Mar
22
2020
Reporting to Louisianians about the existential threat climate change presents to our state’s coast often has me recalling one of Winston Churchill’s famous sayings: “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they’ve tried...
Mar
08
2020
Remember low-tar cigarettes?
In the 1960s and ’70s politicians from North Carolina and Kentucky were helping one of their most prominent industries fight an overwhelming tide of science and evidence proving the products they produced were spreading poisons and killing...
Feb
23
2020
Three years ago, nonresidents in audiences at my presentations on Louisiana’s plan to save its coast by rebuilding wetlands began exposing a serious problem by asking this question: Given the rapid acceleration of sea-level rise, does it make sense...
Nov
23
2019
Almost every day, news from around the world reinforces one of the most frustrating and dangerous paradoxes about our state: When it comes to its chances for coastal survival, Louisiana refuses to listen to its own best advice.
I’m talking...
Nov
09
2019
Last week, President Donald Trump had two shocking messages for south Louisiana residents, even those who voted for him:
Go drown — and breathe some toxic air on your way under!
OK, I’m paraphrasing. But those messages were the factual bottom-line...
Oct
27
2019
Imagine this.
After discovering your house is infested with termites, the contractor gives you two paths forward:
Sell the thing for whatever you can get and begin looking for a new home in a new place.
Or begin expensive repairs and treatment...
Oct
13
2019
When the news broke that minerals giant Freeport McMoRan agreed to a $100 million settlement with 12 coastal parishes for destroying wetlands, Louisiana’s coastal restoration community cheered. They’d been failing for decades to get oil and gas companies to...
Sep
29
2019
A breakthrough in offshore energy production has the potential to ignite an explosive economic revival across south Louisiana, sending tens of thousands of idled oil and gas workers back into high-paying jobs.
But it has nothing to do with oil...
Sep
15
2019
Last week, two news stories explained why some people wonder if Louisiana's $92 billion coastal master plan might be a waste of time and money.
The first: Two peer-reviewed research papers concluded that human-caused climate change is producing hurricanes that...
Sep
01
2019
On Aug. 20, Louisiana coastal advocates woke up to this headline:
“Mississippi River diversions led to land loss, not growth, study says: Implications are ‘obvious.’”
Were they shocked? Let’s just say it would be like Saints fans reading this: “Drew Brees...
