloxi have some protection from tropical storms. The wetlands provide a buffer between the Gulf and the mainland, and they help to suck the energy out of a storm, slowing it down and lessening its impact. If there are no wetlands, though, well.....

This afternoon I went to the Federal Building to participate in a protest of Obama´s decision. There were 5 of us, and all the other people there were men who looked like they had been through the Vietnam era as adults. We did get some honks as we held placards towards the street (honk to end war), but the small turnout also made me wonder about more effective ways to be changing policy.

On a more personal note, I would like to get out and do some photography, but I don´t have any real community connections yet to do the kind of snapping that I´d like. I´m working on it, though. In the meantime, here´s a photo of a pretty typical home in the neighborhood next to mine. Truth be told, even the color scheme doesn´t come across as all that outrageous here, which I love.