Beyond Katrina

LA Art Grants to be Cut by $2 Million (41%) - TAKE ACTION!

2010-03-08T14:20:04-06:00

Arts Supporters,

Please see the message below...it's happening again this year. The Executive Budget presented to the Louisiana House Appropriations Committee requests a $1 MILLION CUT to Decentralized Arts Funding (DAF) and a $1 MILLION CUT to Statewide Art Grants (SAG) for a total of $2 million or 41%. These cuts are in addition to the 12% DAF and SAG cuts sustained last spring for the current year's budget, and the 9% mid-year cuts made again in January to current DAF and SAG grants in-progress.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW! Contact your legislators and ask them to reinstate DAF and SAG funding! Visit the Louisiana Partnership for Arts Advocacy at www.lparts.org, type your zip code into the "Write Your Legislators" box, click on the top alert "State of Louisiana - Severe Funding Cuts Proposed," and follow the directions from there. It's that easy and only takes a few minutes.

Last year the Executive Budget requested an 81% elimination to arts funding, but strong grassroots support and the backing of Lt. Gov Landrieu convinced our Legislators to reduce the cuts to only 12%. This year Lt. Gov Landrieu is leaving to become Mayor of New Orleans. The arts need your support more than ever.

If you have ever attended a museum, theatre, festival, music or dance concert; enjoyed the free children's arts programming in libraries and schools; patronized arts and cultural organizations; applied for an arts grant; or benefited from the increased quality of life, economic development, and tourism that the arts provide your community, then these cuts WILL affect you. Loss of these funds will create a ripple effect crippling Louisiana's greatest natural resource: our culture.

Further, cutting economic drivers during a time of economic crisis is counterproductive. The state's own economic impact studies show that for every $1 the state spends on DAF, $11 is returned to state tax coffers and for every $1 the state spends on SAG, $28 is returned.

Visit www.lparts.org and ask your Legislators to reinstate DAF and SAG today.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE, and thank you for your continued support!

Laura Larkin
Grants & Community Development Director
Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge
427 Laurel Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70801
225-344-8558
fax 225-344-7777
llarkin@acgbr.com
www.artsbr.org

Hurricane recovery issues to be reviewed by legislative panel

2010-03-07T11:47:16-06:00

The Louisiana Legislature has created a new panel of mostly New Orleans-area lawmakers to provide scrutiny of storm recovery ...Continue at nola.com

Marshes Dying for Lack of Fresh Water at Maurepas Swamp, Louisiana, US

2010-03-06T23:38:32-06:00

ScienceDaily (2010-03-06) -- Without a diversion from the Mississippi River or the introduction of other sources of fresh water in the near future, the Maurepas Swamp in southeast Louisiana will continue on a clear path toward becoming marsh and open water, a new study confirms.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100306152418.htm#

Tax credits extended for hurricane damaged housing

2010-03-06T23:09:57-06:00

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Special tax credits designed to help the Gulf Coast restore affordable housing that was damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita have been extended. Continue Here.

Can a Jobs Bill Increase Resilience in Louisiana?

2010-03-06T22:58:34-06:00

Last night, the Senate cleared a major hurdle towards passing a $15 billion jobs bill. This seems to be just the first of several jobs bills that the Senate will consider in the coming weeks and months. Among these bills we're keeping a close eye on the "Home Star" program. We strongly urge senators to press for resilience measures in the Home Star program, as they could create construction jobs and bolster flood mitigation in Louisiana and other coastal states. Continue here.

GOES-P Mission

2010-03-06T01:14:16-06:00

3-2-1 and Liftoff of GOES-P!
The Delta IV carrying GOES-P lifted off at 6:57 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

After reaching orbit, GOES-P will become GOES-15. The satellite will be used to monitor and predict weather, measure ocean temperatures, perform climate studies, and detect hazards with its emergency beacon support and Search and Rescue Transponder.GOES-P was built by Boeing for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.

Image above: A Delta IV launch vehicle lifts off carrying GOES-P into orbit. Image credit: NASA/Kenny Allen

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-P, or GOES-P, is the latest in a series of meteorological satellites designed to watch for storm development and weather conditions on Earth. From its location in Earth orbit, GOES-P's state-of-the-art instrumentation will supply data used in weather monitoring, forecasting and warnings. It also will detect ocean and land temperatures, monitor space weather, relay communications and provide search-and-rescue support.

Obama Administration Plan to Restore Coastal Louisiana Wetlands Praised by Conservation Groups

2010-03-05T23:55:36-06:00

Photocredit: Matthew D. White "Deterorating Marsh"

Groups pledge to work with federal and state partners to develop long-term vision

WASHINGTON, March 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Six local and national environmental groups praised the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for unveiling the Obama administration's 18-month plan this afternoon to expedite construction of near-term projects, while creating a long-term vision and governance structure for restoring coastal wetlands in Louisiana. CEQ and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are leading an interagency working group created by President Obama last August to step up the federal response to catastrophic wetland loss in the Gulf Coast region that worsened the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina.

"The working group's proposals will put this program into gear with strong new leadership, better science and improved coordination among federal and state partners to restore the Mississippi River Delta, as well as to create safe and resilient communities," said a joint statement from the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Environmental Defense Fund, Gulf Restoration Network, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, National Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation. "Last month, President Obama requested more than $40 million in his budget for multiple agencies to restore wetlands in Louisiana. This workplan will ensure that this funding and all future funding are utilized as effectively and efficiently as possible."

The Obama administration and Louisiana officials agree that restoring Louisiana's coastal wetlands is a critical element of an effective strategy for ecosystem restoration, storm protection, and economic growth in coastal Louisiana. Since the 1930s, Louisiana has lost 2,300 square miles of wetlands -- an area larger than the state of Delaware -- because of erosion and sinking land, much of it caused by mismanagement of the Mississippi River and its delta. These coastal wetlands serve as a buffer against storms and hurricanes, providing protection for two million coastal residents, and the pipelines and refineries that service one-third of our nation's oil and gas production. They also provide critical habitat for wildlife and play an important role in the region's economy, including the most valuable fishery in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The interagency work plan released today by CEQ is a remarkable step forward for coastal Louisiana," added the groups. "The plan correctly identifies some of the most challenging issues plaguing restoration efforts. More importantly, it outlines a strong and coordinated federal response consistent with President Obama's budget recommendations for the region."

"This working group is addressing exactly the right questions: 1) how do we make sure existing wetland restoration projects are built as soon as possible; and 2) how do we plan for an effective, coordinated and comprehensive restoration program moving forward," concluded the groups. "By including the multiple lines of defense strategy, the CEQ working group has connected-the-dots between coastal restoration and flood protection, which is precisely what is needed. We will continue working closely with the working group to achieve the objectives outlined today."

SOURCE Environmental Defense Fund

http://www.edf.org

Why You Should Start a Company in... New Orleans

2010-03-05T19:54:16-06:00

PhotoCredit: Matthew D. White

Thumbs Up. Fast Company featured New Orleans today in part 8 of their series of entreprenurial hubs. Read it here.

White House Roadmap Clears Barriers to Gulf Coast Restoration

2010-03-05T18:48:17-06:00

WASHINGTON, DC, March 4, 2010 (ENS) - To protect and restore the coastal ecosystems of Louisiana and Mississippi, Obama administration officials today released a "Roadmap" that defines a new planning process to overcome long-standing policy and procedural barriers to coastal restoration.

In keeping with President Barack Obama's effort to cut through red tape and ensure residents of the Gulf Coast have access to the tools and funds they need to rebuild after repeated hurricanes, wetland loss and coastal erosion, the Roadmap outlines federal actions over the next 18 months to address policy, process, and legal hurdles.

