#OurCoast: Exploring Bayous, Rivers and Faith
#OurCoast: Exploring Bayous, Rivers and Faith
On a recent Monday morning, myself and some fellow New Orleans-area clergy had the privilege to explore some of the bayous, rivers, bays and barrier islands in the gulf coast area near Venice. Riding aboard a sturdy Lafitte skiff, piloted by the inimitable Richie Blink, we learned about local flora and fauna, activities of the very-present oil and gas companies, and what the different fishing vessels going past us had in their hold (including one boat that had a pile …
#OurCoast: Growing Up on the Working Coast
#OurCoast is an ongoing project by Restore the Mississippi River Delta to document the various ways the Mississippi River Delta has made an impact in the lives of Louisianians and others. “We depend upon our coast and our coast depends on us” –Governor John Bel Edwards This statement could not ring more true as a representation of my childhood and adolescent experiences that have streamlined my career path and shaped the person I am today. I grew up in Vermilion …
#OurCoast: Faith, Science, and Sea Level Rise
#OurCoast is an ongoing project by Restore the Mississippi River Delta to document the various ways the Mississippi River Delta has made an impact in the lives of Louisianians and others. Sometimes, I find it really hard to be an earth scientist and live in New Orleans – and not just because we don’t have any local rocks to speak of. Rather, I find myself overwhelmed as my work can inundate me with new facts and projections about the vulnerability …
#OurCoast: From Disaster to Restoration
When I heard there had been an explosion on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, I knew it was going to be one of the most impactful events during my lifetime. In the spring of 2010, I was living in Florida, deep in the throes of graduate school and finals were looming. I knew that once I really started to pay attention to the news surrounding the spill, I was not going to be able to stop. So …
#OurCoast: From the Headwaters to the Delta
“Jump!” the guide told us. “Jump out of the boat!” I was sitting with my colleagues in a small boat near the mouth of the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi. We had boarded at the dock, traveled south through the channel, and were now bobbing in open water where the murky Atchafalaya River meets the clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico. I figured our guide was making a joke – there was no way I was jumping out …