Download Climate Change in Coastal Louisiana from

BISCO
Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing
406 West Second Street
Thibodaux, LA 70301
985-227-9042
[email protected]
www.bisco-la.org
Bayou History Center, Inc.
Thibodaux, LA 70301
985-859-3214
[email protected]
Presented at the
HBCU Climate Change Conference
Dillard University
April 5, 2013
New Orleans, Louisiana
Climate Change in Coastal Louisiana
from a Community Perspective
Patty Whitney - BISCO
Coastal Louisiana is unique !
Our landscape is stunning !
Our wildlife is unusual !
Our people are diverse !
Our Celebrations are Varied !
Our houses are different !
And have been for centuries !
Our food is delicious !
Our Symbols Are Famous !
The Symbol of Louisiana
The River Built the Land !
The land is sinking
The Sea is Rising !
Storms are Stronger
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Rita
And Occur More Often
Hurricane Gustav
Hurricane Ike
Pollution Abounds
River Flooding
BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster
Mississippi River Spring Flooding
Our population has culturally and
historically been voiceless.
Ancestors who settled in this hostile
environment centuries ago were people
who had been kicked out, starved out,
sold out or cheated out of many other
places around the world.
Native Americans displaced farther
and farther south
Africans sold into slavery and shipped
to America
Acadians expelled from their
country by force
People of multiple ethnicities populated the
area:
• Native Americans
• French peasants and orphans
• Canary Islanders “Islenos”
• African slaves
• German peasants
• Acadian exiles “Cajuns”
Wealthier, more powerful people
settled on the high lands next to
the waterways.
Poorer, less powerful people were
pushed farther away from the
waterways and into the wetter,
lower lands and nearer the coast.
Coastal Louisiana
is a
“Regional Environmental
Justice Community”
TYPES OF E J COMMUNITIES
FENCE LINE
REGIONAL
Environmental Justice is
the fair treatment and meaningful
involvement
of
all
people
regardless of race, color, national
origin, or income with respect to
the development, implementation,
and enforcement of environmental
laws, regulations, and policies.
It will be achieved when everyone
enjoys the same degree of
protection from environmental and
health hazards and equal access to
the decision-making process to
have a healthy environment in
which to live, learn, and work.
What Makes An E J Community?
• A unique physical environment
• Natural Resources that make the area ripe for
exploitation and abuse
• An unsophisticated and voiceless population
via:
– Minority Ethnicity Status
– Lack of Wealth
– Lack of Education
– Government corruption and/or ineffectiveness
E J Communities shoulder a bigger
share of dangers and damages in
the exploitation of shared natural
resources than other communities.
Education for these populations
was either forbidden, insufficient
and poorly funded, or not
significantly valued by cultures or
governmental leaders.
Those who could read and write
ended up with most of the assets,
while those who could not read
and write ended up with little or
nothing.
E J Communities usually develop
laws designed to keep the general
public, especially the poor and
disenfranchised, from receiving a
quality education.
Wealth and/or Education Affects…
• An individual’s or family’s ability to prepare
for, respond to, or recover from a disaster;
i.e.,
– Evacuate
– Secure food, shelter, supplies, transportation…
– Clean up
– Rebuild or rehabilitate
– Mitigate for future disasters
• A community’s ability to protect themselves
from environmental injustices
Location affects impacts from
climate changes. Poorer
communities are more vulnerable
to changes because in a delta they
are located closer to the coast and
in wetlands.
Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana
What Must Be Done ?
• EDUCATE, EDUCATE, EDUCATE…
– Learn more about what is happening around you
– Learn more about how to go about changing
things
– Learn more about searching for “the big picture”
– Attend public and governmental meetings
– Read, read, read
– Teach your family and friends what you’ve learned
– GET INVOLVED !! It’s our grandchildren’s futures!
For More Information Contact Us At
Bayou History Center, Inc.
Patricia Whitney, Executive Director
985-895-3214
[email protected]
BISCO
Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing
Sharon Gauthe, Executive Director
985-227-9042
[email protected]
www.bisco-la.org