OneRouge Community Check-In - Week 105
As the Walls Project gears up to celebrate our 10th Anniversary, we are in the process of creating a new three-year strategic plan. We would greatly appreciate your candid and honest feedback to help elevate The Walls through this process as we look forward to our next decade of creating positive change in our community: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZZGL2RF
Enlight, Unite, & Ignite!
#OneRouge Week #105
Climate Change: the Human &
Economic Impacts, Part 2
Notes
Dr. Alessandra Jerolleman (Advocate, Disaster Resilience & Hazard Mitigation)
I’ve had the good fortune of working with coastal indiginous communities for over 20 years now. Much of my work is with rural and indiginous communities. Much of our laws here don’t work. I focus a lot around issues of equity and justice. What is asked of someone who owns a nice fishing camp vs what is asked of the indiginous communities in the bayou. The intersection of law, policy and community. What’s the lived experience and the role that empathy has to play. These are real experiences. It’s not an abstract policy. It’s lives. It’s history, and it’s trauma. Sometimes as professionals get taught to leave emotion at the door and I don’t think we can do that.
Colette Pichon Battle (Executive Director, Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy)
I’m in St. Tammany on the traditional land of the choctaw. I’m a daughter of the bayou. Yes there are black country folk. We got that direct hit here. Nothing you can do but deal with that. Disaster is how I got to this game. As a corporate lawyer in DC, I came home to help and then BP oil drilling happened. It was that point that I realized something was happening in our region. My work since 2010 has been focused on climate. Before that it was equitable climate recovery. Now opening that up to BP recovery, which was the same group of people, you see a lot of the problems. IF we’re going to make solutions we’re going to have to make new systems. In 2010 we started doing people’s movement assemblies. We’re not just dealing with a breakdown of systems, we’re dealing with what happens to societies' regions when they’re asked not to participate in their solutions. The solution we’re pushing now is the Gulf Green New Deal. Over 300 organizations are moving to work together on solutions. The work is getting communities to work together so we can have a future we can survive in.
Darryl Malek-Wiley (Senior Organizing Representative, Environmental Justice Organizer at Sierra Club)
I’m a hospital brat. I wanted to be a nurse. My father wanted to be a nurse and this was the time when men were not nurses. I’ve been an environmental activist since 1972. Everybody deserves clean air, clean water, clean land. But there’s some people who make money by making sure those things are not clean and are polluted. When I started this in the 70s, there were not a lot of jobs doing this, so I became a carpenter. I was living in Mobile, and I had a friend who said I need a house painted in New Orleans. And I did that and I didn’t move back to Mobile. This was now in the 80s. There was environmental work happening, but mostly on the coast. I was drawn to the river. The Mississippi River has always drawn to me. So I started listening to the stories that were happening in the communities up and down the river. In 1988 we did this crazy thing called the Great Louisiana Toxic March. For 11 days we marched from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. Along the way we stopped and talked to people. We shifted perceptions about the chemical pollution industry by 37%. And I’ve continued doing that. The fights in Louisiana are not small. They’re big and they require deep questioning of who is in power and who is not. One of my allies is Gen Russel Honore. I came back to Louisiana to find out democracy is owned by Exxon and Shell. We have 140+ lobbyists of the chemical industry at the capitol.
COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS
The centering of community has been something we’re hearing more about. How has this shift come about?
Dr. Alessandra Jerolleman - it’s become more and more clear to some professionals that we’re not going to make any headway until we listen to communities. I think community has become a buzzword. It’s easy for agencies to use the words but not do the right thing. That’s something I wrestle with. In the world of emergency management we talk a lot about community and it seems new to them. They struggle to think about community as something more than just a cog to move around the board.
What does policy look like in this space?
