Of Shrimp and Petroleum

A weekend at Louisiana's oldest harvest festival.

On the radio, reporters are discussing the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in Houston. Some are suggesting the damage was exacerbated by rampant construction, all the developers’ paving over of marshes that used to absorb rainwater. Louisiana has been largely spared, this time.

I am thinking about some of these things—oil, energy dependence, supply chains, weather systems, development, inescapable death and destruction—or trying to anyway. There is another part of me that is preparing to consume something close to my own body weight in shrimp.

A weekend at Louisiana's oldest harvest festival.

On the radio, reporters are discussing the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in Houston. Some are suggesting the damage was exacerbated by rampant construction, all the developers’ paving over of marshes that used to absorb rainwater. Louisiana has been largely spared, this time.

I am thinking about some of these things—oil, energy dependence, supply chains, weather systems, development, inescapable death and destruction—or trying to anyway. There is another part of me that is preparing to consume something close to my own body weight in shrimp.