The Walton Family Foundation has awarded my local newspapers, The Advocate (Nola.com) and the Times-Picayune, a little over $1 million grant to expand coastal and environmental reporting. The three-year grant will cover the cost of a four-member team based out of New Orleans. The money will be administered by the … [continued]
Last week, Hurricane Ida knocked out all 8 transmission lines into New Orleans. In Baton Rouge, it took out our communications along with our electricity — with the exception of those who had Verizon. Although most of Baton Rouge is getting back online, New Orleans as well as smaller towns … [continued]
I’ve spent most of the weekend preparing for a monster to visit. Hurricane Ida is forecasted to be a Category 4 storm and will be making landfall sometime tomorrow afternoon. It’s going to pass right over my city, and all of southeast Louisiana is under a hurricane warning. Mandatory evacuations … [continued]
Emissions of Baton Rouge’s Exxon plant, which produces 517,00 barrels of oil a day, have hit a peak of 350 pounds per hour, Reuters reports. That plant is around 5 miles from my home — they don’t call this Cancer Alley for no reason. It should be noted that this … [continued]
A Louisiana state committee has rejected a bill that would have required 473 plants to install real-time air monitoring systems and pay for it. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Cleo Fields (D-Baton Rouge) and it was inspired by conversations with his constituents after last year’s fire at the ExxonMobile … [continued]
Yesterday, I went down to the riverfront to get some fresh air and enjoy the gorgeous day. It was warm, sunny, and very few people were out at this time of the day — it was mid-afternoon on a Friday. Although I had my mask with me, I was alone, so I pulled it off as I observed the river before me — and I choked.
“The truth, then, is that on the other end of this crisis we cannot return to normal. Normal was already a nightmare for so many of us.”
This morning I woke up to grim news. Right here in Baton Rouge, a newborn died from the coronavirus. The newborn was one of seven more coronavirus-related deaths in East Baton Rouge Parish, where I live. The baby’s mother was admitted into the hospital with symptoms and then yesterday she gave birth to a baby girl who died this morning. The official cause of death was the coronavirus.
This isn’t related to cleantech, but at the same time, it kind of is. If we treated our planet better, if we, as a species, did things differently, if we chose to put the health and livelihoods of our people first instead of putting profits first, perhaps I may not be facing something that was mistaken for strep last week.
As I am sure you know, Louisiana is a massive hotspot for the coronavirus. Currently, New Orleans is experiencing one of the highest per-capita rates of COVID-19 infections in the country.