Colette Pichon Battle - Many of us are awakening to the long term impacts of settler colonialism. Racism doesn’t just affect the group being targeted, it also affects those in the majority. What we’re realizing now is the health of the planet requires all of us to do our part. To do that you have to understand that we are all connected. And that’s why community as a strategy is emerging right now. What I saw was laws and policy that were discriminatory. After Katrina we saw for whom the system works. As a lawyer your flag goes up. We have to take this to court and we have to change this. In BP, watching that claims process, our federal government negotiated our rights away. Dispersants were being sprayed on people even though they were banned in other countries. More disasters are coming. There are people who make money off of harming others. Now we’re dealing with corporate accountability. Clean up the mess you’ve made and stop accelerating the climate imbalance that will harm us. This is where we have to start making a stand. Even if you are okay, there are over 100 million in our country who are going to be in trouble because they cannot afford things. We have a system that only allows money to go in the hands of some. This is a justice fight and almost all of the issues you know and understand are intersecting on this one. I’m not trying to take away anyone’s job, I’m trying to save people’s lives.
What is the environmental impact of these companies coming in? How are these communities they are in are still impoverished?
Darryl Malek-Wiley- It goes back to Louisiana plantations. The petrochemical plants in the 80s bought the plantations. They are the new plantations. Chemicals in our blood. Chemicals in women’s blood. Chemicals are in babies' blood. We have gone for so long thinking we’ll just put it in the air and it will not hurt anybody, but the truth is, it’s there. We’re starting to get the proof now. They are heavily impacting us. Causing all of these diseases. It’s not a myth, it’s a reality. Cancer-death ally is real. It’s dying because you’re not able to breathe. Carbon capture is the new phrase. They want to trap all this under the state wildlife refuges. If these pipelines break, you get a Co2 cloud that will cause your death, even though you can’t see it. They’ve been doing this since 1901. They’ve been treating this state as a way to make money off us. This whole system is broken. It’s geared toward people getting the short end of the stick. It’s time for us to stop. Newsletter called Above the fold. Give it a look.
How did oil get in all our clothes?
Colette Pichon Battle - Half of the things in your home are byproducts of these things. This was marketed to us. There used to be a process by which we didn’t just throw things away. Cheaper products have all kinds of products that are bad for us. And then this gets to mass consumption and mass production. When we’re dealing with the climate crisis we need big, bold moves. Let’s talk about cotton. There’s a movement to rematriate land, and a new way to regrow cotton. How do you keep the soil healthy when you grow cotton? Who is making money? Why certain people can and cannot get in a certain industry. They are telling you they are investing in things but they are not. They are pushing laws that prevent people from doing the things until they get control over the market. We are in a system that is absolutely broken. It is our democracy and we’ve never reached it. We have to do better, we have to be more sustainable. Clothing, agriculture and transportation, we’re going to have to make some big moves.
Manny Patole - I do a whole couple weeks on fast fashion and people don’t understand why I’m talking about this in urban sustainability. How are you going to have a sustainable urban environment if you’re not going to understand energy. Post disaster, where people are living is where you see the most equity. If you don’t step back and see the big picture it’s hard for people to start connecting the dots. When you think about fast fashion, 25 years ago the industry only had 2 cycles. Now there are 50. When we’re talking about a lot of these things here, our choices matter and how we look at them matters.
Dr. Alessandra Jerolleman - Hurricane Ida was a depressing microcosm about how indiginous communities are an afterthought at best. With Ida what we saw was a lot of interest in New Orleans, but the eye went right over point aux chien. It took three weeks for the tribe leader to be in touch with leaders. The first deliveries of water were driven down by volunteers. They had no access to government resources. Displacement is an important question. It is one thing to work together and it is another to watch your lands get stolen. Someone made a lot of money off of camps. People who accept buyouts are at equal risk in the places where they move.
Darryl Malek-Wiley - In Baton Rouge you can drive up Scenic Hwy. Exxon is extracting millions of gallons of waters from the Baton Rouge aquifers. That’s going to cause salt water intrusion. We made a sweetheart deal and we need to shine light on those deals. We need to look at both pictures. We need to get these big massive industry to really cut back on their emissions on air, water and land. Where is Southern University located? Right in the middle of toxic system. Where is LSU? In the clean part of the city. If that’s not racism, I don’t know what is. There’s no mass transit.
