One in 12 people globally consume commodities grown in the Mississippi River basin, by some estimates. More than 60% of grain in the U.S. moves along the waterway to reach international markets.
So, climate impacts — particularly recent swings between droughts and floods — hit the river hard.
“Over the past few years, (New Orleans) has seen increasingly stronger storms, and more recently, life-threatening heat waves and a prolonged drought that damaged our greenspace and contributed to a saltwater intrusion that threatened our drinking water,” said New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell,