Rising early to begin the second full day of the journey, the Seattle University students were greeted by eighty degree weather and Darryl Malek-Wiley, a Sierra Club employee bearing doughnuts; is there a better combination? He led us to the much-publicized 9th Ward neighborhood where we had the opportunity to get first person accounts of the social and environmental effects the oil industry, Hurricane Katrina, and the BP disaster have had on the community and the neighboring ecosystems.
After arriving at our work site for the day, one of the first people we met was a lifetime resident of the 9th Ward who is dedicated to restoring the area while also improving its sustainability. While he spoke he emphasized the fact that, “nature don’t take sides” explaining how Katrina may have been the impetus for disaster but it was the series of mistakes made by engineers, business people, and government that exacerbated the damage. We listened to his vivid accounts while clearing overgrown paths that would be the foundation of refurbished park trails. This insightful conversation was the perfect transition into a key component of our trip: service. We contributed to an ongoing restoration project in the coastal wetlands; armed with machetes, trash-bags, sunscreen, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The current weatherization and restoration projects as well as the enthusiastic and welcoming people we met highlighted the resilience, dedication, and hope that the city of New Orleans embodies. We were thrilled to be able to experience and contribute to the restoration of this area.
As a city, New Orleans holds a presence. This presence can be described as lively, strong, and most definitely, resilient. We have been focusing our trip on the BP Oil Disaster, but in order to grasp the effects that the spill has generated we have closely observed the lasting ecological and social implications that Hurricane Katrina left in her wake.
Something we learned from our day with the Sierra Club was the strength of the people who are organizing and fighting for their city. The Sierra Club headquarters of Louisiana is run by three paid staff, and in Darryl’s effort to describe the challenges they face he states that, “the problem is…well there are just so many problems”. The community members and social activists of this city hold a shared vision of a healed New Orleans and they work towards this each day by overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges. Some of the most powerful examples of this compassion are:
- After two years of closing the 9th ward neighborhood (one of the areas that was significantly devastated by Katrina), the city eventually allowed residents to return home. Within the 9th ward the state refused to open or give the financial funding to a vital aspect of the community: the neighborhood school. To re-open the school, residents literally broke the gates and began rebuilding their education without consent or assistance of the city government.
- The 9th Ward dealt with the threat of contaminated soil being laid over land where houses had been washed out. The residents demanded to have this sediment tested for contamination before it was deposited. The test results showed high concentrations of heavy metals. The community’s diligent efforts to defend the health and well-being of their neighbors protected families from these harmful substances.
- A major task that is being taken on by organizations like the Sierra Club is restoring coastal wetlands. The Sierra Club brought us to a 4 acre wetland site that is a small portion of the 30,000 acres they hope to eventually restore. Sites like the one we saw have deteriorated in the past decades due to the miles of man-made canals for industrial expansion. This particular canal was where the surge from Katrina entered in and consequently broke the levee of the 9th ward. These efforts to restore wetlands is crucial in upholding the city in a environmentally damaged region.
“We can’t help what mother nature done, but we can fix what we done.”
John
Great blog on your journey! The work you are doing will be utilized and so appreciated by future residents of the 9th ward. Keep up the great work - and enjoy your beignets and coffee!
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