To rebuild or not to rebuild? IS that the question?

It seems like one cannot open a newspaper, magazine or online forum these days without someone proclaiming that our world is living in the end of days, as predicted in the Bible. On the surface, there does seem to be a "whole lot of shakin' going on" recently. Texas has been slammed with so many hurricanes within the last five years that it is becoming hard to remember which storm caused what damage. The names all blur together in my memory: Allison, Gustav, Rita, Katrina, Ike. When Houston was not being harassed by hurricanes, we were watching in awe as rogue tropical storms treated us to record rainfall as they stalled over our city.

Galveston Island Before and After Ike:

 
Bolivar Peninsula before and after Ike:

 

 

 

Are we as a nation-and more specifically as a city-doing something to contribute to the seeming rise in tropical storm activity? We ARE after all, the number one producer of CO2 in the nation.This is said to contribute directly to global warming, which in turn stirs up tropical storm activity. Hmm, does anyone else see a correlation here? Let's be realistic here today though. Houston, Texas is (more than likely) not about to restrict its pollution production any time soon. This leads us to the question then-realistically speaking-what CAN we do to prevent the level of devastation we experienced after Hurricane Ike? A good place to begin is with the question of rebuilding after a major storm. This is a complicated issue because so many different factors are involved. There will always be the lone islander hunkered down in his house on stilts refusing to evacuate because "he has rebuilt three times already." Realistically speaking, he IS the property owner, and if he chooses to rebuild should we have a say? I think we have finally come to a point in time that the government needs to step in and regulate rebuilding on barrier islands. I know this raises ten million other issues, but if we continue on the same path that we are on now, the land may not BE there to rebuild ON one-hundred years from now. The Galveston shoreline is eroding at an alarming rate. We need to take action now and start planting vegetation instead of chopping it down to make way for new houses. The task is formidable, but the alternative is frightening. 

Comments

[elizabeth Miles]

epic fail on the pictures. I don't know what went wrong. They loaded and copied fine, yet when I posted to this blog, they disappeared.

[Johnna Lopez]

I too had a similar subject about Galveston's future sustainability and the government should step into saving Galveston Island. There should be stricter building and home codes that help save businesses and homes from future destructive storms and hurricanes. Galveston Island is eroding and if the city's future plans are to depend only on the sea wall to prevent further storm and hurricanes damages then Galveston's future may come to a quick ending sooner than expected. The sea wall can't hold back everything. Galveston's mayor needs to come up with a new engineering strategy that can save historical buildings and create new hotels that bring in money. Although Galveston may need to build and rebuild certain areas they should also take into consideration marshes that surround beach homes that have wild life habitat living there. The wild life can also attract tourism. Galveston's future is shaky but if the government can step in now there may be a hope for the future of Galveston.

[Yeseniayanethportillo]

The American dream is to have a home as big as we can buy it, a car, and food on our table’s everyday. I think that nature is letting us now that we are doing something wrong and we need to fix it. One of the first changes we can make is downsizing. Smaller homes make room for more homes which will occupy less space. Car pooling reduces the amount of pollution in the air. Throwing trash where it belongs instead of the street, lakes, or oceans is a big must. Making these changes which seem insignificant will truly help save our planet, as well as guarantee vegetation (food) for the future. As future teachers we can set the example for the future generation and make these changes in our every day lives.