Year Three in Rebuilding New Orleans: Taking More Green Steps, One by One
The post-Katrina rebuilding effort in New Orleans has a long way to go, but some residents, activists and volunteers are celebrating one small but noteworthy step after another toward a more sustainable city.
Their efforts take on a special poignancy with the start of yet another hurricane season (it officially began on June 1, though the tropical system Arthur formed a day early around the Yucatan Peninsula). With lingering La Niña conditions and water temperatures in parts of the Gulf of Mexico already a degree or two above average, there’s reason to be concerned.
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Still, those involved in rebuilding the Crescent City see reasons for hope. Just two weeks ago, Global Green USA and The Home Depot Foundation finished building their first green home in the Holy Cross neighborhood of the Lower Ninth Ward. The building will serve as a visitor center while the groups continue moving ahead with plans to construct more green housing in the area, including five single-family homes and an 18-unit apartment complex.
The Global Green/Home Depot Foundation efforts also call for the construction of a community center/Sustainable Design and Climate Action Institute.
“This project was never about just one home or one project,” said Matt Petersen, president of Global Green USA, upon the first building’s completion. “This model sustainable village is about showing what is possible here in New Orleans and throughout the country to protect all of our coastal cities threatened by global warming — by working together to build a better, more energy-efficient and healthier world.”
Global Green says that if all the 50,000 homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina were rebuilt according to the green standards used in the Holy Cross project, it would be like taking 100,000 cars off the road. For residents, it would mean annual savings of $38 million to $56 million and yearly carbon dioxide emissions reductions of half a million tons.
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