Large water planning organizations in coastal communities such as New Orleans have traditionally addressed only one bottom line: economic. This must change. In coastal communities, we must take into account the environmental and social bottom lines as well and put citizens above private industry profit. The citizens of Louisiana have long paid a price in health, well-being, property and life for the indigenous resources of the region. At the same time, Louisiana is the last to see equitable economic value from these resources. One of these large planning projects, the industrial canal system, has also been responsible for loss of over 50,000 acres of wetlands as it continues to collapse in on itself. Now, the Army Corps of Engineers want to replace the Lock, the only working component of the entire system. The lock replacement will cost 1bn (most likely more as the ACE have never completed on budget) and will take 13 or more years to complete. This water planning decision is based solely on economics: increasing maritime profit. Public funds would pay for half of this project. Corporate welfare. Instead, fix the flooding problems that the entire system caused in the first place. And, also, any water project in coastal communities from now on should take into account climate change, which is clearly affecting our state despite denial at the highest level.

The West Bay Diversion was the first uncontrolled sediment diversion for restoration purposes built in Louisiana. Sediment diversions are one of the strategies used to rebuild land in the Louisiana Master Plan—the largest strategic land-building effort in the history of the United States. West Bay was an unprecedented project that allowed coastal restoration scientists to examine whether river diversions can successfully build land.

In 2008, the West Bay Diversion project showed little to no land growth and constituted a growing financial burden. That year, West Bay’s administering agency voted to close the project due to increases in cost associated with dredging the Pilottown Anchorage Area—a demand of lobbyists from the maritime industry. Earl knew, however, that land was growing, though it was happening slowly. And he knew that West Bay was important to the survival of his home.

After living and working in the Plaquemines coastal community all his life, Earl’s expertise allowed him to see that West Bay would fill in if more islands would be constructed and that, as sediment was increasingly trapped in the basin, it would reduce the amount of dredging required downstream. He took charge of West Bay and embarked upon a fiery advocacy campaign to keep the project open. Ultimately, he succeeded, raising important questions not only about the long-term trajectories of projects like West Bay, but also the consideration of local, intergenerational knowledge in policy decisions affecting Louisiana’s vulnerable coastal communities.

A recent NPR/Ipsos poll found that fewer than half of K-12 teachers in the United States teach their students about climate change. Although more than 8 in 10 of these teachers support integrating lessons about climate change into their curricula, many lament that they don’t have the materials needed to teach the subject and that, considering robust state and local standards, climate change is not sufficiently related to the subject(s) they teach. Although at least 36 state education standards mention “the reality of human-caused climate change,” in most of these states, climate change is mentioned only briefly in earth and environmental science classes that are not required for graduation. In fact, only two states require students to take earth or environmental science classes to graduate from high school. Louisiana is not one of them.

The Land Memory Bank and Seed Exchange will travel to climate challenged communities in the Greater New Orleans area to be activated as a multipurpose base camp and transitory-gallery, a shelter, a studio, a resource center, an idea depot, a seed bank and a civic dialogue space. A key part of the Exchange programming will include the offering of photographic portrait services free of charge to communities. Additionally, the Exchange will offer restoration and digitization of photographs documenting land, plants and/or people. When appropriate, audio and video documentation will be captured. Collected images and stories will be exhibited and featured as part of the roaming Exchange and will be filed in a publicly accessible Land Memory Bank digital archive. By collecting, educating and dispensing of native species, biodiversity and medicinal plant knowledge will be preserved, food sovereignty strengthened and the natural system will have a chance to be protected, restored and remembered. A catalog will be constructed, as an online reference, out of the visual land and seed data.