If you thought the Energizer Bunny just kept going and going and going...get a load of Katrina.  Five months after the devastating hurricane rocked the nation there is still new damage happening.  Wreckage from oil platforms are loose in the Gulf of Mexico and at least three ships have collided with the debris since November.

Keep reading. 

It's official, 2005 is the most active hurricane season on record. The country is still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, but that didn't stop Rita, Wilma and other storms from kicking us while we were down.

Hurricane Wilma has been battering the Florida coast since early this morning, after killing at least 17 people in the Caribbean. At one point it was the most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic, with winds of 175 miles per hour, but today it has been seesawing between a Category 2 and Category 3 hurricane.

Wilma isn't the only record-setter of the season. Close on its tail is tropical depression Alpha and forecasters are suggesting the storm could grow in strength. This is the first time EVER all 21 names pre-assigned for storms in a year have been exhausted, forcing the body responsible for naming storms to move onto the Greek alphabet. If there are more storms to come this season (let's hope not), they will be named Beta, Gamma, Delta and so on.

If this trend continues, what will we be doing a 100 years from now, when we've exhausted all the letters in the Greek alphabet? Move onto Chinese characters? Borrow symbols from the artist-formerly-known-as Prince?

No one is suggesting that extreme weather events, like hurricanes, didn't exist before man started trashing the planet. But it is unmistakable that our actions are contributing to global warming, and the Earth's increased temperature and melting glaciers are severely altering Mother Nature's plan.

Global warming is no longer a catch phrase for politicians or interesting subject matter for scientists to write papers. The issue has clawed its way into conversations at the family dinner table, crowded subways and supermarket checkout lines. Now that the general public has grasped the urgency of the situation, it is up to us to do something about it. The responsibility is ours since our government has known for years, and hasn't lifted a finger to resolve the crisis.

A good place to start is by reducing our oil dependence and meeting our energy needs with clean sources like wind and solar. Some politicians are actually exploiting these hurricanes to EXPAND offshore drilling operations to vulnerable coastal communities. Don't let them.

-John Passacantando
Greenpeace Executive Director

We were back in St. Bernard Parish today. We were chased away from both the Murphy and Chalmette oil refineries by security guards as we documented activities there. At Chalmette (a subsidiary of ExxonMobil) a security guard in a white pickup truck with "Homeland Security" in orange spray paint on the side told us, "Exxon doesn't allow any photos of the refinery to be taken, even if it's in the background." At least he was honest about who calls the shots in Louisiana.

Around New Orleans, one can drive for ten or 15 miles and see great swathes of urban America desecrated, deserted and debris-strewn. At night, the darkened skyline is barely visible by the light of the stars. A few Katrina refugees are filtering back. Many will be dispersing again, heading for higher ground, hoping to never go through this again.

Everyone we've met has been eager to tell his or her story, to have someone bear witness to what they've been through. In St. Bernard Parish, working class people of all races live between the two huge refineries. We spoke with Raymond Blazio in what remained of the trailer park in Meraux where 16 members of his extended family lived. He was waiting for his parents to arrive to see what had become of their home.

"I told them not to come. I was here a week ago and saw there was nothing to salvage, but they want to come, for closure," he said. "I'm worried about my mom's heart. She's strong, she's a persistent little lady, but I worry about her heart."

Gesturing toward the Murphy Oil tank farm adjacent to the ruins, he said, "There used to be woods back there. They protected us from the wind, from the storms. Then Murphy expanded. They cut down the woods and put in the tanks. We had no protection after that."

Raymond's brother's trailer was wrecked, his sister's trailer was wrecked, his aunt's trailer was wrecked. Raymond and his brother remodeled their parents' trailer last spring. "It looked like a trailer on the outside, but inside, it was a home. That was going to be for their retirement. Now it's gone." At his feet lay someone's sequined dress, a memory from a happier time.

A tank at the Murphy Oil refinery was knocked from its base by the flood. According to the U.S. Coast Guard 19,500 barrels, or 1,072,500 gallons of oil flooded into Meraux.

On Walkers Lane, George Harrison said the Murphy refinery seemed to have an explosion every year. Smoke and soot from the plant were a constant presence. "There are all kinds of lawsuits against Murphy. We're part of one of the lawsuits," he said. He does not have high hopes for the suit.

The Emerys on Walkers Lane have a big family, too. They too are scattered around the country, but Carol Emery is planning now to gather everyone together for Thanksgiving. "We are together every year and we will be together this year. We all got out safe, so we have so much to be thankful for."

