There was a really depressing story on All Things Considered today about Louisiana’s vanishing wetlands. The levees built all along the Mississippi to prevent flooding also prevent the delta from being replinished with the silt carried by the river periodically, and the result is that the wetlands built up over thousands of years are sinking into the Gulf of Mexico. The fact that straight canals have been dredged for use by people drilling and maintaining oil and gas wells hasn’t helped. As a kid, I remember going fishing in marshes along the gulf coast, and the thought of losing so much of this beautiful and strange landscape is deeply disturbing to me.