“It's like we even have to move the dead. It costs $10,000 to move a casket from one cemetery to another.”
Are We Doomed? · October 2026
Keenan, of Tulane, on the scale of retreat from a sinking, flood-exposed region like New Orleans. He has just said the task is far beyond the capacity of any government to buy out, and that there is no precedent for it.
Transcript
The scale of what we're talking about here is well beyond the capacity of any governmental entity to buy out.
Jesse Keenan at Tulane says there is no precedent for the challenge in front of us.
It's like we even have to move the dead. It costs $10,000 to move a casket from one cemetery to another.
So I'm still trying to picture how we do this. I think the examples we've heard are useful, showing what's worked and what hasn't. But I still want to know what is a plan big enough for a city or a nation.
When do you stop investing along the coast and when do you start thinking move inland much more?
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