A city under water

According to his biography on Wikipedia, Albert Baldwin Wood was an inventor and engineer from New Orleans. Hired by the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans in 1899 to try to improve the flood-prone city's drainage, Wood invented various hydraulic devices, most notably the Wood Screw Pump.

"Wood spearheaded the reclamation efforts to make developable much of the land now occupied by the city of New Orleans."

By allowing the ecological disaster that is New Orleans to exist, Wood easily qualifies for a Hubris award.