The Roadmap was issued by the Louisiana-Mississippi Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Working Group, formed by President Obama in October 2009 and co-led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, CEQ, and the Office of Management and Budget.\

"The Louisiana and Mississippi coastal region is critical to the economic, cultural, and environmental integrity of the nation," said CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley. "We have a unique opportunity to address the issue of coastal resiliency in the face of ever-present change. With bold and decisive action, we can slow the rate of ecosystem loss in the area and, where possible, restore the ecosystems and the services they provide."

In the Working Group are senior officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the departments of the Army, Homeland Security, the Interior, and Transportation.

"The most important aspect of the Working Group is the Federal Government's reaffirmation of its partnership with the States of Mississippi and Louisiana and its commitment to coordinate its actions with those of the States," the Roadmap declares.

That approach is welcomed by Working Group member Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works. She has charge of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is engaged in many ongoing projects in this coastal area.

"The Roadmap maximizes the impact of Federal resources over the next 18 months, and we are very pleased with the spirit of inter-agency cooperation and commitment that is already in evidence," Darcy said today.

Every plan proposed in the region in the last 20 years has recognized the extraordinary rate of coastal wetland and barrier island ecosystem loss in Louisiana and Mississippi and the importance of large scale action to address the problem.

But persistent barriers have prevented the promised protection, conservation, and restoration actions from fully materializing, the Roadmap states.

Working Group meetings with key stakeholders both in the region and in Washington, DC heard that:

Inadequate coordination within and among federal agencies impedes movement of projects to construction.
Water resource policies in some cases inhibit ecosystem restoration efforts such as those designed to use sediment to greater ecosystem benefit.
Inconsistent or opaque priority-setting undermines cooperation and support for projects.
Incomplete research and science challenges all aspects of planning, priority setting, and project design.
Budget constraints can compound these impediments and delay restoration efforts.

The Roadmap proposes to improve cooperation and coordination between various federal and state entities through a new governance model.

"A greater emphasis on research and data sharing will improve project planning and design as well as adaptive management over time," the plan states.

"Considering possible statutory changes needed to address obstacles that cannot be overcome through administrative remedies will ensure greater alignment of Federal actions. Reconsidering critical policies, regulations, and even statutes such as those governing sediment management and mitigation will help, rather than hinder, restoration efforts. The exploration of alternative financing mechanisms could foster progress on projects."

"The resolution of these issues will not solve all of the problems in the region, but they do represent the most urgent short-term objectives and actions identified by the Working Group as necessary to advance restoration and protection efforts in the region," the Roadmap says.

In Baton Rouge today, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Chairman Garret Graves called the Working Group's report "a welcome road map to advance restoration and protection activities in South Louisiana."

"The current federal process is broken and fundamental change is needed to restore our coast and protect the more than two million Louisianans that live in coastal Louisiana," the two state officials said. "This road map is a good first step that clearly demonstrates a positive shift in direction, but must be coupled with aggressive action on the ground - turning dirt. There is no time for delay."

"One important lesson we learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is the need for a comprehensive vision," they said. As the state begins working with the White House on the implementation of this plan, we must insure the inclusion of all aspects of a multiple lines of defense strategy to protect our citizens in addition to the coastal ecosystem."

Graves said, "The challenges we face are complex and require the full attention and high-level participation from numerous federal agencies. This report lays out how the federal government can join the state by coordinating resources from various agencies to reverse our extraordinary coastal loss and proactively address vulnerabilities that have developed over the last 80 years."

U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, today expressed her suppport for the Roadmap.

"For the first time, a President has put together a cabinet level group to take stock of the crisis in coastal Louisiana and outline a roadmap to meeting these challenges now," Senator Landrieu said.

"The first recommendation of this group is that we establish a new model for implementing and executing this important work. I could not agree more," she said. "We cannot be hamstrung by the bureaucracy of the Corps or the red tape of any other federal agency. We need an integrated, comprehensive approach that accelerates our work in coastal Louisiana and builds a true partnership with the State."

Click here to view the "Louisiana-Mississippi Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Working Group Roadmap for Restoring Ecosystem Resiliency and Sustainability."

Source: Environmental News Service

Census of hurricane-hit areas on Gulf Coast begins

2010-03-05T18:05:55-06:00

NEW ORLEANS -- Census takers have begun hand delivering 2010 Census questionnaires in places in Mississippi and Louisiana hit hard by hurricanes since 2005 in an effort to count everyone on the Gulf Coast for the once-in-a-decade population count. Continue here.

$100 million in work planned to bolster three New Orleans canals

2010-03-05T18:01:23-06:00

The Army Corps of Engineers plans to drive steel sheet piling about 60 feet into the ground along parts of the London Avenue Canal's eastern floodwall -- three to four times deeper than those that catastrophically failed during Hurricane Katrina -- in hopes of significantly increasing the volume of water that the canal can hold. Continue at nola.com.

Breaking News - Tsunami Strikes Hawaii

2010-02-27T17:03:13-06:00

News Alert: Tsunami strikes Hawaii
05:00 PM EST Saturday, February 27, 2010
--------------------

Scientists say ocean gauges confirm tsunami has reached Hawaii; extent of damage uncertain.

Incoming waves topping out at six feet were possible. A tsunami warning was also in effect for Guam, American Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com:
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/VP6EHT/2HCTZ/87KYTG/8IU0XQ/Z2XQT/CM/t

Jobs at stake in Louisiana as NASA shifts gears

2010-02-04T01:43:17-06:00

The future of Louisiana's gateway to space is uncertain after a sudden shift in the space program directed by President Obama. Continue here

Louisiana Sugar Refining facility touted as 'an important project for the state'

2010-02-04T01:35:58-06:00

A groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for a new sugar refinery, which supporters tout will be one of the largest in the nation, was the second time around for some officials. Continue at the Times-Picayune, here.

Dr. John Suggests New Orleans As Your Next Vacation Destination

2010-02-04T00:04:02-06:00

Find out more and give it a listen at New York Magazine, here.

Budget includes coastal funding

2010-02-03T18:04:48-06:00

WASHINGTON — The federal budget released by President Barack Obama on Monday includes $36 million toward coastal restoration. Continue here...

Duncan's Katrina comment blasted

2010-02-03T17:54:57-06:00

The president of the state’s top school board Tuesday criticized comments by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan that Hurricane Katrina was the “best thing” that happened to the education system in New Orleans. Continue here...

Notice of Public Meeting: Plaquemines Parish Government

2010-02-03T17:44:45-06:00

Notice of Public Meeting: Plaquemines Parish Government

Meeting time and Location:
When: Thursday, March 4, 2010, at 6:00 p.m.
Where: The Belle Chasse Auditorium is located at 8398 Hwy. 23, Belle
Chasse LA 70037

Plaquemines Parish Government (the Parish) will hold a Public Meeting on
the "Baptiste Collette Bayou Navigation Channel Deepening Section 203
Study" on Thursday March 4, 2010, at 6:00 p.m. at the Belle Chasse
Auditorium. The Parish hopes to provide interested parties and
stakeholders with information on the project and the opportunity to
comment during the final phases of planning and alternatives development.

