When reporter Jeffrey Kluger wrote this, the hurricane was just about to make ground fall in Louisiana.  The levees had not yet broken.  His conclusion is chilling:

[Today’s] storms do appear to be more intense. One especially sobering study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that hurricane wind speeds have increased about 50% in the past 50 years. And since warm oceans are such a critical ingredient in hurricane formation, anything that gets the water warming more could get the storms growing worse. Global warming, in theory at least, would be more than sufficient to do that. While the people of New Orleans may not see another hurricane for years, the next one they do see could make even Katrina look mild.

When I was 13 and on a family vacation, I fell in love with New Orleans as hard as I’ve fallen for any man.  I went to college there.  After the storm, I returned to live, help rebuild, and volunteer for Common Ground Collective, a grassroots relief organization.

I’m taking today to honor the survivors and remember those they survived.

As activist Malik Rahim teaches, Katrina was a man-made disaster.  It was created by humans twice over: neglect for the protection of the city and for the earth.