The Missississippi; how that rolls off my tongue like the mighty river itself rolls along, rubbing shoulders against the Delta levees, heaving strings of barges onto sand bars, and removing them as easily. Detouring into oxbows to wash reed beds and the mussles at their roots, diving deep to move the moss on the shells of snappers as big as Volkswagens, this river of our country strolls along.  
And the place it wants to stroll has been often changed. Crecent lakes are created when oxbows are closed and the river charges across the temporary impediment of land.  Down river, at Old River, the mighty Missississippi has been undermining the determined work of the Corps for years.  The Mississippi has taken it into its head to go West.  

The Katrina disaster reminds men that nature always wins.  New Orleans side-by-side relationship with the river has been a wonder to behold.  This lacy-edged city of jubilant sounds lords over the quiet, glassy bayous.  People have come here, first the Arcadians, then the French, and more, until New Orleans became the premiere southern city of America, fuller and more flavorful than any other melting pot.  
The flood waters this time have called for enormous effort to shovel out and truck out; to uncover New Orleans and clean the streets, to have people vibrant and active in going about everyday business again.  This will happen.  Nature and New Orleans have a long history.  
The government response to the hurricane is going to be a long story of rebuilding, one foot in front of the other.  More than at any other tragedy, the people of New Orleans will determine the direction of the reconstruction of New Orleans.  New Orleans' face will be wiped clean by the people who gave her her smile, her jazz, her moves.  
Up river, the possibility of yet another alteration to New Orleans lies in wait.  At Old River, the Mississippi waits to go west.  West to a new outlet in the Gulf of Mexico.  At some time in the future, the river will take her water to a new outlet.  In the future, her rolling waves could pass a new city created by necessity, nursed by necessity, taught to walk by necessity.  This new city, New Paris, could be an example of an ecological success on a grand scale.  
Here, waiting for the river, would be the New Paris, a city built from scratch, from planners who had the time to design a whole town would be downtown centers, and citizen friendly parks and housing that complimented human needs.  Solar and fuel cell technology would furnish power.  Like LaEnfant's Washington, this new city would be a monumental effort to portray a new century in environmental housing concepts.  
This opportunity to develop new systems of living, while reconstructing the old, would be the best of both worlds.  New Orleans for the living; New Paris for the future.  While the world watches and wonders if New Orleans can be restored; New Paris, a step into the future, could be building along with old Orleans.  The US has the technology, the need, the assets, and the strength to take the future in hold, to be proactive, not just reactive.  
Our past of magnificent displays of pending technology in millenium celebrations and expositions have shown us that we are capable and inventive; now is the time to put such ability into action in New Paris.

I'm EXTREMELY concerned about the rebuilding of New Orleans.  Not for the fact of the cost it will take from our hard earned dollars currently, not for the fact the hard earned dollars our little ones our family has brought to this world, but for our world itself...economically, financially, physically and mentally.  
This should be a lesson ALL (in this ENTIRE world) should take notice to.  This city should have never been built and we all knew it and know it.  
The location of N.O. is - WAS - in wetlands and should become our new Atlantis; to teach our future leaders not to manipulate Mother Nature, but to live within and beside her.  
N.O. was a great city full of energy and can be once again, just not in the wetlands it once occupied.  It will never be the same, even if our stupidity leads us to spend funds (of which we do not have) to rebuild this city that is well below sea level.
I am not an environmentalist nor a politician - ewe - I'm a concerned citizen hoping to find other concerned individuals to voice our opinion, concerns and ideas to those who have the power and will do the right thing...rebuild N.O. elsewhere; do not try to rebuild the levee's as Mother Nature never intending for us to exist within such environment.
SAY NO TO N.O.
Confirmation of the belief not to rebuild could be on its way with Miss Rita...perhaps she will confirm the assumption of not rebuilding N.O.
SAY NO TO N.O.

What planet are you from?

Last week's Mississippi Renewal Forum in Biloxi <http://www.mississippirenewal.com> was exactly the kind of "if only they would redevelop differently" event that enviros on Grist and other places have been pining about.

Around 100 architects, planners, and designers organized by The Congress for a New Urbanism worked with local elected officials and architects to design livable, walkable, sustainable cities.  The draft designs are incredible and are absolutely worthy of praise by the environmental community.  It should be held up as model for Louisiana and other disaster-affected communities.

I have not found any coverage of this on Grist and this seems like the perfect place for it.