Coastal erosion needs immediate new solutionsI’m ashamed to admit that before I read Mike Tidwell’s book on the subject, Bayou Farewell, I was not aware of the extent of the problem of coastal erosion, nor was I aware that the government has not implemented plans necessary to truly attain a sustainable future for Louisiana.  After reading Farewell and attending lectures here at LSU by Tidwell and two of the scientists mentioned in his book, Dr. Woody Gagliano and Dr. Denise Reed, I feel the urgent need to spread the word.Our coast continues to vanish at an alarming rate — 1,600 square miles annually. There are many contributing factors, but much of the damage inflicted is the result of human technology — mainly the canals dredged by the oil companies and the leveeing of the Mississippi River. The government keeps insisting that a better levee system will prevent another disaster like Hurricane Katrina, but levees are a main reason land is disappearing.  They prevent the river from depositing sediment, which is our best land-building resource. Right now, precious sediment from the Mississippi is being dumped into the Gulf of Mexico; we are wasting it when it could be used to create a natural barrier against future storms, which is exactly what our existing marshes provide.  As Dr. Reed said, if money were pouring into the Gulf, “we’d be doing something about it.”Another problem is that a lot of what is left appears deceptively vibrant, when it is actually not in good shape; consequently, scientists like Gagliano and Reed have trouble getting people to understand that this is a major problem.  This land loss has been observed since the 1970s, yet people are still not aware of what is happening or what must be done.All of the restoration scientists I listened to said the exact same thing: we need to stop wasting billions on planting grass and other “quick-fix” projects, such as mitigation banks, that do not match the scale of the problem.  These essentially do nothing.  We need to push our government for a plan that will divert part of the Mississippi (and also be compatible with navigation), such as the proposed Coast 2050 plan; for more information on this proposal, visit www.coast2050.gov. Either we spend the money to fix it now, or we lose billions of dollars when our ecosystem finally collapses.Elizabeth ClausenEnglish freshmanEngineering majors are superiorFor being such an “open-minded person,” Matthew Albright’s column last Thursday was a pretty biased and ignorant opinion. Maybe next time, he should research a topic before he makes such a harsh remark about it.Statistics show engineering and science majors make an average $65,000 starting salary, while humanities and liberal arts majors make an average $35,000 starting salary.Now, I understand that everyone is not in it for the money, and I encourage these people.  They are the future teachers, lawyers and politicians, and without them, society and government would crumble. But we need to get real. The majority of students — and even humanity — desire one thing, money!And if humanity and engineering majors were so “compatible,” why do more students drop out of engineering majors and switch to a humanity, but not the other way around?  The answer is simple — the   curriculum is much harder!Mr. Albright, I challenge you to find five students that dropped out of a humanities major and switched to engineering solely based on the toughness of the coursework, because I guarantee you I can find hundreds of students that have fallen short in even the basic math and science courses and have immediately switched to a liberal arts or humanities major.In fact, were I arrogant enough to attempt to argue, say, an                                              engineering major such as myself were somehow superior to, say, a mass communication major, I could easily say that rewording a “logical response” someone else has already compiled is far easier than solving and explaining complex problems while having to apply every math and science course you have ever taken.But I’m not that arrogant.Jonathan Alexanderelectrical engineering junior—-Contact The Daily Reveille’s opinion staff at [email protected]