The Entire US Has Infrastructure Lessons to Learn From Hurricane Sandy - by Henry Henderson: Shelter

Disasters like we saw this week laid bare the hidden systems that we take for granted. On a daily basis New York and our other cities depend on pumps to keep water from filling subways, tunnels and basements; sewers to evacuate waste and storm water from our streets; complex systems to deliver electricity, and allow us to communicate around the globe. It’s a wondrous system that regularly proves itself to be vulnerable to wear and tear, error and misuse.  And on a regular basis, we take for granted that the vulnerability of our infrastructure is an irritation, rather than a growing threat to our health, safety and well being. But as Sandy plunged much of the east coast into a sustained wet darkness, the extent of the vulnerability of critical, fallible infrastructure seems like a new revelation.

It is not a new revelation, of course.  However, this furious storm has clearly demonstrated (1) our deep dependence on fallible infrastructure, (2) the fundamental inadequacy of the infrastructure we assume will serve our needs, and (3) that we are in the midst of seriously changing weather and climate conditions that our infrastructure must address to protect our safety and well being. New York Governor Cuomo had it right when he said that ignoring "dramatic change in weather patterns is denying reality. We have a new reality, and old infrastructures and old systems.”

The news media is finally catching up to the changes in our climate and how this reality is connected to the devastating storms, fires, droughts and floods we are seeing across the country (and world). But the implications of these changes for public policy have not been grasped.

The impact of Hurricane Sandy is a sharp rebuke of willful ignorance, cynicism and political malfeasance. The storm has wreaked billions in damage on our economy and the systems we rely upon in daily American life. And billions will be spent to rebuild. The question before us, not just on the East coast, is should we simply be rebuilding the patchwork that exists, or finally pushing towards something newer and stronger?

We need to get serious about the real nature of the challenges that we face as a people and nation. We need to make decisions, and invest in critical infrastructure and policies that are grounded in reality, science and the moral values that respect citizens as irreplaceable members of a vital, just society. We need to rethink, redesign and reinvest in effective infrastructure that makes modern life possible has not yet made it into the national discussion and decision-making mix.

Read more: Henry Henderson: Shelter From the Storm? The Entire US Has Infrastructure Lessons to Learn From Hurricane Sandy