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The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities

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This is a highly emotional work. Mike Tidwell predicted the disasters of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita several years before they happened, and he is justifiably angry that his warnings were not heeded. In The Ravaging Tide Tidwell expands on his earlier work to explain why human activities such as building levees actually increased the destruction at New Orleans, and to warn that other coastal areas now face the same sort of threat.

At times Tidwell waxes somewhat repetitive, making the same point over and over again, but this stems from the overwhelming frustration he feels over public and government inaction. He also relies heavily on secondary sources such as Jared Diamond's Collapse (to which he refers repeatedly) so that those of us who have read that work feel Tidwell's own work is little more than a condensed version of other books.

Tidwell is strongest when he concentrates on explaining how so much of what we face from climate change can be alleviated or even avoided through common sense measures, such as using more energy efficient appliances or requiring energy using companies to upgrade to already existing and far more environment friendly technology. He is also at his most eloquent when condemning the fecklessness of the Bush Administration on energy policy and climate change.

Tidwell's work, like those of Jared Diamond, Tim Flannery, Eugene Linden, and Elizabeth Kolbert, should be read by everyone concerned for the future of our world.

No question about it: Mike Tidwell has an axe to grind. And after you read "The Ravaging Tide," you may have a few axes to grind as well. The book is partly about Hurricane Katrina, partly about global warming, and partly about what patriotic American citizens can do to fight global warming.

The first three chapters explain why Hurrican Katrina was a man-made disaster. New Orleans suffered an indirect hit from a high Category 3 storm--Mississippi bore the brunt of the storm's onslaught. But because of man-made canals and the wholesale destruction of barrier islands and marshes south of the city, there was little natural barrier left to absorb the impact of the hurricane's storm surge. The more powerful Camille (a huge Category 5 hurricane) struck in nearly the same spot in 1969 but did not flood New Orleans--the difference in 37 years is not the power of the storm, but the ongoing subsidence of New Orleans and the destruction of the surrounding landscape. The tragedy is that scientists and public officials knew that this day would come and were unable to do anything to stop it. The government was not willing to spend the $14 billion required to implement the 2050 plan, which would eventually restore the barrier islands and marshes in the Mississippi Delta. Instead, we'll spend hundreds of billions of dollars rebuilding New Orleans--and it won't be a bit safer than it was before Katrina hit. By being penny wise and pound foolish, we've insured that our government will be a big, wasteful spender for decades to come.

So much for the polemic. The parable is that Katrina is a warning about what will happen throughout the United States and the world in the next few decades because of global warming. Scientists know what's coming and they have some good ideas of what to do about it, but few policy makers are willing to listen. That doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist: the insurance companies, who are not known for their sympathies with environmentalists, can read the writing on the wall. That's why they are withdrawing from insurance markets along the Gulf Coast and other extremely vulnerable places like New York state.

Tidwell's book isn't total doom and gloom, however. He spends the last several chapters of the book explaining how he changed his home and his life so that his family darstically reduced green house gas emissions. The result was a win-win arrangement for a lot of people and for the economy as well as for the environment. Tidwell hopes that his example will lead others to act before it is too late.

Still, if Tidwell and others are right, there's not much time to turn things around before global warming really starts to have a devastating impact. There's a lot of hope at the grass-roots level and at the local level--Portland, Oregon, for example, has reduced its green house gas emissions by 12.5% since 1993, while the rest of the United States has increased emissions by 15.8%. Business is also rallying--wind energy, solar power, ethanol, biodiesel, geothermal, distributed energy, conservation and other business sectors are burgeoning and attracting large influxes of capital. But the complete lack of leadership at the national level (with the noteworthy exception of Al Gore) makes me hope that some of the best scientists in the world are completely wrong and that we have more time to change our ways than we think.

The flooding of New Orleans resulted from a combination of effects: subsiding land, sea level increase, destruction of protecting wetlands, and of course a violent storm. Tidwell's thesis is that sea level will continue to rise and tropical storms and hurricanes will increase in intensity, all as a result of climate change. The entire East Coast of the United States will be as vulnerable as was New Orleans. Most of Miami and the rest of Florida average just a few feet above sea level. While New York City is mostly on higher ground, the author observes that the infrastructure, the subways system for example, is well below ground.

As world temperatures rise, melting or collapsing glaciers will add water to the ocean. Higher world temperatures will also mean that the water already in the ocean will expand and cause an additional rise in the sea level. Thus, land that is today at or slightly above sea level will become land that is below sea level. Certainly, whether or not storms grow more intense (this is still being debated in the scientific community), global warming will increase the level of the ocean. All of our coastal cities may go the way of New Orleans.

Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report in which it stated that the Earth is warming and that most of the warming is a result of human activity. This is also the overwhelming view of the scientific community. My first encounter with the effects of global warming was a hike in the 1980s to the foot of the Paradise Glacier on Mt. Ranier to visit the ice caves. I was disappointed to find that the famous caves were mostly gone. The caves had disappeared because the glacier itself was retreating. We now know that glaciers all over the world are melting. A recent headline caught my eye; "Iceberg off New Zealand becomes tourist mecca," AP, November 21, 2006. The residents of New Zealand could look out their windows to see pieces of Antarctica floating by.

It is not clear what it will take to get our US government to take steps to limit the emission of greenhouse gases. We have already lost one major city. Will we have to see a few more go before we take action? Tidwell does a good job of presenting the need for individual and governmental action.

I also recommend "With Speed and Violence" by Fred Pearce. a book about recent scientific investigations and their implications for global warming.

Tidwell's argument is simple: we created the damage Katrina caused, and we are going to create more destruction to coastal cities, by bulldozing, filling, removing the natural protections against storm surges. The book rips right along in making this argument--I would call it an "enjoyable" read except that he is so dead serious about the issue. As a part-time resident of Long Island, I have to hope he is wrong, and he certainly presents no counter-evidence (this is NOT a scientific book), but I fear he probably is right. The high tides out where I live have risen a good foot in the past forty years...

I loved this book so much that I've read the first chapter aloud to three appreciative people on the phone, and I'm also planning to buy a copy for every Maryland state legislator. (Let me know if you do the same in your state.)

Mike Tidwell writes beautifully. Even though I've seen An Inconvenient Truth, and heard Bill McKibbon speak, I learned plenty from The Ravaging Tide that I hadn't already heard before. Tidwell shares history, science, policy, despair (when we don't act on clean energy policy), and promise (when we do).

Yes, it may be odd, but I was walking (not driving!) down sidewalks while reading this book. I couldn't put it down, until the very last page.

Mike Tidwell is a former journalist and travel writer for the Washington Post and the National Geographic Traveler.

This book has helped me realize the connections between respect for our planet, personal responsibility, peace, and human dignity. All of them are intertwined, and Tidwell clearly shows their relationships in examining the effects of the Katrina hurricane on New Orleans and then connecting the magnitude of the detestation to human actions. If Tidwell was not such an inspiring, and hopeful person/writer I would be quite freightened by all of the new knoweldge I have gained. BUT, he puts it all into perspective and ultimately the world can be OK if we all take personal responsibility and as a planet reduce the C02 in our atmosphere.

Mike Tidwell predicted that a Katrina-like storm would destroy New Orleans in his 2003 book "Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast." He said in truth he knew the disaster was coming when he saw how much land had vanished while doing a story on Louisiana's coastal region for the Washington Post in the late 90s.

There were also thousands of reports about the need for better levees and the restoration of the barrier islands. He said there was nothing "natural" about this disaster.

Tidwell's 2006 book "The Ravaging Tide" explains why Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, shows how similar calamities will become more frequent and how we can prevent them.

Using the research of Jared Diamond and Conrad Totman, Tidwell illustrates how history is repeating itself. Thankfully history also shows there are viable ways to prevent future disasters.

Jared Diamond in his book "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" shows how history is littered with people who allowed their society to participate in a form of group suicide. Sifting through the challenges and the reactions of the ancient Mayans of Central America, Greenland's Vikings and the Polynesian society of Easter Island Diamond found common "interacting" factors that brought them down. These included hostile enemies, climate change, self inflicted environment degradation and adverse changes in trading partners.

For example the Easter Islanders cut down their giant palm trees although the fruit provided food and the trunks supplied wood for the canoes needed to harpoon fish. The catastrophic soil erosion that resulted from the deforestation made agriculture impossible. By 1722 the island was a lunar landscape.

Diamond says the Easter Islanders decision to pursue short-term gains at the expense of long-term survival led to their downfall. The leaders had wrapped themselves in the illusion of permanent prosperity.

Conrad Totman in his book "The Green Archipelago: Forestry in Prehistoric Japan" says that Japan teetered on the brink of ruin in the 1600s when soil erosion, floods, mudslides and barren farmland resulted after logging most of their old growth forests. But Japan's collapse did not happen. They launched one of the most successful reforestation program in the world's history. Today an astounding 70 percent of Japan is under forest cover¾ the most of any industrialized country in spite of having the highest population density in the developed world.

Tidwell shows how the Katrina catastrophe could have been prevented. In the early 90s the Army Corps built modest dam-like structures in the Mississippi's flood levees to control water flow through a series of pipes and canals. Satellite photos later showed that the "diversion" project south of New Orleans created hundreds of acres of new marshland.

