Remember Katrina? In many regards, it's hard to forget--whether for how it uncovered a side of domestic poverty and racial injustice shocking to most Americans, or for how it blew the door open to tangible discussion of global warming's effect on weather patterns and vulnerable waterfronts. Unfortunately, much of the public shock and awe that followed Katrina has dissipated, and while the city still languishes, struggling to rebuild homes, schools, infrastructure and economy, New Orleans has largely drowned out of the public consciousness.

But conditions on the ground (and, regrettably, in the water) in New Orleans are still unsafe, and a new NRDC report on the environmental conditions that still plague the city should prove to be a call to arms for the future of the Big Easy.

Even immediately following the storm, the dangerous environmental conditions were largely glossed over by the media, lost in the appalling images of impoverished American refugees and horrifying stories of death, escape, and grim survival. Yet the waters that filled the city were a hazardous brew of fuel, sewage, and chemicals--full of pathogens and toxic contaminants that poured through the streets and into homes, leaving behind a thick layer of toxin-laden sediment throughout the city.

Now--a full two years later--residents are returning to communities that still haven't been sufficiently cleaned-up, and to a city at large that's every bit as vulnerable to future storms as it was before Katrina struck.

The NRDC report—Katrina’s Wake--is a comprehensive study of chemical contamination of the city's soil, air, and water, and also highlights tragedies of dangerous waste left behind and environmental injustice. Finally, Katrina’s Wake proposes a new course for the safe and just recovery of the New Orleans, offering expansive and systemized solutions to ensure and protect the long-term safety of residents returning to and rebuiding their city.

It's a massive and groundbreaking report, and well worth the time for anyone concerned with--or appalled by--the most significant environmental and social disaster of our nation's history. At ItsYourNature.org, we'll also be running a series of summaries of the report's five chapters, offering a more informal "Clif Notes" version of the alarming findings and progressive solutions for a city whose tragedy has too quickly been forgotten.