Bold New Thinking Needed

It is time to rise to the challenge.

Les Aaron

We hear figures for reconstruction being bandied about. And the numbers seem not only stratospheric but not entirely believable. It is as if they were simply pulled out of the atmosphere in an attempt to assuage the heavy sense of guilt for our failure to respond instantly to the needs of a beleaguered people or a spurious effort to put a positive spin on a government seen as inept and trapped in its own bubble of indifference.

If any solutions are being advanced, it seems almost redolent of the thinking of the past.

The solution it seems is to rebuild New Orleans but in the process everybody avoids specifics like the plague. Overall, it is hard to discern any kind of credible plan and when something tangible is put forward it always seems like a repeat of the mistakes of the past.

This begs the question where are the bold new ideas? Where is the vision? In view of the fact that many of the homes we are seeing on TV are so water damaged that the only possible solution is clearing the area, what has been viewed as a challenge should really be viewed as an opportunity.

Surely, if those charged with the reconstruction are talking about clearing areas, then it must also be acknowledged that much of the task that lies before us involves starting over. And while starting over should cause our leaders to push forward with imaginative new approaches, to date it has become a synonym for a repeat of all of the mistakes that have led to the predictable events of the last few weeks.

On closer examination, it has become crystal clear that the problems we are facing may not go away under this government’s vision that until now seems so bogged down with finger-pointing and photo ops.

If were to rebuild the same way as before, it is highly likely that another storm just as pernicious as this one will produce an equivalent disaster; therefore, the challenge that faces us is how do we not only rebuild New Orleans but how do we prevent Nature from taking its toll on our handiwork? .

In view of the variables, is it not then logical at this point in time to explore new possibilities and new solutions that may do better than simply repeating the mistakes of the past? Should we not use this opportunity to start over to do things like explore new building materials, examine new building forms and perhaps even new ways to design communities that consider the realities of an unpredictable Mother Nature and the full range of human needs and emotions?

From as near as we can tell, there is no evidence that despite all of our talent and training, anyone is doing this; yet without bold new thinking we may be opening ourselves to a repetition of fresh disappointments that will continue to challenge not only the New Orleans community but also the State and the Federal governments.

Perhaps that might all change if we can perceive this as an opportunity –an opportunity to not only heal the wounds of the past but to prevent a reoccurrence over the near term and to apply bold new thinking that cuts across the board to consider not only the needs of Americans but a world faced with rising tides and changing environmental patterns.

What it is apparent we need is not simply a sugar pill but a Crusade to advance a whole new way of thinking to the challenges of the past and to establish cross links to various industries and think tanks that can mutually benefit from cross pollinating and spur the growth of new thinking applied across the board to a host of new challenges. This natural event could be used as the catalyst to create the environment for sweeping new ways to think about challenges.

It could shape the climate for our next great revolution in ideas and thinking that will encourage regional and national planners to try new things; it may lead to the marriage between segments of industry and the kind of blossoming ideation that allows new thinking to enter traditional but somehow atrophied industries and technology segments that have not moved forward in a generation; that have not benefited from an influx of capital or a commitment to new ideas.

The opportunities present in taking the mega view may offer solutions to problems that not only affect us here but perhaps throughout the world. In addition, the challenges afforded by New Orleans should also awaken us to the opportunities to consider alternative fuels, new communications methods, ways to network and distribute materials, supply and survival techniques that we obviously have only barely if at all examined or discussed in forums both public and private around the country.

Why are we not examining and discussing how to turn poverty around? Why are we not exploring how new businesses and industries could benefit from the special advantages and talents evidenced in a city like New Orleans? Why are we not considering bellwether projects that may fit in with the demands of a changing environment and what is needed to service that environment?.

Why are we not thinking about using the many talents that we already know exist within New Orleans to spur on new businesses and opportunities?. Why don’t we turn New Orleans current disadvantages into advantages? . Why don’t we simply establish the structures for a national program to apply native talents and energies towards solutions for this troubled land? And why aren’t we already hard at work at doing these things?

In fact, until now, we have only seen coverage of the challenges, we have talked about the challenges but we have not offered any solutions and that, by itself, despite all of the talk about throwing money at the problem does not offer hope. Why in a country that is known for bold and innovative solutions have we proven so reticent, so slow to adapt the kind of thinking needed to move New Orleans forward as a bright shining star that is being reborn? Why have we not mobilized the American initiative, the very thing that has made us famous, and tasked the ‘best and the brightest’ to find solutions. To me, that is unfathomable.

Every college in the land should be funded to address the challenge as part of a national initiative. Every think tank committed to bold new ideas should be working towards making New Orleans a special set piece that stands for how America faces up to its challenges. Right now, that is not happening. Nor have we lit up the sky or set the bar higher for our best and brightest.


Why a national crusade? Because the challenges exist. But there is another reason. With Katrina, the challenge is not over. We may need to explore cutting-edge technology and thinking to explore solutions to not yet experienced challenges that will enable us to survive attacks on our energy grid, to our distribution networks, to our communications capabilities, to water power and transportation. We need to consider each and every one of these as both discrete challenges and in an inter-related way so that we will not be found wanting again. We have been forewarned and in a way, what has happened should have opened our eyes to the broad spectrum of needs that we have barely begun to understand or explore. If nothing else, we should be tapping into our vast resources of creative thinkers, many of whom who are languishing for work in a country where most of our work is done outside to return maximum profit. Perhaps that, too, should be rethought if we are to continue as a Super-power in more than name only. What we need is talent and boldness of vision that can be focused like lasers on this problem. We need fresh talents and expertise to not only help the country heal but at the same time, find ways to make us safer in the context of a world where there are those who will stop at nothing to try to tear us down.

This is the challenge we face and from what we’ve seen, nothing has been done to rectify these challenges despite all of the talk, the agencies falling over each other, the hundreds of thousands of people in alphabet agencies and the expenditures over years of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Over all, we should be ashamed that in the wake of this disaster, we are receiving donations from third world powers like Afghanistan and in comparing scorecards for rendering needed services to the desperate and needy, we rank far behind countries with endemic poverty issues and no technology base like Thailand.

It is clear that America after two hundred years has wound down and needs to be re-invented.

Les Aaron