The Termite Prophecy

I get so many magazines that I usually fall behind and end up reading them weeks after I receive them. So I am just now getting to a Harper’s from two months ago. One of the articles is an eerie, yet interesting one on termite infestation in New Orleans. In the course of researching the infestation, Duncan Murrell gives a vivid description of the geography and history of New Orleans, the timing of which seems almost prophetic. Now it looks almost like a eulogy for the city, although that was not it’s intent. In describing attempts to deal with termites, he uses the following chilling paragraph:

In this case, the use of organochlorines against termites – native and foreign alike – was something like channeling the course of a river. The water never ceased, it had to go somewhere, and when the dikes, seawalls, levees, and locks finally failed, the effect of releasing the water’s long contained energy was catastrophic.

Dang.