Tuesday, September 6, 2005

"Vanished, Under Force of Time and an Inconstant Earth" ; By DENNIS OVERBYE / NYT/

~~ ` This article below serves to remind us that

local
societies , cites , and even nations –

can over the long term,


be very transient entities. ~

~TP
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"Vanished, Under Force of Time and an Inconstant Earth"

September 6, 2005

By DENNIS OVERBYE


"'Cities rise and fall depending on what made them go in the first place,' said Peirce Lewis, an expert on the history of New Orleans and an emeritus professor of geography at Pennsylvania State University."

Changes in climate can make a friendly place less welcoming. Catastrophes like volcanoes or giant earthquakes can kill a city quickly.

Political or economic shifts can strand what was once a thriving metropolis in a slow death of irrelevance.

After the Mississippi River flood of 1993, the residents of Valmeyer, Ill., voted to move their entire town two miles east to higher ground.

What will happen to New Orleans now, in the wake of floods and death and violence, is hard to ............"

From :Vanished, Under Force of Time and an Inconstant Earth - New York Times:
September 6, 2005

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