The weather has been relatively calm and Mother Nature has been kind to the Gulf Coast since the hurricanes of autumn 2005. But anxiety pervades many conversations about the aftermath of these storms and the anticipation of more hurricanes. So many people unable to return to their homes; unprecedented environmental damage; and the inadequacy of governments to protect citizens and restore cities and towns are difficult realities to face. The overwhelming situation calls for taking a closer look at the big picture and working with people and nature to heal the planet and society.

Ironically, many efforts initiated as precautionary measures by the federal government before the hurricanes of 2005 actually made matters worse. Craig Colten, geography professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, writes that two policy adjustments by the federal government after Hurricane Betsy in September 1965 actually contributed to the devastation in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. The author of Unnatural Metropolis, a book about New Orleans and its vulnerability regarding hurricanes, says overbuilding of a structural levee system, and the federal flood insurance program created a false security that resulted in development in the New Orleans east/Citrus drainage area.

“After it was leveed and drained, the area subsided, greatly increasing the vulnerability of residents and personal property,” Colten writes in an essay, “From Betsy to Katrina: Shifting Policies, Lingering Vulnerabilities.” He says Jefferson Parish has similar vulnerabilities and was lucky that New Orleans did not take a direct hit from Katrina. Hurricane Rita almost topped the West Bank levees that protect Jefferson Parish.

The federal flood insurance program was meant to discourage development in unsafe areas. “Ineffective enforcement of building codes and subsiding land that soon offset any raised flood levels produced little net flood proofing for either the city or its suburbs,” Colten writes. The vicious cycle continues: more structural solutions lead to more subsidence and more development, which leads to more flooding, which leads to more pumping systems . . .

Colten says after Katrina, certain areas should have been declared unsafe for occupation and compensation provided for relocation of the people who could not return to the hazardous areas. “The first priority was restoring the tax base and the economy with no real attention given to safety,” Colten says. “When the mayor said he wanted everybody to be able to come home that was good. But he needed to provide guidelines for moving in safely,” Colten adds.

More than a year after Katrina and Rita, there are still no homes to return to and social structure is broken in cities hardest hit by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes. During the most dangerous times after Katrina, many people, the poorest people, felt abandoned by their country as they waited much too long to be rescued. Now they have no home and those who have managed to stay in New Orleans, one of the hardest hit cities, face high crime and a lack of structure and funding to get their neighborhoods back together.

Smaller towns that have received less media coverage are still waiting for FEMA to come to their aid. Beaumont, Port Neches, and other towns farther inland that were in the path of Hurricane Rita do not make the evening newscasts. Recovery assistance for 75,000 homes that were destroyed or damaged in Hurricane Rita has been lacking. It is depressing to live in a place where even clean-up is not complete and much of the once beautiful landscape is now barren. Homes still need repair.

Environmentalists might be right about what needs to be done to protect the environment and the city, but the people most affected need to be involved in the decision-making, according to Patricia Wilson, urban planning professor at The University of Texas in Austin and research team leader for America Speaks’ Community Congress II .“The interesting story is what it takes to heal a city that has undergone this kind of devastation,” Wilson says. If solutions for preserving the environment and rebuilding the city do not include participation of the people affected by these decisions, there will be “a lot of trouble down the road.” “Healing is fundamental to anything that will happen,” she says.

Community Congress II followed Community Congress I on October 28, 2005, which had lower participation and was less representative of the New Orleans population before Katrina. On December 2, 2005 through satellite technology, 2,500 citizens – including citizens who have returned to New Orleans and those displaced who now are staying in Baton Rouge, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston discussed options for flood protection; roads, transit and utilities; neighborhood stability; rental and affordable housing; education and health services; and other public services. Participants also discussed what needs to happen to ensure that necessary resources are available to allow these ideas to be put into action. Sixteen other cities where New Orleanians found refuge after the storm also hosted meetings to discuss these aspects of rebuilding the city.

Over the past six months other planning meetings have brought citizens together to discuss how to rebuild their neighborhoods and the city. Citizen input from the congresses and meetings will be included in The United New Orleans Plan (UNOP) to be presented at Community Congress III on January 20.

Even though the UNOP process incorporated widespread participation, it is not the end of the healing process, according to Wilson. “While more than 2,500 people participated in the congress, there are some 400,000 people who lived in New Orleans before Katrina,” she says. “Already there are indications that some of the neighborhoods are not behind the UNOP process and plan. ACORN is putting out an alternative plan. This is simply an example that planning is not just a technical process – it is a process of healing and trust.”

The Association of Communities for Reform Now (ACORN) and ACORN Housing has worked closely with residents trying to restore their homes and community in the Lower 9th Ward, one of the low-income communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. With Cornell University, Pratt Institute and Louisiana State University, they have developed a plan for rebuilding that area. The Greater New Orleans Foundation will include the ACORN planning team’s recommendations as part of the 16 official teams offering plans for rebuilding New Orleans.

“The ACORN plan advocates total rebuilding of the 9th Ward except the square mile most devastated by Katrina,” Wilson says. “ACORN is using a position of opposition and, in the short-term opposition strategy makes sense,” Wilson says. “But long-term trust-building needs to occur.”

“The underlying theme is ownership,” Wilson continues. “If people are told to give up something for the environment and greater good, they will resist. But if they come to that conclusion themselves, they will embrace that,” she says.

Colten says levees should be maintained, but more resilient and perpetual protection can be provided through protection and restoration of the wetlands. Continuing to build on the subsiding delta is an invitation to disaster.

For Texas, Colten says while the Houston area is not as prone to subsidence as New Orleans, it does have a problem with subsidence. Removal of fluids causes subsidence, whether the fluid is ground water or oil. The possibility of ground sinking as a result of oil drilling along the Texas Gulf Coast, sea levels rising due to global warming and population increasing along the coast all add up to increased risks of loss of property and lives when the next hurricane comes.

The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) will come out with new flood plain maps this summer. In a letter dated December 20, 2006 introducing the new maps, Mike Talbot, HCFCD director, urges everyone in the area to buy flood insurance now to avoid possible increases in cost due to flood plain status changes for some properties when the new maps come out.

Since Katrina and Rita, Governor Perry as well as county and state leaders have focused primarily on improving evacuation planning. Perry appointed the Task Force on Evacuation, Transportation and Logistics to discover lessons learned from Hurricane Rita and implemented recommendations on five areas: the evacuation of people with special needs; command, control and communications; traffic management; fuel availability; and public awareness.

There have been no plans to discourage development of the coastal areas or to protect the natural storm barriers of the Texas Coast.