One of the country's most unique cities, known for its cuisine and colorful culture, is not only sinking, but it is also being engulfed by rising seas.

What's happening?

New Orleans rightfully boasts of an "invigorating spirit" that can be found in its rich history, art, music, and eclectic culture. The city's tourism industry provides around 75,000 jobs for its residents. Scientists say this special city is at risk, though, from a number of forces.

NASA and researchers at Tulane University say the Crescent City is sinking at the rate of one to two inches per year, per Big Easy Magazine. 

"New Orleans is built on soft, marshy land formed by centuries of Mississippi River sediment," Scott Ploof wrote for the magazine. "Over time, that land naturally compresses and sinks, a process called subsidence. But it's not just nature at work here — human intervention has made it worse."

According to a report from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "The landscape of Southeast Louisiana was built upon a coastal delta created by the Mississippi River during the past 8,000 years as sea level rise due to glacial melting in the last ice age slowed." 

The report offered additional context about the reasons, saying that with human activity, "natural subsidence was offset by a combination of sediments deposited during Mississippi River floods … the decay of wetland vegetation." Somewhat tragically, it said, "construction of flood control levees to protect the Gulf Coast economy and local populations interrupted the sediment supply, leading to a net increase in land subsidence," or the gradual sinking of an area of land.

Rising sea levels on our overheating planet are exacerbating the problem, too. New Orleans was already vulnerable to flooding and storm surges, and now, as rising seas inundate wetlands that act as a natural buffer to help protect the city, it is even more at risk of flooding today.

Why is New Orleans' plight important?

Coastal cities are dealing with the impacts of a warming world that include rising sea levels and supercharged storms.  New Orleans faces those threats in addition to the subsidence it is experiencing.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has projected sea levels to rise 1.4 to 2.8 feet by the end of this century, with even a jump of nearly seven feet possible in a worst-case scenario. This would dramatically alter coastal states, with large portions of Louisiana being inundated by rising seas.

What's being done about what is happening to New Orleans?

Additional research will help bring focus to the complicated problems cities like New Orleans face. Tulane University received a $3.2 million grant to study how sea-level rise will impact more than 1800 military installations worldwide. The hope is that data gathered from research like this will help officials make decisions on how they can remediate the problems in New Orleans.

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Moving away from a reliance on dirty energy sources and embracing renewable options is crucial. On an individual basis, the decisions we make can be part of the solution. Installing solar panels, using induction stoves instead of conventional ranges, and choosing an EV for our next vehicle purchase are all small ways we can help reduce heat-trapping pollution — and these actions aren't so small when enough people do them.