Lisa Song: Mississippi Levee Wars

Sometimes we lose sight of what Audrey Hepburn called “that old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second.” This week on Sea Change Radio, we hear from ProPublica reporter Lisa Song who has done some recent reporting on a little known problem that could have very big effects: the impact of illegal overbuilding of levee systems in the Midwestern flood-prone regions of the Mississippi River. The folks responsible are flouting the rules and lobbying to have them changed. Their argument is that they’re just trying to protect the communities they represent, but the effect is to make other communities far more vulnerable to flood. The valuable reporting that Song and her colleagues are doing to expose the issue will hopefully help to arm future flood victims against the rising tide of these  water district bullies.