On the Louisiana Coast, A Native Community Sinks Slowly into the Sea


Photograph: © SAF – Coastal Care

Excerpts;

The Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians of southern Louisiana have been called America’s first climate refugees. But two years after receiving federal funding to move to higher ground, the tribe is stuck in limbo, waiting for new homes as the water inches closer to their doors…

Read Full Article; Yale E360 (03-15-2018)

The First Official Climate Refugees in the U.S. Race Against Time; National Geographic (05-27-2016)
A Native American tribe struggles to hold on to their culture in a Louisiana bayou while their land slips into the Gulf of Mexico…

Resettling the First American Climate Refugees – Louisiana; The New York Times (05-03-2016)
The Isle de Jean Charles resettlement plan is one of the first programs of its kind in the world, a test of how to respond to climate change in the most dramatic circumstances without tearing communities apart…

Moving to Higher Ground (After 12,000 years), A Video from Great Big Story (03-11-2016)
The Quinault Indian Nation has lived in what is now Washington State for thousands of years. But, it’s time to move. The tribe lives on the coast, and climate change has caused sea levels to rise and endanger the village. As the tribe moves to higher ground, it’s bittersweet, since a new home also means moving off sacred ground…

New Land on the Louisiana Coast, NASA / Earth Observatory (02-17-2015)

Lost Louisiana: The Race to Reclaim Vanished Land Back From The Sea, Guardian UK (10-15-2014)

Escaping the Waves: a Fijian Village Relocates, a Video (10-03-2015)
“When many understand climate change in concept but not through personal experience, this exhibit carries great weight…”

Behind the Lens: Climate Refugees; CBS News (08-18-2017)
Kiribati residents’ “carbon footprints” are among the lowest in the world. These are not people who travel by air or drive gas-guzzling vehicles. They’re not the big carbon polluters but they’re the ones who’ll be among the first to have their lives disrupted by climate change through rising sea levels and extreme weather…

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