The Parish is investigating alternatives for improving access to the oil
fields, drilling rigs, and production platforms located in the Central and
Eastern Planning Areas of the Gulf of Mexico. Expansion of the oil and
gas infrastructure into the eastern gulf and the emergence of larger
deep-draft Off Shore Vessels has created a need for improved access to the
offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

The purpose of the study is to assess alternatives to improve navigation,
particularly to the Venice Port Facilities and to ensure an alternative
transportation route to the offshore oil and gas infrastructure from the
Venice Port Facilities. The study area is located within the Mississippi
River Deltaic Plain of the Lower Mississippi River and experiences
extremely high erosion rates. In addition to improving navigation, the
development of an innovative and comprehensive beneficial use plan is a
top priority for the study.

Report: Louisiana still heavily dependent on energy

2010-02-03T17:36:26-06:00

BATON ROUGE — Despite decades of attempts at economic diversification, Louisiana is still heavily dependent on petroleum revenue and probably will see its recovery from the recession lag behind other states, according to a new study. Continue here.

Ex-NBA player faults Haitians, New Orleanians

2010-02-03T17:22:07-06:00

The CityBusiness Blog picked up a blog post by former NBA player Paul Shirley...Excerpt from Paul Shirley's post as follows:

I do not know if what I’m about to write makes me a monster. I do know that it makes me a part of a miniscule minority, if Internet trends and news stories of the past weeks are any guide.

“It”, is this:

I haven’t donated a cent to the Haitian relief effort. And I probably will not.

I haven’t donated to the Haitian relief effort for the same reason that I don’t give money to homeless men on the street.

Shouldn’t much of the responsibility for the disaster lie with the victims of that disaster?

City Biz Blog Post:

Here’s the part New Orleanians will be interested in:

We did the same after Hurricane Katrina. We were quick to vilify humans who were too slow to respond to the needs of victims, forgetting that the victims had built and maintained a major city below sea level in a known target zone for hurricanes. Our response: Make the same mistake again. Rebuild a doomed city, putting aside logic as we did.

Shirley reportedly has been fired as a contributor to ESPN in the wake of his blog posting.•

Thank you ESPN! See CityBusiness blog post here and Paul Shirley's entire rant, here.

Louisiana Environmental Groups Challenge Governor Jindal's Opposition to EPA On Greenhouse Gas Regulation

2010-02-03T15:36:06-06:00

Baton Rouge - A number of Louisiana environmental organizations have challenged Governor Jindal on the issue of greenhouse gas regulation by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The nine organizations - the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), the Louisiana Audubon Council, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club, Sierra Club, Gulf Restoration Network, Alliance for Affordable Energy, Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, and Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper - wrote the Governor in response to letters that he and 3 key state agencies sent to EPA in December.

The groups point out that the Jindal administration's letters focus on the concerns of only one sector - the petrochemical industry - instead of the interests of Louisiana's citizens. They cite the lack of any mention in the state's letters of Louisiana's endangered coast as the most glaring example of this. The environmental groups also point out in their letter that EPA cited coastal impacts from global warming as one of the key justifications for their finding of "endangerment" for greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

"The nation knows that Louisiana has a serious coastal problem caused in part by sea-level rise, and that the state's vulnerability to hurricanes is increasing," said Marylee Orr, Executive Director of LEAN. "It is also known that these problems are being exacerbated by global warming, and that their effects will worsen with a warming climate. By ignoring these considerations, Louisiana's Governor and agencies are damaging the state's credibility."

The state's letters contend that Congressional action is the more appropriate venue for addressing the greenhouse gas issue than regulation. The environmental groups point out in their letter that the Obama administration has stated that it would prefer Congress to act, but that the EPA is acting in the absence of Congressional legislation, as well as in response to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling.

Louisiana's Congressional delegation has opposed climate change legislation, so referring the action to Congress could well be a recipe for inaction. The groups' letter states that together, the positions of the Governor and the delegation amount to a "no action" position on global warming at a time when as serious national policy effort is underway.

Their letter concludes, "If... Louisiana continues to act in an obstructionist manner on climate change, serving the interests of only one economic sector, then its citizens will be the ultimate losers, inheriting a lost coast and a diminished future."

The groups' letter can be seen at: http://leanweb.org/news/latest/letter-to-governor-jindal-concerning-the-epa-s-endangerment-finding.html

CONTACT:

Marylee Orr
Executive Director
Louisiana Environmental Action Network
(225) 928-1315

Richard Bryan
Vice Chair
Louisiana Audubon Council
(318) 640-0198
(504) 861-8465

John Lopez
Director, Coastal Sustainability Program
Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation
(504) 836-2215

Haywood Martin
Chapter Chair
Delta Chapter, Sierra Club
(337) 232-7953

Cynthia Sarthou
Executive Director
Gulf Restoration Network
(504) 525-1528 x202

Dean Wilson Atchafalaya Basinkeeper
(225) 692-4114

Paul Orr Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper
(225) 802-9255

Jesse George
Director, Legal & Regulatory Affairs
Alliance for Affordable Energy
(504) 208-9761

Jordan Macha Louisiana Conservation Organizer
Sierra Club
(504) 861-4835

State Coastal Restoration Officials Announce Completion of Crucial Shoreline Protection Project in Cameron Parish

2010-02-03T15:30:15-06:00

BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana coastal protection and restoration officials announced Wednesday the completion of a $10.6 million shoreline protection project in Cameron Parish that will help protect fragile and rapidly eroding freshwater marshes in the Mermentau River Basin.

The project, named the Grand Lake Shoreline Protection project, constructed 37,100 linear feet of rock breakwaters along the southwest shoreline of Grand Lake between Superior Canal and Catfish Lake. The area, which is historically freshwater marsh, was greatly affected by both Hurricane Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Ike in 2008 which inundated the Mermentau River Basin with saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico.

Additionally, strong north winds from fall and winter cold fronts have contributed to shoreline erosion rates between 11 and 32 feet in the last decade along the south shore of Grand Lake.

Construction of the shoreline protection began in August of 2009.

Project funding came from Louisiana's Coastal Impact Assistance Plan (CIAP). CIAP was established in the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 and is administered by the Minerals Management Service (MMS). It provides funds to coastal petroleum producing states to mitigate the onshore impacts of offshore oil and gas exploration.

Louisiana is set to receive more than $495 million overall from CIAP in the four year span of the program from 2007-2010, with 65 percent of the funds going to the state and 35 percent allocated to the 19 coastal parishes. All projects must be approved by MMS and all funds must be expended by 2014.

In addition to the Grand Lake Shoreline Protection Project, CIAP funds are being directed to a host of coastal restoration projects including the restoration of East Grand Terre Island in Plaquemines Parish, marsh creation and restoration on the Barataria Landbridge in Jefferson Parish, shoreline protection along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Terrebonne Parish and marsh creation through the beneficial use of dredge materail removed during maintenance of the Calcasieu Ship Channel in Cameron Parish.

A complete list of the projects being planned, designed and constructed in Louisiana is available in the February 2010 issue of the CIAP Newsletter, which can be viewed by clicking here.

For more information about Louisiana CIAP projects and Louisiana's coastal restoration and protection efforts, please contact Chris Macaluso at (225) 342-3972 or by email at chris.macaluso@la.gov.

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority's mandate is to develop, implement and enforce a comprehensive coastal protection and restoration master plan. For the first time in Louisiana's history, this single state authority will integrate coastal restoration and hurricane protection by marshaling the expertise and resources of the Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration and other state agencies, to speak with one clear voice for the future of Louisiana's coast. Working with federal, state and local political subdivisions, including levee districts, the CPRA will work to establish a safe and sustainable coast that will protect our communities, the nation's critical energy infrastructure, and our bountiful natural resources for generations to come. The CPRA of Louisiana was established by Act 8 of the 1st Extraordinary Session of 2005.

