In this graphic from the restoration authority, the land that will be lost to erosion if the plan isn't undertaken is shown in red.
Six years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Louisiana coast, the state's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has finally released a draft of a plan to try to keep it from happening again
. How? By restoring the wetlands along the Mississippi River Delta, which we have more or less systematically destroyed but used to act as buffers between storm surge waves and inland cities. Previous plans had relied on mainly on building levees and seawalls, so it's striking that this plan, which would unroll over the course of 50 years at a cost of $50 billion, focuses on wetland restoration, writes Mark Fischetti
, who has been covering this issue for Scientific Americanfor years
. Here's how it would work:
Along the outer ...
