A celebration 🎉 post that is in honor of all those who have worked tirelessly to help combat environmental injustices in their communities…Today we broke ground on 3 more green infrastructure projects that will intercept 37,000 gallons of stormwater from reaching our overburdened and under-maintained grey infrastructure system. This was made possible by Black-led and female-led community organizations- Greater Tremé Consortium, Healthy Community Services and Upper 9th Ward Bunny Friend Neighborhood Association. These projects are pieces of a larger vision of community-driven green infrastructure projects where each dollar will return 6 times that in economic benefits (up to $17 million dollars annually). It will be added to our portfolio of 160 green infrastructure Projects that are managing around 55,000 gallons of stormwater currently. So far this has been done without government support or tax payer monies. We are asking government to work with the community organizations in New Orleans to realize these economic benefits. As @arsenedelaymusic said, “the climate crisis is happening now” and action is needed to protect redlined and under-invested communities of color. Until then, we are moving forward thanks to funders like @thekresgefoundation @gnofoundation and @sustainablecomm to turn our vision into reality!
😷 Due to a “hurricane” of government failure, labor shortages, and underpaid and underprotected hoppers, trash hasn’t been picked up regularly for over 6 weeks in some New Orleans neighborhoods. Now, we are left with piles of trash as seen in this photo. This is not a call out to residents but a suggestion- trash that piles up in front of storm drains can lead to flooding and pollution of Lake Pontchartrain. With the way things are going, we can’t hold our breath for any one agency to come clear debris like this. If you are brave, willing, have protective gear, it may be a good idea to clear in front of the stormdrain to keep you local infrastructure working the best it can for our next rainstorm. #donttrashdat