Beginning of the end of charity hospitals

2010-02-02T17:39:32-06:00

The best thing to come Louisiana's way since the start of the Obama administration has to be the $475 million arbitration award won by LSU last week to replace the Katrina-damaged Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Resolving the drawn-out dispute with the Federal Emergency Management Agency marks the last big piece of unfinished recovery business to fall into place since the water went down. Continue at Baton Rouge Business Report.

Group advocates chemical safety reform

2010-02-02T16:35:05-06:00

The recently formed Coalition for Chemical Safety is trying to rally support for a comprehensive rewrite of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, which regulates chemicals like those produced in many Louisiana plants. Continue here...

N.O. area construction employment falls 6 percent

2010-02-01T21:12:34-06:00

The New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner area lost more construction jobs in December 2009 compared with December 2008 than any other metropolitan statistical area in Louisiana. Continue at New Orleans City Business...

CPRA Releases Draft 2011 Annual Plan; Conducting Public Meetings Feb 8-10

2010-02-01T14:21:28-06:00

BATON ROUGE -- The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has released a draft of the "Fiscal Year 2011 Annual Plan: Integrated Ecosystem Restoration and Hurricane Protection in Coastal Louisiana."

The draft plan identifies a host of coastal restoration and hurricane protection projects that will receive funding during the 2011 - 2013 fiscal years from a variety of state and federal funding sources. All projects identified in the draft plan are integral components of Louisiana's overarching Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast which was approved by the state legislature in 2007.

Please click here to download the Fiscal Year 2011 Draft Annual Plan.

The following public hearings have been scheduled to receive comments and recommendations regarding the draft plan:

Monday, February 8, 2010 at 3:00pm
St. Bernard Parish Council Chambers
8201 W. Judge Perez Drive
Chalmette, LA 70043

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 3:00pm
Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government
Council Chambers
Government Tower Building
8026 Main Street
Houma, LA 70360

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 3:00pm
Lake Charles Civic Center
900 Lakeshore Drive
Lake Charles, LA 70601

State coastal protection and restoration officials will be on hand at each meeting to answer questions about the draft plan.

Comments can also be sent by mail to the Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, attention Karim Belhadjali, P.O. Box 44027, Baton Rouge, LA. 70804-4027. Comments will also be accepted by phone at (225) 342-4123 and by email to info@lacpra.org .

The last day to submit public comments is March 13, 2010.

All public comments will be considered before the writing and submission of a final plan for approval by the CPRA in advance of the 2010 legislative regular session which is scheduled to begin March 29, 2010. Once approved by the CPRA, the Fiscal Year 2011 Annual Plan will then be submitted for approval by the legislature.

For more information about the CPRA's Fiscal Year 2011 Draft Annual Plan and Louisiana's ongoing coastal protection and restoration efforts, please contact Chris Macaluso by email at chris.macaluso@la.gov.

A NASA Satellite Look at the Cape Verde Islands and the Region’s Hurricane Relevance

2010-01-30T18:41:59-06:00

This is a visible image of the Cape Verde Islands on Dec. 12 at 14:45 UTC as seen by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. Credit: NASA's MODIS Rapid Response Team

After crashing onto Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula the morning of August 21, the GOES-12 satellite saw Hurricane Dean make a second landfall in Mexico near the town of Tecolutla at about 11:30 a.m. CDT on August 22. Credit: NASA/GOES Project

The Cape Verde islands off the western African coast are often mentioned during the Atlantic Hurricane Season, and are known for developing "Cape Verde hurricanes." NASA's Aqua satellite flies over the islands almost daily, and recently captured a stunning visual image of them while directly overhead.

Last month, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured a peaceful looking satellite image of the Cape Verde Islands. As quiet as they appear in the winter, they were active in the summer of 2006 when NASA conducted an airborne hurricane field campaign nearby. That's because the Cape Verde Islands region is important in the formation of some Atlantic Ocean hurricanes.

The NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Activities (NAMMA) experiment included flights of the NASA DC-8 aircraft (based at Cape Verde) along with ground-based radar and other measurements from the islands and Dakar, Senegal, in western Africa. The goal was to study the transition of major convective storms moving off of Africa that had potential to develop into tropical cyclones.

Scott Braun, research meteorologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. said, "A particular focus in this experiment was the role of the warm, dry, and dusty Saharan Air Layer (SAL), which some studies have suggested may play a role in storm formation and evolution. There is considerable debate as to whether the SAL acts to aid or prevent storm formation and intensification, and the NAMMA data, combined with a wide variety of NASA satellite products, should help us to address key science questions regarding the SAL’s role."

So, why are the Cape Verde Islands important to hurricane researchers? Because tropical cyclones often form in the vicinity of those islands and have a reputation of making landfall in the U.S. They usually develop from tropical waves that form in the African savanna during the wet season and then move into the African steppes. Those waves that move off Africa's west coast can develop into tropical cyclones, usually in August or September. Some tropical cyclones however, have formed as early as July or as late as October.

The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago located in the Macaronesia ecoregion of the North Atlantic Ocean, off the western coast of Africa, opposite Mauritania and Senegal. It is slightly more than 4,000 km² (1,540 square miles) in area with an estimated population of over 500,000. The capital of Cape Verde is Praia. The previously uninhabited islands were discovered in the 15th century and colonized by the Portuguese. They attained independence from Portugal in 1975.

The average Atlantic Hurricane season brings with it approximately two Cape Verde hurricanes. These hurricanes are usually the most intense and the biggest storms of the season because they develop so far to the east and can travel over a large area of warm, open ocean waters that help power them. There are also no land forms in the way to slow tropical cyclones if they form near the Cape Verde Islands.

Cape Verde tropical cyclones also tend to be the longest-lived storms, because of the huge area of open ocean they have to move through. Some have even moved into the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricane Dean (2007), one of the strongest landfalling hurricanes in the Atlantic, formed just west of the Islands around Aug. 13, moved into the Caribbean on Aug. 17, and made landfall in Belize as a category 5 storm on Aug. 21.

Hurricane Ivan (2004) formed southwest of the Islands on Sept. 3, 2004, moved into the Caribbean on Sept. 8 as a category 4 storm, and into the Gulf of Mexico on Sept. 14 as a category 5 storm. Ivan weakened somewhat to cat 4 intensity by landfall.

The Atlantic Ocean hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.

Rob Gutro

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/features/cape-verde.html

La. awarded nearly $475M in Katrina hospital dispute

2010-01-30T18:30:23-06:00

A federal arbitration panel has awarded Louisiana $474.7 million in compensation for hurricane-related damage to Charity Hospital. The decision is a major victory for state officials, who fought a bitter battle with FEMA over the money to rebuild the hospital that served poor New Orleans residents before Hurricane Katrina. Continue here

2010 hurricane season predictions scatter all over the map

2009-12-26T22:38:09-06:00

Days after the 2009 hurricane season ended, two of the country's leading hurricane experts delivered this grim news: The 2010 Atlantic season doesn't look good. Anticipate an above-average probability of major hurricane landfall, with 11 to 16 named storms, six to nine hurricanes and as many as five that could become major hurricanes. Continue at. www.tampabay.com....and at Reuters....

2009-11-28T05:06:00-06:00

THE END OF THE GREAT RIVER

Photographs of the Lower Mississippi River Delta

Port of New Orleans
1350 Port of New Orleans Place
New Orleans, LA 70160
504-522-2551
Mon – Fri 8-5

Dec. 1, 2009 – Dec. 18, 2009

Reception - Dec. 10, 2009, 4:00 to 6:00 pm

This photo-essay and exhibit features fine art landscape images of the Mississippi River Delta, from Port Sulphur in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana south to the end of the three passes that drain the river into the Gulf of Mexico -- Pass a Loutre; South Pass; and Southwest Pass. This delta, full of history, culture, and industry, is sparsely populated and rarely seen in detail by outsiders, but is a landscape of vast, simplistic beauty. Photography for this project began in the spring of 2000, made on both black and white film and digital color, continuing to the present day.

