2012 saw the United States hit by some of the most devastating droughts in recent memory. However it’s not just America’s farmers and agricultural developers that have been affected. The Mississippi River, one of the country’s main shipping channels, has become increasingly shallow over the last few months to the point that now the Army Corps of Engineers is in a race to deepen the river to keep navigation open between St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois.

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Post tags: Army Corp of Engineers, Climate Change, droughts, geoengineering, Mississippi River, rainfall, shipping, US cargo, us droughts, US shipping

The Oil Industry isn’t the only culprit in the slow destruction of the Gulf of Mexico — environmental groups claim that an area the size of Massachusetts is now a “dead zone due to Mississippi River pollution. A dead zone is an area with such low levels of oxygen that the waters are unable to support marine life – and a number of environmental groups, including the Gulf Restoration Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council are suing the Environmental Protection Agency for its failure to implement more stringent water quality standard and stronger regulations for wastewater treatment.

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Post tags: agriculture pollution, dead zone, environmental protection agency, epa lawsuit, farm waste, gulf of mexico, gulf restoration network, marine life, Mississippi River, mississippi river basin, natural resource defense council, wastewater run off, water pollution

When an environmental problem arises and the Army Corps of Engineers fails to act, leave it to an architect to pick up the reins. The Great Lakes, a vital source of fresh water, are threatened by Asian carp, an invasive species with no known predators. Architect Jeanne Gang has proposed a solution that would create a barrier between the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan, restoring the natural flow of the Chicago River while also helping to introduce green infrastructure and revitalize a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side.

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Post tags: Architecture, Army Corps of Engineers, Asian carp, chicago, Chicago's South Side, Design, Eco Architecture, eco design, Gang Studios, great lakes, green architecture, green design, Harvard Graduate School of Design, invasive species, jeanne gang, Lake Michigan, MacArthur grant, Mississippi River, Natural Resources Defense Council, neighborhood revitalization, Reverse Effect, sustainable design, urban planning

Almost exactly six years after Hurricane Katrina slammed New Orleans, producing one of the worst natural disasters in American history, the Gulf Coast is set to get battered by another major storm. By all accounts, Tropical Storm Lee isn’t expected to cause the level of destruction that Katrina left behind, but it might test the rebuilt levees on the Mississippi. About 6,000 New Orleans residents were evacuated in advance of the storm’s landfall, and Louisiana and Mississippi have declared states of emergency. So far, about 35,000 homes in Louisiana were reported to be without power.

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Post tags: gulf coast, gulf of mexico, Hurricane Katrina, louisiana, Mississippi River, natural disasters, New Orleans, offshore drilling, Tropical Storm Lee