"Surely, if Mother Nature had been consulted, she would never have consented to building a city in New Orleans"

This quote by Mortimer Zuckerman is a commentary on the vulnerability of New Orleans to natural disasters. He is suggesting that if Mother Nature had actually been spoken with prior to the city was constructed, she would have never granted it. This is because New Orleans is located in a low-lying location, making it prone to flooding and cyclones. The city has been ravaged by natural disasters in the past, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and this quote implies that it was an error to develop a city in such a susceptible place. Zuckerman is cautioning that if we do not take the environment into consideration when making choices, we will continue to suffer the effects.