The exhibit opens in conjunction with PhotoNOLA, an annual celebration of photography in New Orleans, Louisiana coordinated by the New Orleans Photo Alliance in partnership with galleries, museums and photographers citywide. The exhibit includes 12 images from Matthew White's Mississippi River Delta collection and will be displayed in the lobby of the Port of New Orleans Administrative Building. A reception will be held December 10, 2009 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. The exhibit closes December 18th and will travel afterward.

To see previews of photographs from the exhibit, please follow this link.

For more information, to inquire about sponsorship, or to book this exhibit, please contact Margaret Saizan, at msaizan@bigvisionmedia.com or 225-229-7399. Further updates will be posted at this site and at Matthew White's exhibit page at the PhotoNOLA website as additional information becomes available.

Pardon Our Mess

2009-11-28T05:04:30-06:00

I am in the process of re-vamping the blog and re-categorizing all of my posts since Day 1. We're a bit disorganized and in need of updating so your patience is appreciated while we spruce things up a bit.

Back from hiatus

2009-11-28T01:47:00-06:00

Whew. It's been a long time since I lasted posted here. It's not that I haven't been focused on Katrina matters, it's just that my work has been grass roots, hands on, in the trenches. That said, I have really missed blogging...and August 29, 2009 marked the beginning of the fifth anniversary year of Hurricane Katrina. Can you believe that? In some ways it seems like the hurricane season of 2005 was just yesterday...in other ways it seems like the journey has been long and arduous. No mistake about it - Louisiana is still in the throngs of recovery. I was just talking to Cyndi Sellers, tourism board and library board for Cameron Parish Louisiana last week - The library will be just getting out of a bookmobile and into a temporary building sometime in January. Cameron Parish recovery is related to Rita of course - and then they got another wallop last year by Ike. Ok so I digress. At any rate, now that we're heading toward Katrina's fifth anny, thoughts are I'll take the blog out of archive for one last spin - and then hang her up after Hurricane Season 2010. I am in the process of launching a new online portal - Gulf Coast Rising - which will be focused on innovations happening on the Gulf Coast and I will post information about that here very soon. It's great to be back!

Margaret Saizan

Beyond Katrina: The Voice of Hurricane & Disaster Recovery
www.hurricane-katrina.org

State of Louisiana's Express Pay System Quickens the Pace of Recovery During First Year

2009-03-13T06:43:47-05:00

BATON ROUGE, La. - Since the beginning of the state's innovative Express Pay system last March, the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the Governor's Office of Homeland Security have quickened the pace of recovery by cutting down payment wait-times in FEMA's Public Assistance program from nearly 60 days to an average of eight business days.

Also during its first year, the Express Pay system made payments to 4,231 local governments and nonprofits totaling $865 million.

Louisiana Recovery Authority Executive Director Paul Rainwater said, "Prior to January 2008, the previous administration took anywhere from 45 to 60 days to reimburse local governments for expenses incurred on rebuilding projects. This was extremely difficult for contractors, because many small businesses simply couldn't wait that long to be paid for work already accomplished.

"We took a long, hard look at the process and found an extraordinary amount of paperwork was required for payments," Rainwater said. "Expense reimbursements are critically important in keeping our rebuilding projects moving forward, so we had to eliminate this bottleneck. The last thing we want is delayed recovery because of late payments. Unlike the former process, which was unfriendly to business, Express Pay allows the speed of government to keep pace with the speed of business."

Governor's Office of Homeland Security Director Mark Cooper said, "When government runs more efficiently, things get done in a timely manner. More companies will be willing to do business with the state of Louisiana now that we have a better system in place."

Overall, in the PA program for Hurricane Katrina there are 2,161 applicants, representing 17,927 projects amounting to $3.79 billion in payouts. For Hurricane Rita, there are 931 applicants representing 4,464 projects amounting to $404 million in payouts.

Express Pay works by educating applicants on the reimbursement process and deferring detailed review of documentation until after payments are issued. If the state determines there has been an overpayment, the applicant is issued a credit against the next reimbursement.

Backed by the legislative auditor, the Express Pay system ensures accountability and transparency while speeding up recovery without opening the door to fraud.

The PA program provides state and local governments and some nonprofit organizations with funding for recovery measures such as rebuilding of buildings, roads, bridges and water and sewer plants. PA funds are obligated by FEMA through project worksheets. Once the funds are obligated, the applicant must request reimbursement from GOHSEP for eligible work completed. Obligated funds may change over time because the project often is adjusted as bids come in and the scope of work is aligned. All project worksheets are paid up to 90 percent of the obligated amount, with the remaining 10 percent held as retainer until a detailed review of the final request for reimbursement has been completed.

Created in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in 2005, the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) is the coordinating and planning body leading the most extensive rebuilding effort in American history. The central point for hurricane recovery in Louisiana, the LRA works closely with the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) and partners with state and federal agencies to oversee more than $20 billion worth of programs, speed the pace of rebuilding, remove hurdles and red tape and ensure that Louisiana recovers safer and stronger than before.

La. Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Public Meeting

2009-03-13T06:42:20-05:00

BATON ROUGE -- The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority will conduct
a public meeting Wednesday, March 18, 2009, beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the
LaBelle Room on the first floor of the LaSalle Building located at 617 North
Third Street in Baton Rouge.

The meeting information is listed below:

COASTAL PROTECTION AND RESTORATION AUTHORITY

The meeting of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has been
scheduled for:

Wednesday, March 18, 2009
9:30 a.m.
LaSalle Building
LaBelle Room, First Floor
617 North Third Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802

If you need additional information, please call Chris Macaluso in The
Governor's Office of Coastal Activities at (225) 342-3968 or email at
chris.macaluso@la.gov.

State of Louisiana Selects New Contractor to Manage Road Home Small Rental Program

2009-03-13T06:36:17-05:00

BATON ROUGE, La. - The state of Louisiana on Thursday announced the selection of ACS State & Local Solutions, Inc., to manage the Small Rental Property program, as the state transitions from its expiring contract with ICF International.

"In Louisiana, we face a shortage of affordable rental units. Restoring this housing is critical to bring back the workforce we need to move our recovery forward," said Paul Rainwater, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. "We've produced more than 1,000 units through this program, and we will continue to work to streamline the process for landlords so that we can rebuild some of the thousands of rentals lost to hurricanes Katrina and Rita."

To ensure that landlords remaining in the program have continuous service, the state will begin immediately to negotiate the terms of its contract with ACS, including performance measures consistent with the goal of holding contractors accountable for their performance.

So far, the Small Rental Program has provided more than $50 million to landlords, creating 1,073 rental units, 756 of which must offer affordable rents. Another $57 million worth of funds are scheduled to be closed upon by landlords, and this investment will create an additional 1,285 rental units. In total, the program has committed more than $405.9 million to landlords.

The state already has selected Hammerman and Gainer, Inc., to run the homeowner portion of the program and CGI Technologies and Solutions to provide IT services to state disaster recovery programs. ICF's contract with Louisiana ends this summer.

To meet the continuing functions of the Road Home program as it transitions managers, the state will award the following contract in the future:

Piggyback Program Management Contract - This contractor will provide technical assistance with negotiations, loan agreements and other program documents that ICF currently handles and may also provide monitoring as the program moves forward.

