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How was Katrina not an environmental catastrophe -- the casual definition that I find repeatedly is "An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined
by serf 4y ago
How was Katrina not an environmental catastrophe -- the casual definition that I find repeatedly is "An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural environment that is due to human activity."
Given that criteria, Katrina was most definitely an environmental catastrophe.
Now, if you mean "When was the last time a president visited a catastrophe that involved chemical/biological/radiological factors?" -- well, that's a bit more rare; but I presume that it's done not as a matter of appearing placid by the society at large, but as a form of damage mitigation before all the facts are presumed known.
it's essentially a rite of passage for the president to hug people in some tornado ravaged state for photos. I presume the risks outweigh the positive P.R. in actual danger zones.
tl;dr : it's easier to declare a hurricane or flood site to be safe enough for presidential passage, so it represents a fairly easy to coordinate photo-op. Things are shakier when the facts about the danger present are not done rolling in.
p.s. I feel the need to clarify something: what I mean to remind by calling Katrina an environmental catastrophe was the significant role that society had in amplifying the damage of the event through both careless engineering, careless maintenance, and careless planning -- which was then exacerbated by careless response.
- anonymouskimmer 4y agoYou read what I wrote too fast and missed, or misunderstood, at least one word ("solely").
- SoftTalker 4y agoPresident Carter visited Three Mile Island.
- Mountain_Skies 4y agoAfter his experience with Chalk River, Three Mile Island was like a trip to Disney World.
- dylan604 4y agoI now kind of want to see an HBO series like Chernobyl about this. "Carter was ordered to Chalk River to lead a U.S. maintenance crew that joined other American and Canadian service personnel to assist in the shutdown of the reactor.[30] The painstaking process required each team member to don protective gear and be lowered individually into the reactor for 90 seconds at a time, limiting their exposure to radioactivity while they disassembled the crippled reactor. When Carter was lowered in, his job was simply to turn a single screw.[31] During and after his presidency, Carter said that his experience at Chalk River had shaped his views on atomic energy and led him to cease development of a neutron bomb.[32]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter#Naval_career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter#Naval_career
- shagie 4y agoIncidentally, President Carter was uniquely qualified to go there. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/02/20/jimmy-carter-nuclear-reactor-navy/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/02/20/jimmy-cart... https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/national-verify/president-jimmy-carter-nuclear-reactor-meltdown-clean-up-united-states-navy-fact-check/536-b6e09851-3868-4eed-994a-f371a7b2389b https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/national-veri... https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/about_us/naval_service https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/about_us/naval_service > 16 OCT 1952 - 08 OCT 1953—Duty with US Atomic Energy Commission (Division of Reactor Development, Schenectady Operations Office) From 3 NOV 1952 to 1 MAR 1953 he served on temporary duty with Naval Reactors Branch, US Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D.C. “assisting in the design and development of nuclear propulsion plants for naval vessels.” From 1 MAR 1953 to 8 OCT 1953 he was under instruction to become an engineering officer for a nuclear power plant. He also assisted in setting up on-the-job training for the enlisted men being instructed in nuclear propulsion for the USS Seawolf (SSN575).