Hanging on Bald Cypress trees
Into the Swamps We Go
Richie Blink
There are many issues that come with conservancy and policy is, in theory, something that comes with its own baggage. Richie had talked about the difficulties in actually implementing conservancy efforts, in that, in theory, they would help rebuild the wetlands in the Louisiana delta. But because local communities have either not been educated or indifferent to the environmental impact it would have on their lives, there is little he can do make them do it.
Richie has also been trying to balance what he wants a healthier ecology in the Plaquemines Parish swamps and the jobs that the oil companies may bring into the communities within the area. It’s difficult to navigate this topic, he believes, as he’s in a bid for a future re-election, while also trying to advocate for conservancy.
It’s unclear on what he is willing to do for this advocacy work, while trying not to do be blackballed in his social and professional life.
Planting for the Future
Marigolds
Dazed and Not-So-Confused
Hurricane Katrina may have been 13 years ago, it is still part of the psyche that makes up New Orleans. The environmental reporter, Mark, we had talked and listened to was very informative. It was also very sobering as his slide show illustrated the scars that this very preventable disaster had played out. As I’ve heard many times now, it wasn’t a natural disaster, but a man-made one. 
At the 17th Street Pump Station, these generators may be one of the few things that will make or break the sustainability of keeping New Orleans afloat, the engineers themselves said they would last for five days in the eve of a 100 year event. But is it enough? As we’ve seen lately, climate change has made this unpredictable and arrogant. What will it take for people to actually prepare for worst, like a 500 year event that some believe is inevitable in our era, happens and we’re caught with our pants down again?
Jazzin’ it Up
Kermit’s Trenté Mother-In-Law Lounge
Going Home
Bonding over music.
Adulting is Hard
Instead of going to a concert…homework. #UghWhy
A Botanists’ Struggle
This is Dr. Tom Huggins. He had been giving us a tour of the Woodland Trail and Park’s plants. We had been walking around the park both on and off the trails looking at plants such as the Sambucus canadensis or the Elderberry 
found in the Adoxaceae family. It had been during the half-way point when our tour-guide/botanist had gotten stuck in deceptively deep wet soil, which was par for the course as it had been raining. The whole point of the tour was to get us more familiar the plants, whether that be invasive or native ones, in order to prepare for transect surveying for the Woodland Conservancy.
A Meditation in NOLA
- Food
- Music
- People themselves