###

Governor Jindal Appeals to White House to Reverse Denial of Extension of 100 Percent Federal Cost Share for Ike, Requests Clarification on Cost Share for Hurricane Gustav

2008-12-28T17:59:40-06:00

BATON ROUGE, La. - Governor Bobby Jindal, in a letter to President George Bush this week, appealed the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) denial of Louisiana's request for an extension of full federal cost share for debris removal from Hurricane Ike and requested equitable treatment to the state of Texas, which has had a 100-day extension of 100 percent federal cost share for Ike.

At Governor Jindal's request, Louisiana had been granted 100 percent federal cost share for Categories A and B of FEMA Public Assistance, which reimburses states for debris removal and emergency work after disasters, for only 44 days. FEMA denied Louisiana's request for an extension of this time frame, while at the same time approving a 100-day extension for the state of Texas.

Because parishes could not immediately begin debris removal after the storm and because the federal government waited so long to authorize a limited 100 percent cost share time period for Hurricane Ike in Louisiana, many parishes were not able to see the full effects of this benefit, Governor Jindal wrote.

In a separate letter, Governor Jindal seeks clarification that the White House's intent in November was to authorize 90 percent federal cost share for all effects of Hurricane Gustav. Hurricane Gustav has two declaration numbers, FEMA - 1786-DR and FEMA-3289-EM, and Governor Jindal believes President Bush intended to authorize 90 percent cost share for emergency work and debris removal under both declaration numbers and wants a formal clarification of this.

In response to Governor Jindal's requests, in November, President Bush authorized dropping Louisiana's share of costs related to the response and recovery of Hurricane Gustav from 25 percent to 10 percent, meaning the federal government would pay for 90 percent of all costs related to Gustav only.

Governor Jindal has repeatedly requested 100 percent federal cost share for all categories of FEMA Public Assistance for both hurricanes Gustav and Ike, because paying local match on all hurricane recovery costs when the state is rebuilding after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in addition to hurricanes Gustav and Ike is an undue burden on the state and its parish governments.

Rare Snow in the U.S. Deep South

2008-12-22T01:38:21-06:00

Yes, Louisiana was a winter wonderland...it was very cool. Here's a modis image and recap from NASA:

A snow storm arrived in the Deep South of the United States in mid-December 2008. Several inches of wet snow fell across parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama on Thursday, December 11, closing schools and businesses in a part of the country where accumulating snow is a rare event. The following day, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite passed overhead and captured this natural-color image, revealing a broad swath of snow still on the ground from just north of New Orleans, Louisiana, to north of Jackson, Mississippi. Although snow did fall in New Orleans, it was no longer visible by the time MODIS captured this image. Flooding rains drenched other parts of the South, which may be why the Gulf of Mexico coast (lower right) and many rivers and lakes are brown with sediment. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey. Instrument: Terra - MODIS Date Acquired: December 12, 2008

America’s WETLAND Calls on Local Volunteers to Give Back and Go Green this Holiday

2008-12-17T22:45:21-06:00

Volunteers Needed for Wetland Plantings in City Park this Saturday

NEW ORLEANS (December 16, 2008) – The America’s WETLAND Conservation Corps is calling on New Orleanians to give back and go green this holiday season.

More than two dozen volunteers are needed to plant spartina and other vegetation in New Orleans’ historic City Park this Saturday, December 20, 2008, from 8 am- noon. Volunteers, directed by the America's WETLAND Conservation Corps, will plant, nurture and incubate mini-wetland habitats that will later be used to restore Louisiana’s precious coast. This volunteer event, which will take place rain or shine, will be held at the Pelican Greenhouse located near Christian Brothers School in City Park.

As the largest recreation center in the New Orleans metropolitan area, City Park is essential to the cultural and recreational rebirth of the Crescent City. Volunteers have been an essential component of City Park’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina. During the devastating storm of 2005, the Parksustained an estimated $43 million in damages when it was inundated with one to eight feet of water. While water has receded, much work still needs to be done to restore the Park to its original condition.

To sign up or learn more about this volunteer opportunity, contact Trevor Powell at tp1188@yahoo.com or (985) 859-9061.

Volunteers are encouraged to dress appropriately (no open-toed sandals) and asked to bring work gloves, boots, and anything else they may need to work in muddy conditions. Volunteers may also bring food and beverages. Drinks will be available. Lunch will not be provided.

About the America’s WETLAND Conservation Corps

Home to dozens of threatened and endangered species and our nation’s largest flyways, America’s WETLAND is one of the most significant estuaries in the world. An amazingly complex ecosystem composed of swamplands, marshes and forests that span over 6,000 square miles of Louisiana’s coast, this region provides protection to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of property and infrastructure, produces 30 percent of the nation's oil and gas, provides 30 percent of the country's seafood and is home to the largest port system in the U.S. Despite its nationally strategic importance, this valuable landscape is vanishing at an astonishing rate of 24 miles per year.

The America's WETLAND Conservation Corps is an AmeriCorps program which engages 18 members and hundreds of volunteers in hands-on coastal restoration and recovery activities across Louisiana, including vegetative plantings, restorative interventions, community-wide clean-ups, and hands-on educational projects for members, volunteers and the communities they serve.

Directions to the Pelican Greenhouse in City Park

From I-10 (Ponchartrain Expressway East) take Exit 231A to City Park Avenue. Keep Straight on Ponchartrain Blvd. after exiting. Take a left onto City Park Ave and continue 0.7 miles. Turn left onto Marconi Drive and continue 0.8 miles. Go past the main entrances of City Park and go under I-610. Immediately after going under I-610 take a right onto Zachary Taylor Drive. Continue on Zachary Taylor Dr. for 0.5 miles. Take a right onto Golf Road and go under I-610 and then under the Rail Road Tracks. Road name changes to Golf Drive after going under I-610. Continue past the Rail Road less than 200 yards and the Pelican Greenhouse Complex will be on the left. Park near the gravel driveway. For questions or additional information, contact Trevor Powell at tp1188@yahoo.com or (985) 859-9061.

The America's WETLAND Foundation is supported by a growing coalition of conservation and environmental organizations across the globe and has drawn private support from businesses that see wetlands protection as a key to economic growth.

This message and other America's WETLAND Foundation activities are made possible by the generous support of "World Sponsor" Shell; "National Sponsors": Acadian Ambulance Service, AE Com Coastal, API, BG North America, LLC, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, BP, CH2M HILL, Chevron, CITGO Petroleum Corporation, Coca-Cola Enterprises and Baton Rouge Coca-Cola Bottling Company, ConocoPhillips, Cox Communications, Dow Chemical Company, ExxonMobil, Freeport McMoRan, Hornbeck Offshore Services, McIlhenny Company, The Shaw Group, Spectra Energy and Whitney National Bank; Louisiana Sponsors: the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Louisiana Lottery Corporation, Louisiana Network, New Orleans Hornets, New Orleans Saints, and the Paragon Casino Resort.

If your organization would like to join this list of forward-thinking businesses, call the Foundation's offices at 1-866-4-WETLAND (1-866-493-8526) or email a campaign representative at americaswetland@mcopr.com.

Tropical Depression 17 Forms in the Southwest Caribbean Sea

2008-11-05T17:25:07-06:00

The Atlantic Hurricane Season is still not over yet. Tropical Depression (TD) 17 has formed in the Southwest Caribbean Sea. TD 17 is expected to intensify into a tropical storm in the next 24 hours and could become a hurricane in 2-4 days. If TD 17 can attain Tropical Storm status as forecasted, it would be named Paloma. The current track guidance indicates some threat to the Cayman Islands and Cuba in the 4-5 day period but given the system just formed, the track is very uncertain at this point in time.

