Climate and Society students respond: Impacts of Hurricane Katrinaof Hurricane Katrina

On a warm first day of October, several new students in the master's program in Climate and Society presented a group project on the impacts of Hurricane Katrina at the annual LDEO Open House. The hurricane's aftermath captured headlines and drew concern about social vulnerability to extreme climate events.

"The timing made it seem like a good idea," said Asher Siebert, pictured at right, who suggested the project to classmates and organized each person's contribution into a large poster (see image below).

As new students sat through the master's orientation program on August 31, 2005, the scope of problems in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast was just starting to become clear to federal emergency services and the public. "The curriculum that I'm studying here seems more relevant now than ever," said Rachel Harris, a master's student who contributed to the project, and herself a native of New Orleans.

The twelve-month master's program in Climate and Society features a unique set of interdisciplinary courses that emphasize methods for managing and adapting to climate-related events. The humanitarian aspects of Hurricane Katrina brought climate impacts to the forefront of national attention for a few weeks.

With tools to manage climate-related risk and plan ahead for climate events, graduates of the program will form a next generation of environmental professionals, using new knowledge in the understanding of climate prediction to cope with the impacts of climate, including the risks of drought, flood, vector-borne diseases, and long-term climate change.

Particularly for developing countries, but also in the case of the United States, effective management of climate risk can make the difference between prosperity and disaster. Another student who contributed to the group project was Simbarashe Chidzambwa, a professional meteorologist from Zimbabwe who is part of this year's master's degree program.

Chidzambwa offered this perspective on the impacts of Hurricane Katrina: "The amount of damage in the United States will have a higher price in dollars here than it would in Zimbabwe. But in Zimbabwe, we can benefit from the right institutions to prevent climate-related disasters. You don't need to have a wealthy society for that to be successful - you just need to communicate the right course of action."

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