A Time for Celebration, but Not for Complacency Has it really been ten years already? Indeed it has: a long ten years. And the work of rebuilding, the labors of love and determination, dedication, devotion, and sometimes of desperation—aided by countless volunteers...
Environment
Nathaniel Rich on the “National Crisis” of Louisiana’s Disappearing Coast
“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,...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
John Kerry: Climate Change Is ‘World’s Most Fearsome’ Weapon of Mass Destruction
* “When 97 percent of scientists agree on anything, we need to listen, and we need to respond. . . . And the results of our human activity are clear. If you ranked all the years in recorded history by average temperature, . . . you’d see that all 10 of the hottest...
Honoré Speaks for La. Flood Protection Authority Lawsuit Against Big Oil
“Put our coast back like you found it” Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré, the keynote speaker for this coming weekend’s Rising Tide conference in New Orleans, has added a further distinction to his already impressive curriculum vitae: He adds his voice to a full-page advertisement published in the Times-Picayune, paid for by Levees.org and the […]
Louisiana Flood Protection Agency Sues Big Oil to Repair Wetlands
Historic case is compared to 1990s litigation against Big Tobacco About 100 oil and gas companies must pay to repair the Louisiana wetlands damaged by a century of oil exploration and extraction, according to a lawsuit filed July 24 in civil district court in Orleans...
When Seawater Occupies Wall Street
* A security guard walks through a flooded street in the financial district of Manhattan early on Tuesday, Oct. 29. Photo by Adrees Latif/Reuters. * Knee-deep thought of the day: When seawater occupies Wall Street, perhaps Nature itself is telling Big Business and...
IEA Sees “Irreversible Climate Change in Five Years”
“I don’t know who and where the climate leadership in the administration is. It doesn’t exist. There is no resolve in the Obama administration to do anything.” —Tim Wirth, U.N. Foundation president “What do you get for pretending the danger’s not real?” —Pink Floyd,...
Conservatives, Please Help Conserve Louisiana’s Coast
“What is a conservative after all but one who conserves, one who is committed to protecting and holding close the things by which we live?” —Ronald Reagan, 1984 “Louisiana’s voters must find, nominate and elect conservatives (aka, Republicans) who understand there’s...
Wrath of God? : Global Warming and Extreme Weather
In response to our recent post about Christian fundamentalists’ unconcern with the present danger of global warming, our good friend David in Berkeley, a former editor at Sierra Club Books, had this to say: I’ve been wanting to tell the rapturists et al.: Maybe the...
To Save New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Morganza Spillway Is Opened; Only 2nd Opening Since 1954
“The President of the Mississippi River Commission Maj. Gen. Michael J. Walsh has directed the New Orleans District Commander Col. Ed Fleming to be prepared to operate the Morganza Floodway within 24 hours. The operation will include the deliberate and slow opening of...
New Orleans Is Most Likely Safe from River Flooding
* There’s a certain trepidation in writing that headline, but . . . Despite over $2 billion in damages, possibly to reach $4 billion from the Mississippi River Flood of 2011, including dramatic flooding upriver around Cairo, Memphis, and Vicksburg—and despite scary...