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Catastrophe in the Making
- The Engineering of Katrina and the Disaters of Tomorrow
- Narrated by: Clinton Wade
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
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Editor reviews
On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the major city of New Orleans, killing over 1,400 of its residents and causing billions of dollars in damage. Was this an unfortunate "act of God"? Or were humans to blame for this colossal tragedy?
The bold and often contentious audiobook Catastrophe in the Making: The Engineering of Katrina and the Disasters of Tomorrow, narrated with booming and ominous urgency by Clinton Wade, argues that it was human greed and cost-cutting bad business decisions that truly created the tragedy in New Orleans. And even more alarming, these same shortcuts are happening in other states today. Does another disaster of global consequence loom?
Summary
When houses are flattened, towns submerged, and people stranded without electricity or even food, we attribute the suffering to "natural disasters" or "acts of God." But what if they're neither? What if we, as a society, are bringing these catastrophes on ourselves? That's the provocative theory of Catastrophe in the Making, the first audiobook to recognize Hurricane Katrina not as a "perfect storm," but a tragedy of our own making - and one that could become commonplace.
The authors, one a longtime New Orleans resident, argue that breached levees and sloppy emergency response are just the most obvious examples of government failure. The true problem is more deeply rooted and insidious, and stretches far beyond the Gulf Coast. Based on the false promise of widespread prosperity, communities across the U.S. have embraced all brands of "economic development" at all costs. In Louisiana, that meant development interests turning wetlands into shipping lanes. By replacing a natural buffer against storm surges with a 75-mile long, obsolete canal that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, they guided the hurricane into the heart of New Orleans and adjacent communities. The authors reveal why, despite their geographic differences, California and Missouri are building - quite literally - toward similar destruction.
Too often, the U.S. "growth machine" generates wealth for a few and misery for many. Drawing lessons from the most expensive "natural" disaster in American history, Catastrophe in the Making tells why thoughtless development comes at a price we can ill afford.