News & Updates
We were so thrilled to hear about the new protections recently passed by the EPA, thanks to the work of RISE St. James among other community based organizations. You can read the full press release below.
The Lowlander Center was recently featured in an article about the effects of climate change on Indigenous groups living in the coastal bayous.
Theresa Dardar, Donald Dardar, and Kristina Peterson discuss land loss as the first part of the PBS docuseries “In Their Element: Earth, Air, Fire, Water.” Watch it here!
A new report by Naomi Yoder and Sheehan Moore analyzes pollution incidents that occurred directly or indirectly due to Hurricane Ida.
“We are taking this effort . . . so we can maintain the integrity of the community.” – Elder Shirell Parfait-Dardar, Grand Caillou Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha Choctaw Tribe
Lowlander Center will be a partner in the research hub lead by Haskell Indian Nations University.
Lowlander President Theresa Dardar is featured in an article about indigenous healers, called traiteurs, who are working to preserve knowledge of medicinal plants and traditional healing practices.
On June 24, 2022, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards participated in a ceremonial signing of HB 261 to create École Pointe-au-Chien, a culturally reflective French immersion school in the community.
Lowlander members have authored two new research reports published through the Natural Hazards Center. Read the abstracts and follow links to the full reports.
Last week, team members for the canal backfilling project presented at the Aspen Institute’s Rural Opportunity and Development (ROAD) Sessions for their event on Climate-Smart Solutions from Rural America and Native Nations.
Resources to contextualize the fight to stop the Formosa Plastics plant in St James, Louisiana. Our partner organization, Rise St. James, is working to halt the expansion of the Petrochemical Corridor and protect ancestral sites.
Lowlander Center members presented during panel “At What Point Managed Retreat? Resilience, Relocation, and Climate Justice” at the Columbia Climate School conference.
The Lowlander Center is proud to share that our efforts to promote resilient rebuilding in Lake Charles through the Disaster Justice Network have been recognized on local news!
View the news segment here: https://www.kplctv.com/2021/06/12/how-experts-are-saying-prepare-your-home-next-storm/
State’s water infrastructure needs $7 billion in additional funding over the next 20 years
More than 200 energy justice, racial justice, faith and youth organizations are calling on President Joe Biden’s four nominees to the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors to commit to transitioning the utility to 100% renewable and just energy by 2030. TVA is the nation’s largest public power provider.
This week, a report by Lowlander Center facilitator Kristina Peterson and long-time Lowlander Center collaborator Julie Maldonado was published by the National Hazards Center.
The Legal Justice Coalition (facilitated by UUSC and the Lowlander Center) and the Rising Voices Community Relocation & Site Expansion Working Group issue policy guidelines to advance community-led solutions to climate-forced displacement in the US.
It is with heavy hearts we share that one of our disaster justice colleagues, Felicia Collins who has been on the front lines in serving the Lake Charles community, and the surrounding region, after Hurricane Laura, and the winter storms, has lost her husband to COVID-19 yesterday.
We stand in solidarity with our friends from Pointe-au-Chien and Isle de Jean Charles Tribal communities as they work to save their elementary school. On Thursday, Pointe-aux-Chenes parents, residents and students staged a protest against the school closure.
"Terrebonne Parish is considering closure of a school that serves as a pillar of hope and opportunity for many facing dire circumstances – poverty, coastal erosion, and effects of hurricanes”
At the end of January, Rev. Kristina Peterson and Ms. Sharon Lavigne were presenters for the Climate Crisis Policy network's faith working group.
The National Estuary Program awarded more than $200,000 to the Lowlander Center to support a new effort to reduce flood risk in the state’s southeastern bayous.
Coverage in Houma Today of saltwater intrusion on the Louisiana Gulf coast. The article also touches upon a request for UN assistance in addressing the US failure to take action on climate change. The request was issued by the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians of Louisiana, the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe, the Grand Caillou and Dulac Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha Choctaw Tribe, the Atakapa-Ishak Chawasha Tribe of the Grand Bayou Indian Village, and the Native Village of Kivalina.
Watch the session from the 2020 Natural Hazards workshop featuring Lowlander members as panelists and moderators
On the first day of Atlantic Hurricane Season, Healthy Gulf is releasing an Analysis of Hurricane Ida Pollution Reports titled Murky Waters: Hurricane Preparedness and Response for Polluters Long Overdue.