So far in our series on Hurricane Katrina, we’ve explored how the storm wasn’t just a natural disaster — it revealed decades of inequality, government neglect, and opportunistic profiteering. populareducationblog.substack.com/p/hurricane-...

"Roughly 23% of New Orleans residents lived below the poverty line in 2004, which was approximately 10 percentage points higher than the national average." populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...

🧵When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, 80% of the city flooded, trapping over 100,000 residents. But not everyone was equally affected.

"Race, poverty, and limited access to automobiles were key factors that left Black residents disproportionately vulnerable, especially in low-lying neighborhoods where evacuation was nearly impossible." populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...

Exploring the stories and systems that shape our world. My Substack dives into history, culture, society, and the forces behind the headlines—subscribe below for thoughtful deep dives: populareducationblog.substack.com

"New Orleans was constructed and expanded in accordance with economic initiatives that were designed to increase trade and industrial production at the expense of environmental degradation." populareducationblog.substack.com/p/new-orlean...

Why was New Orleans built in such a vulnerable spot? From its colonial founding to Hurricane Katrina, the city’s history shows how economic growth repeatedly outweighed environmental risk. 🧵 A thread on environment, history, and catastrophe.

"Despite advanced knowledge of New Orleans susceptibility to a potential major Hurricane, decades of disinvestment and neglect resulted in an unprepared bureaucracy incapable of delivering humanitarian aid in the moment of crisis." populareducationblog.substack.com/p/hurricane-...

www.theideasletter.org/essay/silico... "In Trump’s Washington, they arrive not as guests but as architects. Their reality-bending machinery—money hydraulics, platform dominance, bureaucracies kneeling to translate private fantasy into public policy—wields unprecedented force."

www.thebignewsletter.com/p/did-a-priv... The cost of fire trucks has skyrocketed in recent years–going from around $300-500,000 for a pumper truck and $750-900,000 for a ladder truck in the mid-2010s, to around $1 million for a pumper truck and $2 million for a ladder truck in the last couple years