South Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast were in the crosshairs early this hurricane season.
Hurricane Barry delivered winds of up to 75mph and torrential downpours. Large scale power outages and flooding followed as numerous people were evacuated and suffered property damage to their homes and businesses.
As it has been in the past, private citizens and businesses across the Gulf Coast rose to the challenge to 
assist and help people in harm’s way and provide solutions to the problems that arise in the wake of chaos.
However, just as the same groups consistently rise to the occasion to lend a helping hand, other groups immediately stand at the ready to blame humanity for climate disasters. They offer a plentiful serving of blame for mankind, but very little in solutions.gr
The radical environmental group Greenpeace published an article linking a proposed natural gas plant in New Orleans as directly contributing to Hurricane Barry. The New York Times, NPR, and CNN were a few of the media outlets that followed suit to blame so-called man-made climate change as the cause of Hurricane Barry’s exuberant rain count and devastation.
The data, however, contradict these claims, and show no link to climate change and more hurricanes. According to meteorologist Joe Bastardi: “While there are limits to what any one system can do, nature has produced storms that came in stronger and more frequently in the 30s,40s, and 50s than we have since.”
In the end the proverbial question is: Are mankind’s technological advancements a problem that we should suppress, or does an innovating society hold the solutions to environmental problems that arise?
The answer is an easy one. Technological advancement and development are necessities to help communities recover from what Mother Nature throws their way.
During prep for Hurricane Barry, businesses like Baldwin Ready Mix, a local cement company owned by Louisiana State Representative Stuart Bishop, opened their sand reserve to the public to fill sandbags when the municipality’s supply began to run low at their sandbag locations. Louisiana’s Cajun Navy also stood at the ready as their cavalry of volunteers equipped with flat bottom boats were fueled up to help stranded citizens in need.
Without access to Louisiana’s cheap and easily accessible fuel what would have powered the Cajun 
Navy’s fleet of boats rescuing people in harm’s way? Without private business in the cement and infrastructure industry who would have provided the sand to civilians when the government stockpiles ran low?
It is always easy to criticize events from afar via social media from offices in New York and Los Angeles, but when trouble comes people continue to help their fellow man regardless of race, color, or creed. Innovation and cheap energy are what make these selfless endeavors possible time and time again.
Human ingenuity and progress are positives, not negatives, when dealing with environmental disasters such as Hurricane Barry. Let us continue to preserve our planet and protect its inhabitants by fighting for technological advancements and legislation that make it easier to protect the most vulnerable in harm’s way. For people and nature too!