Please invest in Our Daily Planet today, by making a one time or monthly contribution.
We do not charge our readers a subscription fee for our content. We want to continue to grow our readership, particularly among millennials and public servants. Voluntary contributions from readers will help us employ interns and freelance journalists, expand our content, and reach a larger audience.
If you make a contribution of $150 or more, you will become an official “Friend of the Planet” and receive a Friend of the Planet T-shirt or water bottle.
Our Daily Planet is a daily morning email (M-F) to keep you informed of the stories shaping our environment. If these issues matter to you, we’d like to be the best ten minutes of your morning.
The Mississippi River Bayou Dupont diversion project Credit: USGS National Wetlands Research Center
By Julia Fine, ODP Contributing Writer
A new study released earlier this summer found that the “marshes in the Mississippi River delta have hit a tipping point.”The study, which looked at “marsh records that stretch much of the Holocene,” showed that the Mississippi River Delta will be destroyed this century because of rising sea levels unless we reduce greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide and keep global temperatures closer to where they are now. The state of Louisiana has a Coastal Master Plan to build major sediment diversions to help keep the wetlands above water. These diversions will “undo” levees and channelization that were built to provide flood protection without any consideration for the health of the wetlands.
The study examined the 8,500-year rate of sea-level rise that has already induced the drowning of wetland on Louisiana’s coast. Based on these records, it found that “at rates of relative sea-level rise– meaning the combination of rising water and ground subsidence– of 6 to 9 millimeters a year, the Gulf’s marshes would disappear underwater within a half-century,” Yale E360 noted. While recent rates of sea-level rise have been measured at about 3.58 millimeters per year, subsidence is not included in that measure, and this rising will only accelerate due to human-induced climate change.
Saying No to Inaction
While the study concluded we are past the tipping point, the lead author Torbjörn Törnqvist told Nola.com that this cannot paralyze us into inaction. One important step towards that would be to build on and execute Louisiana’s 2023 Coastal Master Plan, which builds on a previous plan of the same name. This plan involves the “collective efforts of project investments [to] reduce storm surge-based flood risk to communities, provide habitats to support an array of commercial and recreational activities, and support infrastructure critical to the working coast.” Coupled with the reduction of greenhouse gases globally, this could help lengthen the life of the marshlands there. However, many have argued that “the master plan does not go far enough in addressing existential issues like the future of New Orleans,” suggesting more radical measures must be taken.
Larger Implications
But the study doesn’t only implicate the Mississippi River Delta. What is suggests is much more ominous. The findings, as the authors note, “raise the question whether coastal marshes elsewhere may be more vulnerable than commonly recognized.” This is yet another demonstration of the need to take concerted, unified action on climate change lest these important ecosystems be destroyed. And the health of the Delta is ultimately dependent upon changing farming practices all along the Mississippi River.
by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer While all eyes were on Texas last month, another part of the U.S. has been dealing with its own water crisis. Parts of Jackson, Mississippi have been without water for almost 3 weeks after cold weather swept through the region. Thousands of people, predominantly people of color, have been impacted by the shortage […]
While more than one million Texans are still living without running water, Democratic lawmakers and advocates across the nation are urging President Biden to back a water infrastructure bill that would commit $35 billion to update and climate-proof the nation’s water infrastructure.
Why This Matters: The Guardian reports that a majority of water and waste systems in the U.S. are unprepared to deal with the increasing impacts of climate change.
Florida and Georgia faced off again in the Supreme Court on Monday, asking the Justices to settle their long-running dispute over water. The problem is that there is not enough to go around in three rivers the emanate in Georgia but flow through Florida to the Gulf of Mexico.
Why This Matters: The states failed to reach a water compact more than a decade ago — now they have nowhere else to go but the Supreme Court, which has “original jurisdiction” over a dispute between two states.
Subscribe to the email that top lawmakers, renowned scientists, and thousands of concerned citizens turn to each morning for the latest environmental news and analysis.
Want the lastest climate news summarized for you each morning?
Our Daily Planet is your daily dose of the stories shaping our world and the ways that you can take action. From the climate crisis to the protection of biodiversity, if these issues matter to you then please subscribe & stay informed!
Your privacy is Important! We promise never to use your email address to send you spam or advertisements.