Colette Pichon Battle - If we want to be honest, which is not always the easiest thing, then you have to be courageous enough to the blatant things. Who do these things serve? We are all upholding this system. The climate crisis is rolling right over the middle and cracking all of the systems. The worst situation will be for the people in our society that we have valued the least. We have come up with systems of devaluing. Socially, through our silence, have allowed for that system to occur. The last 7 years are the hottest on the planet. We are creating because of our own comfort a situation that is untenable to those who do not have. There are millions of people who do not have this ease of access to very basic things. The climate impact is not the heat, but what will happen when these people are pushed to the brink and forced to fight for their survival. There is one system at play here, and it is our energy system and Louisiana is number 2. This is part of our accountability to a global population that will not survive if industry does not stop. In order to have the courage to address climate, we’re going to have to deal with this other stuff. And the impact will not be on the most vulnerable, they were targeted. Its not going to harm just them, it’s going to harm you too. It is a terrifying and exciting moment. If we lean into that ridiculous notion of exceptionalism and individualism, then we will all perish.
Zoom Chat
From Alexis Jones - Habitat for Humanity to Everyone 08:25 AM
Good Friday morning everyone!
From Kim Mosby to Everyone 08:30 AM
Good morning all. Happy Friday! I hope you're doing well today.
From Manny Patole (he|his, CCBR) to Everyone 08:30 AM
Good Morning!
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:31 AM
Good morning everyone
From Tracie Ingram to Everyone 08:32 AM
good morning
From One Rouge to Everyone 08:32 AM
Good morning, Folk!
From Casey Phillips to Everyone 08:33 AM
Good Morning wonderful humans
From One Rouge to Everyone 08:34 AM
"We allow the fixing after the poor have moved. Or allow the fixing once they are gone”
From Flitcher R. Bell to Everyone 08:34 AM
Buenos Dias mis amigas!!
From Alexis Phillips (she/her) to Everyone 08:35 AM
Hello to you all, beautiful souls!
From One Rouge to Everyone 08:36 AM
You and Hank Williams Jr. will survive!
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:36 AM
Say that! Lots of love to the country folk!
From Alexis Jones - Habitat for Humanity to Everyone 08:37 AM
Lollll^^
From Colette Pichon Battle, Esq. to Everyone 08:39 AM
Gulf South for a Green New Deal is a 6 territory (TX, LA, MS, AL, FL, P.R.) regional climate frontline formation. Join Us in Baton Rouge on June 4th: https://www.gulfsouth4gnd.org/
From One Rouge to Everyone 08:39 AM
We are dealing with whole regions ... when they have been told not to participate in their own solutions…!
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:40 AM
Absolutely!
From One Rouge to Everyone 08:43 AM
Everybody deserves clean air, clean water, clean land. It doesn't get any simpler than that!
From Alessandra Jerolleman (she/her) to Everyone 08:46 AM
Sharing this here for some context on post-Ida issues: https://www.brproud.com/news/local-news/louisiana-tribes-call-on-state-to-address-disaster-needs/
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:46 AM
Love the General!!!
From Alexis Jones - Habitat for Humanity to Everyone 08:46 AM
I did a conservation internship sponsored by ExxonMobil. The irony and greenwashing was not lost on me
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:46 AM
Doesn't matter the issue that's the power!
From Elizabeth Shephard to Everyone 08:47 AM
Great to see you Darryl!
From Rachelle "Ray-chel" Sanderson (she/her) to Everyone 08:48 AM
++++ Alessandra
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:49 AM
That is an interesting fact!
From Me to Everyone 08:49 AM
Hello friends! Please make sure to give a listen to our new podcast. It’s called Walls Plus One and it features so many of the topics and people you’ve heard on this call. Here are all the ways you can listen. https://linktr.ee/wallsplusone
From Elizabeth Shephard to Everyone 08:50 AM
👏👏👏👏thanks!
From One Rouge to Everyone 08:50 AM
SAY THAT!!!