Bioneers Conference Day 3

2008-10-19T11:21:04-05:00

Nina Simons, President and Co-founder: How dominant our left side of the brain is personally and in the culture. Another intrepretation: Masculine and feminine capacities. The question is how do we as a culture find balance? What is the purpose of leadership? to catalyze change. Peter Senge - leadership is about creating new realities. We must redefine leadership. Most of our models for leadership are outmoded. She proposes we lead more from the feminine - from the right side of the brsin, involves a shift into awareness of the natural world - to community and connection. Leadership is an evolving practice. How to practice leadership 1. valuing relationships more than things. 2. pay attention to our biases 3. Name our prejudices 4. Appreciate processes as much as outcomes 5. Ask the right questions - allow others to step into leadership 6. partner in supporting each other into leadership - reciprocal mentorship, especially women and girls. Naomi Klein - THE SHOCK DOCTRINE: THE RISE OF DISASTER CAPITALISM The deals that are being made now re the financial bail out are impacting the future. The banks have been essentially nationalized. Plan A was handling the debts - taking private debts and making them public. Both political parties rose up against it and the people said no. The bad idea is to turn the government into a kind of hedge fund. Crony capitalism at its worst. Klein urges people to read the fine print on this deal. 9 banks agreed to partial nationalism. The public is taking on the risks with none of the power. So what are the conditions? Milton Friedman quote: Only a crisis real or perceived will bring change. We have an opportunity because the economic infrastructure is in crisis. The biggest crisis of our time is climate change. This is a moment of opportunity. We can only be defeated by our tentiavness. Google Earth: Visualizing change, mapping the future: Rebecca Moore Rebecca's efforts are dramatically leveraging the crucial work of NGO's, communities, initiatives With google earth u can hold the earth in the palm of your hand. Initially it was used for recreational use. When Katrina hit New Orleans NOAA asked google earth to provide hi res images - helped save 4,000 people. Goog doesn't just give you the earth - they give you the tools to add your own content to it. You are putting information in context which is useful in environmental activism. Appalachian Voices -Mountain Mining Initiative: used google earth to show the communities that would be impacted...image overlays to show before and after of mountaintop removal.'' you can annotate and embed video... This initiative needed signatures on a petition to stop a mountaintop removal project and were able to accomplish this with google earth. San Francisco Oil Spill - ocean conservancy used google earth to raise awareness. Dreaming New Mexico: Now you can embed google earthninto your website. incredible group of activists, systems approach to collaboration They were invited by an Amazon tribe trying to save a rainforest to come down and teach their people how to use Google Earth. They had first contact with modern life when a highway penetrated their rainforest. The chief went to a university, tried google earth on a computer and did the first thing everybody does, flew to his home. The chief connected the dots and then went to Google Earth and asked them to train their people - a way for them to show the world how they are saving their forests and how it is economically sustainable. The tribe realized that they were going to connect with and share their culture with millions of people. Rick Reid COLLABORATING ON A GRAND SCALE: THINK SYSTEMICALLY AND ACT COLLABORATIVELY New approaches to grant making. Climate change project in the midwest. 19 grantmaking agencies commited funds to a process - to reform a system. Goal was an 80% reduction in coal reduction - 25 year gold. First thing was to generate a complete systems map - then to pare it down to 4 leverage points. While they were doing this 100 million dollar wind farm was announced - but also a new coal plant. They were able to mobilize. No one group could reach their goal but together they could. The whole body made grant making decisions that were aligned with the larger goals.

Bioneers Conference - Day 2 Plenaries

2008-10-18T11:13:24-05:00

13,000 people are gathered today in real time - on site and in satellite locations around the globe. Chief Oren Lyons of the Wolf Clan speaking at Bioneers now... Janine Benyus: NATURE'S 100 BEST: TOP BIOMIMICRY SOLUTIONS TO ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES Qualcomm - research on imitating the colors of a butterfly's wings - applications to color on digital screens Benyus is the "mother of biomimicry"... just returned from the ICN conference - International Conservation League. She said she is not going to talk about scarcity, she's going to talk about abundance - life's good ideas. There is more than one way to spread our seeds. Indigenous people have known for a long time that the models are there. Co2 is being used to make plastics. There is a company that is learning to harvest wave energy like kelp. bioluminescent jellyfish - just add calcium and you get light. Bee swarm technology - bees have a unique voting system. algae know how to manage bacteria without killing it. purifying water using human membranes as a model. the economy - one company's discards being used by another...resource sharing. Life's most innovative design is that it gives and takes care of its own needs. Vision for who we can be as a species? Dune Lankard - SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS OVER CENTURIES: A NEW BUSINESS MODEL Dune is an Eyak Athabaskan native - became an activist and preservationist when the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill descecrated his homelands and water. He describes the preservation of ecosystems and the people who inhabit them as the way to maintain healthy, thriving economies for businesses into the community. Conservationists are fighting over the same funding pots. Started a land trust - the native conservancy - for his tribe so they didn't have to give up their land to preseve and conserve it.

Bioneers Topic: Digital Oasis

2008-10-17T19:06:41-05:00

Well this topic is of course near and dear to the heart -Digital Oasis: Online Networks, Blogging,& Fast Forward Change. A couple of salient points: Blog's are a centerpice of any online activism campaign, but we should be using everything that's availabe, and I'll list the most important web 2.0 solutions later. Tree Hugger,Grist, and Wiser Earth are leading the panel discussion. Interestingly, Tree Hugger is a blog, started as a blog... follows a similar Model as BK - feautured contributors

Bioneers Conference Friday afternoon sessions

2008-10-17T16:54:19-05:00

I am covering the topic 'Women Rising Globally' this afternoon in the main tent. This is a panel discussion. Media and communications is one of the main components in this rising movement of women in leadership. 3 Unstoppable Trends: 1. The rise of women's leadership. 2. The communications Revolution ---lower barriers for publishers. 3. The shift in global consciousness to invest in women's issues. my observation: I am thinking to my self how young they look - the 4 amazing women who are sitting on this panel - and right there is the evidence...and the good news! Kavita Ramdas just said something amazing - she said there is this idea that we should be focused on educating women. She says women have a lot to do to educate the world. There is this idea that women are this group of people who need educating, filled up, given micro-credit. Women need to be have their voices and their wisdom heard - The knowledge and wisdom is already there.

Bioneers Opening Notes

2008-10-17T12:18:18-05:00

Energy market is a 6 trillion dollar industry - I am not sure I can wrap my mind around 6 trillion. Texas is about to build one of the biggest wind plants in the world. The Dreaming New Mexico Project inspires an idea -What about a Dream map for gulf coast rebuilding? Paul Stamets - "the mushroom guy" is speaking right now about using fungi to save the world! Just heard Erica Fernandez speak, a young lady who at the ripe age of 16, rallied her community to stop an LNG pipeline project that would have negatively impacted the coastal community she lives in. Ray Anderson speaking on the "green collar economy", Industrial sustainability in action now. 7 real examples of new thinking, conscious design, and bio-mimicry...status quo thinking is an opiate that must be over come. He says the goodwill of the marketplace has been astonishing. In closing Anderson says "our society cannot survive unless we take care of nature. She is the goose that lays the golden egg. We must not only 'do no harm', we must do good. Kavita Ramdas, The Global Fund fund for Women - extraordinay woman doing amazing work to empower underprivledged women. Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of the late great Jaques Cousteau speaking on blue issues - she believes water is the defining crisis of this next century. She says passion for the ocean is a beautiful legacy to have been born into...and her grandfather grew weary of answering environmental questions at the end of his life. He did not understand how people could see the grandeur of the earth and its oceans and ask why it should be preserved. Our water planet gives back what we give to it. If we abuse it returns abuse. I don't think any of us in south Louisiana can argue this point. Alexandra urges all of us to change the conversation from one of guilt to one of urgency in hope.

