“I expected that a lawsuit taking on the entire oil and gas industry—perhaps the largest environmental lawsuit in the history of the planet—might receive major national coverage.” —Nathaniel Rich * In “Behind the Cover Story,” Rachel Nolan speaks with Nathaniel Rich,...
Year: 2014
Highlights from “The Most Ambitious Environmental Lawsuit Ever” in The New York Times Magazine
“The idea of making the industry live up to its legal responsibility is not going to die.” —John M. Barry Yesterday, Sunday, Oct. 6, The New York Times Magazine published a cover story titled “Waterworld: The Most Ambitious Environmental Lawsuit Ever.” Aside from the...
Louisiana’s Vanishing Wetlands and “Most Ambitious” Enviro Lawsuit Featured in New York Times Magazine
This weekend you’ll want to go to your nearest newsstand and buy a copy of the Sunday New York Times and go straight to the Magazine for an article of major importance. The cover shows an oil industry “shortcut” canal sliced through Louisiana’s Barataria-Terrebonne...
The People’s Climate March Is This Sunday, Sept. 21
* If Greenland melts, seas will rise 23 feet. Greenland + Antarctica = 38 feet. Or more. “We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it.” —Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington “The door is...
Join the People’s Climate March in NYC Sunday, Sept. 21
You’re Invited—Step On Out “There's a world to march for—and a future, too. The only real question is why anyone wouldn't march.” —“Why We March: Stepping Forth for a Planet in Peril ” * Spread the word and make plans to join the People’s Climate March in New York...
Obama Has Plans for ISIS; Now Congress Must Vote
The Guns of August, September, October . . . Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy. —Statement by the President on ISIL, Sept. 10, 2014 * Happy 9/11, everyone, on the...
BP Found Grossly Negligent in Deepwater Horizon Spill
Could Be Fined $18 Billion The fire you see here may be BP’s capital reserves going up in flame. A federal judge has ruled that BP was “reckless,” grossly negligent, and primarily to blame for the April 2010 blowout of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11...
Come to Rising Tide 9 in New Orleans on Sept. 13
The Tide Rises Again | Everyone’s Invited The ninth annual Rising Tide conference on the future of New Orleans will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13, at Xavier University in New Orleans. The keynote speaker will be educator and activist Dr. Andre Perry, formerly of New...
Labor Day Is for the Workers (the 99%)
“Labor Creates All Wealth” “Our labor movement has no system to crush. It has nothing to overturn. It purposes to build up, to develop, to rejuvenate humanity. “It stands for the right. It is the greatest protestant against wrong. It is the defender of the weak. “Its...
Remember August 29, 2005
If you don’t live in or around New Orleans you may have forgotten, but August 29 is the day Hurricane Katrina assaulted the Gulf Coast with Category 3 winds (up to 175 mph) and storm surges of 25 to 28 feet, killing 1,833 and costing some $108 billion in damages, the...
Questions for Coastal Conservation Conversation Panel: Tonight, Aug. 20
Experts to Discuss How to Pay for Massive Coastal Restoration Effort We are raising our hands because we have a few questions for the distinguished panelists at the Coastal Conservation Conversation tonight, Aug. 20, at Loyola University in New Orleans (6:00–8:00...
Join Louisiana’s Most Important Conversation: Aug. 20 at Loyola University
A Coastal Conservation Conversation The Lens, with sponsorship from the Mississippi River Delta Coalition, is hosting a panel discussion—a Coastal Conservation Conversation—on the financing of the $50 billion master plan for coastal restoration at Loyola University,...
Must We? For Now, But for How Long?
A Reluctant, Tentative Endorsement of (More) U.S. Military Action in Iraq “As Commander-in-Chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq. . . . American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq, because there’s...
House Democrats Demand to Know Why GOP Govs Rejected Medicaid Expansion
Show Us Why You’re Keeping Your People Poor and Sick “In order to better understand the basis for your opposition, I request that you provide . . . copies of any state-specific analyses, studies, or reports that you ordered, requested or relied on to inform your...
Louisiana Anthology Interviews Levees Not War
Usually when Levees Not War is involved in an interview, we do the interrogating. But now, we’re happy to report, the tables have been turned: Levees Not War is the subject of an in-depth interview with the editors of the Louisiana Anthology, Bruce R. Magee and...
Wishing America a Happier Birthday
. . . And Many Happy Returns We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights,...
Mississippi’s Runoff and Memories of Freedom Summer
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” —William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun (1950) * On the night of the Mississippi GOP primary runoff between U.S. senator Thad Cochran and state senator Chris McDaniel, PBS aired Freedom Summer, a powerful American Experience...
Obama Sends Troops to Protect U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
ISIS supporters rally in Mosul, Iraq. BBC photo. * White House Considers Special Forces to Advise Iraqis; Smells Like “Early Vietnam” Again “The United States has provided a $14 billion foreign military aid package to Iraq that includes F-16 fighter jets, Apache...
Here Comes the Flood
* National Assessment Finds Climate Change “Has Moved Firmly into the Present” The effects of human-induced climate change are being felt in every corner of the United States. . . . If greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane continue to escalate at a rapid...
7 Million Cheers for ‘Obamacare’
Public Health, Too, Is ‘National Security’ Congratulation to President Obama, the White House, and the courageous Democrats in Congress who voted for the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the most ambitious expansion of health care for Americans since the passage of...