From Elizabeth Shephard to Everyone 08:51 AM
Another amazing podcast featuring our amazing speaker Colette: https://onbeing.org/programs/colette-pichon-battle-placed-here-in-this-calling/
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:51 AM
It is a false narrative! We are very interdependent.
From One Rouge to Everyone 08:52 AM
Have to acknowledge that we are ALL CONNECTED!!!
there are still tribes in existence!
From Alexis Phillips (she/her) to Everyone 08:52 AM
💜
From Alexis Jones - Habitat for Humanity to Everyone 08:52 AM
+++
From Alessandra Jerolleman (she/her) to Everyone 08:52 AM
I couldn’t agree more. And, we can’t consume our way out of climate change. It requires a fundamental shift in how we live in relation to each other and to non-human relations.
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:52 AM
Absolutely!!!
From One Rouge to Everyone 08:52 AM
@alessandra, SO MUCH THAT! organic produce is NOT going to fix environmental injustice
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:54 AM
Yes, education matters.
From One Rouge to Everyone 08:55 AM
commodification of life's resources is the WORST!
From Rachelle "Ray-chel" Sanderson (she/her) to Everyone 08:55 AM
+++++
From Patrisha’s iPhone to Everyone 08:55 AM
Amen Sister!!
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:56 AM
I love that you gave a good starting point.
From Alexis Phillips (she/her) to Everyone 08:56 AM
Whew
From Alessandra Jerolleman (she/her) to Everyone 08:56 AM
We need to base our disaster policy on the provision of basic human rights as a minimum, and not just returning homeowners to some semblance of where they were before.
From Manny Patole (he|his, CCBR) to Everyone 08:56 AM
That needs to be a t-shirt
From Alexis Jones - Habitat for Humanity to Everyone 08:56 AM
Everyone in SELA are already starting to see the impacts of hurricanes and climate change on their pocket books and it's not sustainable. You're right in that it's only going to get worse
From Manny Patole (he|his, CCBR) to Everyone 08:56 AM
Not trying to take you job, trying to save your life
:-)
From Aimee Moles to Everyone 08:56 AM
someone make those tee shirts!
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:57 AM
Can't wait for the One Rouge T-shirt collection to come out!
From Omar Minhas to Everyone 08:57 AM
Inspirational as always, Ms. Battle! Thank you!!! 🙏🏽🙏🏽
From Alexis Jones - Habitat for Humanity to Everyone 08:57 AM
It seems that many are more concerned about the present and not the long-term impacts.
From Colette Pichon Battle, Esq. to Everyone 08:58 AM
@ Omar 💪👊
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 08:58 AM
The future or change also has employment opportunities. We need to embrace that reality as well.
From Darryl Malek-Wiley to Everyone 08:59 AM
Fossil Fuels Aren’t Just Harming the Planet. They’re Making Us Sick
Petrochemicals are linked to diverse health problems from infertility to cancer, and now they’re building up in pregnant women. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12052022/fossil-fuels-health-pregnancy/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Top+news%3A&utm_campaign=ATF+Daily
From One Rouge to Everyone 08:59 AM
petrochemical companies are the new plantation masters!
From Alexis Phillips (she/her) to Everyone 09:00 AM
Our bodies are filled with micro plastics
From Manny Patole (he|his, CCBR) to Everyone 09:00 AM
and other things we do not know too…
From Helena Williams to Everyone 09:00 AM
And the meat we eat too
From Manny Patole (he|his, CCBR) to Everyone 09:00 AM
Also the connection of microplastics, fast fashion, and athleisure wear
From One Rouge to Everyone 09:00 AM
Didn't JBE recently say that Cancer Alley isn't a real thing???
From Rev. Alexis Anderson to Everyone 09:00 AM
There most certainly is a cancer alley!
From Manny Patole (he|his, CCBR) to Everyone 09:01 AM
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/06/10/why-fashion-needs-to-be-more-sustainable/
From Alexis Jones - Habitat for Humanity to Everyone 09:01 AM
And right into our water sources! sounds