Louisiana has significantly higher rates of various forms of cancer - I think something like 5-10 times the national average. This is likely due in large part to the accumulation of carcinogens from different industrial complexes upriver. My daughter was diagnosed with cancer at 10 months of age ( she's doing great now) but the doctors there said they're never surprised when a new patient arrives that's from Louisiana.
There is a multi-billion dollar battle taking place every year between engineers and the Mississippi River. The powerful Atchafalaya River to the West is always trying to take it over. The Mississippi naturally meanders in a cyclical rhythm, and has moved its banks back and forth by miles for thousands of years. But due to all of the industry and infrastructure that has sprung up around its banks over the last hundred years, the US Army Corp of Engineers has tried frantically (and some would argue futilely) to contain it to its current flow. John McPhee wrote an amazing book surrounding this topic. It's called "The Control of Nature" and I highly recommend it.
Hobbits_can_fly on December 14th, 2020 at 05:20 UTC »
Crazy how it just stops at the Canadian border like that.
nanobot93 on December 14th, 2020 at 05:39 UTC »
Side note:
Louisiana has significantly higher rates of various forms of cancer - I think something like 5-10 times the national average. This is likely due in large part to the accumulation of carcinogens from different industrial complexes upriver. My daughter was diagnosed with cancer at 10 months of age ( she's doing great now) but the doctors there said they're never surprised when a new patient arrives that's from Louisiana.
spongecandybandit on December 14th, 2020 at 05:55 UTC »
There is a multi-billion dollar battle taking place every year between engineers and the Mississippi River. The powerful Atchafalaya River to the West is always trying to take it over. The Mississippi naturally meanders in a cyclical rhythm, and has moved its banks back and forth by miles for thousands of years. But due to all of the industry and infrastructure that has sprung up around its banks over the last hundred years, the US Army Corp of Engineers has tried frantically (and some would argue futilely) to contain it to its current flow. John McPhee wrote an amazing book surrounding this topic. It's called "The Control of Nature" and I highly recommend it.
Edit: grammar