Marshmission.com

[cosmichedgehog]

MarshMission is an educational site started by 2 Louisiana artist: C. C. Lockwood - a photographer, and Rhea Gary - a painter. The purpose of the site is to increase awareness of a problem faced by many coastal areas - erosion. This problem is being graphically illustrated in the state of Louisiana which has lost a million acres since the 1930s. The current loss rate is 24 square miles a year. That's land that used to be freshwater marsh habitat, that is now open water...... open saltwater. Land that used to be the habitat for many species, including migratory waterfowl. And it's land that has buffered in-land cities, like New Orleans, from huricanes.

Often, natural processes like erosion are very slow.... it takes a long time for the effects to be seen, and understood. That's why it's often hard for man to see the long term effects that he has the planet. In the case of Louisiana, the problem is that marsh lands were dependant on the sediment deposited by the Mississippi River to replace what was eroded by the Gulf of Mexico. But that all started to change in the last century. The river has been dammed in places, levees have be built, and other things to make the river more navigable, help control flooding, and help irragate crops, - and many other things that are necessary for people to live. ANd these are good things. But they are good things that have bad side effects - like the silt not making it downriver. People are starting to realize that we have to find ways to do the good things, but with fewer bad and long term effects. ANd it can be done.... it's just not easy, and it's expensive. In the case of the Louisiana marshes, a system of levees to help reroute some of the sediment back into the marshes and swamps (along with other habitat rehab.) will cost around $50 Billion and take years.

ANd most difficult of all, it's also dependent on government action. Which is where the "education" part comes in. People have learn to be aware of what is happening to their environment - to their planet. And let their government know that they care, and want action. As the population of the planet increases, the stress and damage that humans put on the enivironment will only increase. ANd we have to start trying NOW to learn how to lessen our impact and work with the systems of nature.