"This is just material," she said, indicating her house with a hand gloved in latex. She wore heavy rubber boots, a protective suit and a particle mask. The first floor of her house was, weeks later, still sopping wet. Mold - and other things - were growing from her leather sofa.

Ms. Emery is a social worker, she and her family have taken in children to care for, have been a strong foundation for their community. "People have taken us in, have given us money," she said. "We've always given to other people. I can tell you, it does feel good to receive."

Danny Duchmann, on Livaccari Drive, was angry. "This neighborhood was fine the day after Katrina. People were out raking the leaves. Then the levee broke. The water came up fast; people were trapped. We gave these politicians our tax money to build up those levees. They promised, 'Vote for me, I'll strengthen the levees.' What happened? Pfft, the money went right into their pockets. Now look at us."

Most of the people of Meraux are moving on. Some will have to move on. A million gallons of oil spilled from the Murphy Oil refinery, the soil in some areas is so contaminated, people will never live there again.

Lawyers for Murphy are contacting some of the residents of Meraux, offering to buy up homes for another expansion of the refinery, another tank farm. For the people of St. Bernard Parish, Katrina was a disaster. For the corporations, it's a business opportunity.

We got our first look inside the city of New Orleans today, 29 days after Katrina struck. There's still water pooled in the streets on the east side of the city, thanks to levees that re-breached during Hurricane Rita. It's eerie to see mile after mile of residential and commercial neighborhoods of a major American city emptied of all life and strewn with debris. Mark was at ground zero in Manhattan a month after 9-11. Clean-up was underway, the city was coming back to life. A month after Katrina, New Orleans is still supine and it's not clear when it will get back on its feet.

We passed a car dealership with a lot full of sport utility vehicles, all ruined by floodwater. Those cars, at least, will not contribute to global warming.

We spent the morning in St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans. It's home to two refineries - Chalmette Refining (owned by ExxonMobil) and Murphy Oil Refining - as well as low-income citizens of several races. An oil tank floated off its mooring during Katrina and spilled approximately 800,000 gallons of oil into the neighborhood. Some houses in St. Bernard's have high-water marks, some have high-oil marks, black rings marking the furthest extent of the flood. We spoke to several families who were able to return to their homes for the first time in a month. None of the people we spoke with will return to St. Bernard Parish. One man estimated 70 percent of the residents will never return.

This afternoon, we spent four hours flying over the Gulf of Mexico, checking on oil platforms. Weather was perfect for flying - five miles visibility, sunlight reflecting off the cyan water of the gulf. There are, however, 4,000 oil platforms in the gulf and almost one-quarter of them were in Rita’s path. One rig - Rowan Gorilla IV - was pumping oil over the side as we approached, but cut the flow as we made a second pass. Must have been feeling guilty, eh?

We saw a five-mile long oil slick and are investigating what might have caused it. We observed damage to refineries in Port Arthur, Texas. We saw plenty of damage to wetlands along the Louisiana and Texas coastlines, ensuring that damage from future storms will be severe.

Autumn is spreading across much of the American continent; homeowners are growing anxious about the cost of heating oil as the nights grow cold. Reuters reports Hurricane Rita may be the most damaging storm ever, in regard to oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, which will send prices even higher.

It's still hot and humid in southern Louisiana; last night we were attacked by fire ants after we inadvertently stepped on their nest in the dark.

We're back in the flood zone and things are more chaotic than they were after the last storm. More and more contractors and insurance assessors are pouring into southern Louisiana; the highways are jammed with vehicles. It's a reminder of how thin our infrastructure is and how easily it's disrupted.

We've heard about two major causes for concern in Mississippi. Reports say that 40 percent of the wetlands along the coast can no longer function in the ecosystem as they did before. That's a serious problem, because abundant, healthy wetlands are necessary buffers to protect coastlines during storms like Katrina and Rita. Draining and development of wetlands in recent years contributed to the severity of the effects of the storms this year. Environmentalists are calling for immediate remedial action.

Also in the news, casino owners are calling for changes to Mississippi law. Until now, gambling has only been allowed on "boats," so casinos have been built on floating platforms that are no more "boats" than a bathtub is. Now, because of the storms, gaming interests are asking Mississippi for permission to build casinos inland. It will be interesting to see whether wetlands or casinos become the legislative priority.

Here in Louisiana, we heard today that a bill has been introduced to the state Senate calling for a temporary moratorium on state environmental laws, to speed rebuilding. Similar language has been introduced to the U.S. Senate by Senators James Inhofe (R-OK) and David Vitter (R-LA). Far from helping a recovery, if these bills pass they will ensure that the damage from future storms will be greater than what we're witnessing now.