Blogging Live From Bioneers Conference

2008-10-17T11:35:10-05:00

Good morning. I am blogging live this week-end from the 19th annual Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California. Bioneers members are creating and realizing imaginative approaches to restoring and protevting the health of our planet and the well being of our communities.

Adopt A Hurricane Impacted Family for Christmas

2008-09-25T02:48:23-05:00

Hello, Margaret Saizan here. I am the publisher of Beyond Katrina: The Voice of Hurricane & Disaster Recovery. Since 2005 I have sponsored a Christmas wish fulfillment/Adopt a Family program to help match donors to hurricane survivors. The program has become very popular and I am especially pleased that the donors love it so much! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to host the program last year for personal reasons. However, much to my surprise (and delight) I received many emails from donors who were really disappointed about this. The Adopt-a-Family program has been an enormously rewarding experience for both givers and receivers alike.

Inasmuch as the gulf coast is still not fully recovered from the storms of 2005 and its citizens are now dealing with the aftermath of two additional hurricanes - Gustav and Ike - I am considering reinstating the program this year. Please let me know if you are interested in participating either by adopting a family, being a co-sponsor, or otherwise. At this point I am seeding ideas and I welcome dialogue and input from readers and stakeholders in gulf coast hurricane recovery.

In times past the program has been wildly successful as an organic, self creating initiative and this seems to be congruent with the viral way in which new media/social media moves. However, this year I am getting a little bit earlier start than usual and plan to be more intentional in my promotional efforts. Inasmuch as the deeper motivation for most who participate lies in the satisfaction of a job well done, I would like to create a way to cross promote the businesses and initiatives of participating donors and sponsors. In this way the benefits to all are multiple.

Please email inquiries, ideas, pledges to donate or sponsor, etc. to Margaret Saizan at beyondkatrina@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Cheers,

Margaret Saizan
Beyond Katrina: The Voice of Hurricane & Disaster Recovery
www.hurricane-katrina.org

Gustav really was the worst, meteorologists say

2008-09-25T02:02:37-05:00

Aha! I've been waiting for the dust to clear and the information to come forth as to why Cat 1 Gustav was such a formidable hurricane for Baton Rouge, exceeding the intensity and the damage wrought by Betsy and Andrew. Two LSU scientists weigh in here.

On another note, I wish the National Hurricane Center would change the policy of repeating the same hurricane names every few years. It creates confusion for those of us who document them - and it doesn't seem to be the most efficient way to do this in my humble opinion.

There are two invests in the Atlantic and thankfully seems like neither are going to be very ominous at this point, nor are these systems heading for the Gulf of Mexico. Hopefully we gulf coasters are done for a while.

Tenacity Over Tears: The Life of a Bayou Woman

2008-09-22T04:51:37-05:00

I want to take this opportunity to introduce my readers to a very special friend from Bayou Du Large, one of the the coastal communities in Terrebonne Parish, La that was impacted by the storms of 2005 and now severely in 2008. Her name is Wendy Wilson Billiot, but she is most affectionately known these days as "Bayou Woman". While I have never met Wendy personally - inasmuch as we have a shared passion for Louisiana's coastal concerns -we've enjoyed a wonderful pen pal relationship via email for the past year or so. There are some folks you just feel an affinity to right off the bat. Wendy is one of them.

In addition to keeping up with her through email, Wendy publishes a very unique and interesting blog about her life in Bayou Du Large which I read frequently. Well before Gustav and Ike made landfall in coastal Louisiana, I told Wendy I wanted to do a tribute to her and her blog here at Beyond Katrina because I've enjoyed it so much. After Ike's storm surged pushed into Terrebonne Parish flooding her community and her home, I just knew it was time to make good on that promise.

Wendy's blog, "Life in the Louisiana Wetlands ", (which can be viewed at http://bayouwoman.wordpress.com/ ) is a veritable plethora of information about life on the bayou as seen through the eyes of a true blue Bayou Woman. She covers everything you'd ever want to know there (but are too afraid to ask) from fishing, to bayou cooking, wildlife, plant life and more.

Wendy is also a hard working and relentless advocate for the preservation and restoration of Louisiana's fragile wetlands.. Her community of Bayou Du Large is in the Terrebonne Estuary System, which she is quick to remind is "vanishing at the astonishing rate of a football field every half hour". She has a USCG captain's license which enables her to take people on tours to see the amazing beauty and degradation of our wetlands. She has also penned a wonderful book, Before the Saltwater Came, an environmental book about our local wetlands and the first of its kind. Her book is being used to educate students about our disappearing wetlands in classrooms across the state, the nation, and indeed all over the world. Likewise, her articles have appeared in many well know magazines and newspapers and she won the Louisiana Outdoor Writer's Association Excellence in Craft first place award in 2007 for her articles about Louisiana's coastal issues.

Believe it or not there is still more - and while I haven't told Wendy this yet - this is just the first in a series of posts I'll be doing about "Bayou Woman". She is one of the most creative, interesting and multi-talented folks I've ever encountered and there is just way too much to share about the cornucopia that is her life in just this one post. I also feel it is important to cover Terrebonne's recovery and rebuilding efforts here, just as I have done for the communities impacted by Katrina and Rita. However, I couldn't share the story of Terrebonne's recovery any better than Wendy can.

As I write, Wendy is working hard to clean up after Gustav and Ike, choosing "tenacity over tears" as she deals with the multitude of personal and collective losses inherent to the impact of two back to back hurricanes. Her latest blog posts with accompanying photographs (yep she's quite a photog too) provide an insiders view of the many facets of hurricane recovery in Terrebonne parish. I do hope you will stop by Wendy's blog at http://bayouwoman.wordpress.com/ and peek in on the amazing life of a Bayou Woman!

Margaret Saizan

**Photo courtesy -- Wendy Billiot

Storm report: Forgotten people

2008-09-22T03:13:02-05:00

"Time and Tide" Isle de Jean Charles --Terrebonne Parish, La. (courtesy Matthew White)

This one's near and dear to the heart. I was very pleased to that Gannett's Dennis Camire penned an article focused on the Houma Indians and their struggle to preserve their way of life, their lands and to rebuild again in light of recent hurricane devastation. As Camire reports,"the problem is that the tribe has not fully recovered from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The tribe's members, many of whom used to depend primarily on fishing for their livelihood, are seeing their marshlands vanish into the Gulf of Mexico and are being battered with personal losses from storm after storm". The article which is publised at The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, Louisiana may be viewed here.

I want to take this time to do a mention for Houma Indian Captain John Verret who has generously helped me and and my colleague Matthew White get up front and personal with coastal land loss and wetlands issues over in Terrebonne - as have others there. As a result Matthew has quite a few photographs taken in Isle Jean Charles (which is part of the article's focus), Dulac, Cocodrie and other parts of Terrebonne, here. Matthew does plan to return soon to continue his documentation of this fragile ecological jewel.

Gustav costs utilities $600 M

2008-09-20T10:58:34-05:00

The Entergy companies that serve Louisiana and three other states paid up to $600 million to get the lights back on after Hurricane Gustav, Entergy Corp. said in a press release Friday. Continue>>>