1. To collect data about flood risks and community vulnerability, explore the U.S. government’s Climate Mapping For Resilience and Adaptation toolkit at the following website:https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/assessment-tool/home/
Start by searching for each community by name (Morgan City, LA and East Baton Rouge, LA). The tool should automatically give you data for that community at the county level (which, in French-settled Louisiana, are known as parishes) – St. Mary’s Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish.
1a. For each community, you need to first collect data about flood risks. By exploring the “climate projections” tab on the left, and the different categories of hazards under the tab, you can discover data related to flooding from rainfall and from sea level rise. Look at the projected data for “Early Century (2015-2044)” under the “Lower Emissions” scenario – this means scientific projections of flooding levels in the next twenty years, assuming that society takes some significant steps to reduce the carbon emissions that are driving climate change and increased flooding. Find flood data for this specific scenario for the following data types for both places, and enter them into the graphic organizer:
- Average annual total precipitation (inches)
- Change in average annual total precipitation compared to the “baseline” average as measured between 1976-2005 (+/- inches)
- Annual days that exceed 99th percentile precipitation (days)
- Change in annual days that exceed 99th percentile precipitation since the 1976-2005 period baseline (+/- days)
- Percent of parish impacted by global sea level rise (%)
1b. Next, you need to collect data about the underlying vulnerabilities of the human populations in these parishes. In the same data windows, access the demographic report for each of these parishes by clicking on “Get Complete Report” in the far upper right corner of the window. In the report window, look again to the upper right corner, and click on “Page 4” to view flood-specific data for each parish. Find demographic vulnerability data for the following data types for both places, and enter them into the graphic organizer:
- Total population
- Percentage of parish communities with an income below poverty
- Percentage of parish communities that are considered disadvantaged
2. Now that data from both places can be easily compared in your graphic organizer, review the data you have collected, and focus on the differences between Morgan City and Baton Rouge. Since you only have a limited amount of money to spend to improve resilience in these places, you need to think about the tradeoffs between different resilience planning and investment approaches. Then, describe in 2-3 concise, well-written sentences where and how you would make investments in resilience in one or both communities. Is it more strategic or equitable to invest in one community over the other? Would you spend money on infrastructure, alleviating poverty, or in other areas? There are no “right” or “wrong” answers here except for poorly reasoned or supported arguments, so be sure to cite specific data that you have collected and present an argument that recognizes the tradeoffs involved.
3. The data you have collected have been taken from scientific climate data as well as from community-level demographic and building data. Yet, like all data, these datasets have limits; for example, they do not take into consideration the strength and vulnerabilities of key pieces of infrastructure in southern Louisiana such as the Old River Control Structure, coastal sea walls, river levees, and even Interstate 10. Consider what you have learned about these key pieces of infrastructure in Chapter 8, and its possible future impacts on Morgan City and Baton Rouge. Then, describe in 2-3 concise, well-written sentences how your knowledge of key infrastructure vulnerabilities might impact your resilience investment strategy in one or both places. Be sure to reference specific pieces of infrastructure described in Chapter 8.
4. Finally, go back to the Climate Mapping For Resilience and Adaptation toolkit data, and explore Morgan City’s St. Mary’s Parish in more detail. Specifically, look at the percentage of the parish threatened by sea level rise, and compare the projections from Early Century (2015-2044) with Late Century (2070-2099) under low and high emissions scenarios. Then, describe in 2-3 sentences the differences between sea-related flooding in early and late century, and state the general planning approach you would choose to diminish these changes and human impacts. Would you focus on building protective infrastructure, relocating communities, lessening existing disadvantages, lowering carbon emissions, or some other approach?