With rising public and scientific support a coalition of south Louisiana leaders pulled together a master plan called "Coast 2050: Toward a sustainable Coastal Louisiana" to enlarge the project. Federal officials under both Presidents Clinton and Bush denied the project due to its $14 billion price tag.

Although the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), made up of thousands of climate scientists and scholars, said that one of the biggest global warming issues will be coastal flooding the 2005 post-Katrina emergency money was a dismal $250 million to fix broken levees, collapsed bridges and flawed evacuation plans.

Tidwell says sea levels are expected to rise three feet within the coming decades. Even the Bush administration, the biggest supporter of the oil and coal industry, admits that global warming is real and is driven by our use of fossil fuels¾ oil, coal and natural gas.

To prove that it's possible to repair and protect our life-giving climate Tidwell and his family switched to energy sources that don't generate carbon dioxide. He bought a Toyota Prius gas-electric car and cut his home's carbon emissions by 90% in six months by using a combination of compact fluorescent light bulbs, greater appliance efficiency, a corn-burning stove for heating, a solar hot water system and rooftop solar panels for electricity. Without sacrificing comfort or convenience he now saves around a $1,000 per year. The changes only cost him around $7,500 thanks to state and federal grants and tax credits (learn more at www.dsireusa.org). Tidwell says that over 100,000 American homeowners enjoy the cost effective rooftop photovoltaic (PV) solar panels and hot water systems. Also a million village homes in the developing world enjoy modest electrical power from small solar panels.

Tidwell believes America can cut its consumption of oil, coal and natural gas in a matter of months without sacrificing an ounce of comfort.

Because of conservation, hybrid engines, commercial wind farms, biofuels, and lighter vehicle frames Europe is twice as efficient and clean. Although they use half the energy per capita as the United States they are pushing for more cuts while continuing to grow Europe's biggest national economy.

Tidwell says most of our nations problems¾ health, national security, the economy and the environment flow from our national energy choices. Are we in America going to stubbornly stick to the use of fossil fuels even if it kills us?

Great book! Well-written and witty, not dry at all! Most of the book talks about America's drowning coastal cities, how Hurricane Katrina will be the norm, and how it has been purely luck that NYC has yet to endure the same magnitude of destruction. Astounding facts! There is also a section at the end that doesn't really connect with the rest of the book, but gives tips on how to make your home more eco-friendly. The author has some really great ideas that he, himself, has employed and nearly his whole house is off the grid.

I also recommend "Against the Tide" by Cornelia Dean, another excellent author and book written on the same general topic of coastal inundation and erosion.

Having been more than impressed with this author's Bayou Farewell and John Barry's Rising Tide, both of which predicted, along with many other studies, the exact results Hurricane Katrina would have on New Orleans, I was eager to read what he had to say in this book. His subject this time is global warning, and all intelligent people would do well to hear his observations and predictions. Global warming is not some plot from the Saturday morning cartoons, but a real threat to coastal areas, and every day it goes unheeded, we are in greater danger. Ravaging Tide is highly recommended reading.

As long as you have accepted global warming as fact and you hate Republicans you will love this book. I have to hand it to the author for not calling global warming climate change. I thought more Americans would have been sceptical when they changed the name. At least this book is a fast read, so you won't waste a lot of your time. I have no problem with the author using a corn stove, driving a Prius, changing his light bulbs, and putting up solar pannels. I do have a major problem with the government trying to make me do those things. We as Americans NEED oil. Sorry! We are not addicted to it, we need it. Sorry! Our economy runs on oil. Sorry! The author does sort of admit that "green" energy is not feesable. Many americans/businesses won't "invest" in "green" energy. It is not an investment, because it can never pay for itself. If I could put a windmill or solar pannels or bubble gum on my roof and it would power my house for less than it cost me, I would do it. Just ask yourself. Do you really beleive we are destroying the planet? Or are you trying to destroy the capalistic economy for a more socailistic one? The book was writen in 2006. The author blames George Bush for Katrina,terrorism and everything else that happened before and after. I found it ironic that some of his "answers" to global warming have know been tried by Obama. Obama would coast to re-election if he had not embraced the climate change mantra. If we hadn't wasted $ on Cash for Clunkers, windfarms, solar energy, etc. etc, and we allowed drilling anywhere, and everywhere that oil is in the U.S. We would be well on our way to economic recovery. The book keeps saying that we have the technology to get 55+mpg for cars. That I assume is true. We americans love our cars. We love big cars. We want to be able to tow a camper, a boat, or atv. Yes we have the technology to build a car that will hold 1 person and an apple, will get 100 mpg, and will cost $100,000, and if get in a fender bender, you die. I'll take 2 of em.