Louisiana has suffered more than financially from natural disasters than any other state in the nation. Hurricane Katrina remains the most expensive natural disaster in US History. The estimated cost is $86.9 billion. Behind it is Hurricane Ida, another storm that devastated Louisiana’s coast to the cost of $36 billion.

Louisiana is the only southern state to have a climate task force. Both of our guests on this episode are members of the Climate Initiatives Task Force and offer up incredible insights regarding the systems of poverty that are tied to the climate crisis. 

Camille Manning-Broome, the President and CEO of the Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX), connects the dots between poverty and the climate crisis.   

Colette Pichon Battle, a climate advocate and attorney for Taproot Earth, explains that we are not going to recycle our way out of the climate crisis. Instead, we’re going to have to get uncomfortable and redefine our understanding of what poverty is and how equity can be achieved. 

Our featured supporter of this episode is Cluey Consumer, which is a Louisiana-based company focused on conscious consumerism. The company’s founder, Maryclaire Manard, explains how she came up with the idea and what prompted her to take on this challenge. To get clued in on how to support the brands that fall in line with your values, sign up for their newsletter and listen to their new podcast. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with your friends and leave us a review.  

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Did you know that Louisiana gets more rain on average than any other state? Sadly, we still have issues with having enough clean drinking water and with keeping our waterways free of pollution. On this episode of Walls Plus One, we’re taking a deep dive down the well of problems facing our aquifers and natural waterways. 

Our first guest is General Russel Honore', a 37-year army veteran and leader of the Green Army. Military and environmentalism probably don’t seem like something that go together, but General Honore' explains how those two things are more closely related than you might think. 

Our second guest is Justin Ehrenwerth CEO of the Water Institute located in Baton Rouge. Some of the work being done there has already been discussed by a couple of our guests, but now we’re really getting a full understanding of the importance of the research they are doing. 

Finally, we’re going to take a trip out to the BREC Howell Park farm in Baton Rouge to talk to Jacquel Curry, Farm Manager for Baton Roots.

If you’re enjoying this season of Walls Plus One, please consider becoming a Walls Project Insider. When you become an Insider, you’ll get access to the full interviews with each guest, including Walls Project team members. You’ll also see extended resources, information, and even a glossary of terms related to each episode presented this season. 

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We’re talking trash on this episode of Walls Plus One.

LSU Chemical Engineering Professor Bhuvnesh Bharti is taking a microscopic look at the air we breathe to find the tiny little microparticles of plastic that are drifting about. 

Richard LeBouef is the executive director of St. Landry Solid Waste and Disposal District. Thanks to some local government foresight, that parish is doing some really interesting things with waste. Oh, and he’s also a pretty amazing musician. We’ll play one of his songs at the end of the show. 

And we wrap up the whole conversation with Baton Roots Program Manager Mitchell Provensal. He’s going to tell you about an easy way to compost food waste at home rather than sending it to the landfill. It’s called bokashi and he has a full demonstration on the Walls Project YouTube account.  CLICK HERE to watch.

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Bees are an incredibly important part of our modern agriculture system as well as being a general indicator of the overall health of our environment. You probably remember hearing a lot about colony collapse back in the mid-aughts, and it  probably gave you a good scare. The good news is that the EPA reports that Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, has dropped from roughly 60% of total hives lost in 2008 to 31.1% in 2013. 

But we’re not out of the woods yet and there is a lot of work being done to try and save our bees. In this episode we talk to two women who are part of the battle. First is backyard beekeeper, Jen Bernard. Then we’re going to go deeper into the hive with Lanie Bilodeau who heads up a major research operation happening at the USDA Honey bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Laboratory in Baton Rouge. 

Finally, I introduce to you our Artist in Residence Ashli Ognelodh. One of her recent paintings had a bee as its focal point. 

We have a lot to lose if our bee population declines… which is why so much time and attention is being given to help them thrive. But we also have a lot to learn from our bee friends. Saint Francis De Sales once said, “The bee collects honey from flowers in such a way as to do the least damage and destruction to them, and he leaves them whole, undamaged and fresh, just as he found them.” 

If we begin to look at creating with the same level of respect, we too will restore our balance with nature. 

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Currently, the electric power sector contributes roughly 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. That’s why a lot of effort is being placed into figuring out alternative ways to power up our homes and our vehicles. 

In this episode we begin with a little lesson about solar from Terrence L. Chambers. Some incredible work is being done at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Along with debunking a few myths, we really get into the economics of solar. Could this be what pulls one of the poorest states in the nation out of poverty? It certainly could help. 

Then, we’re going to chat with Ann Vail, the Executive Director of Louisiana Clean Fuels, to learn more about electric vehicles. Interestingly enough, that opens up the conversation to health disparities. 

During my chat with Ann I brought up the old South Baton Rouge neighborhood, which is where my next guest is originally from. His name is Paul Franklin and he is working with the Dallas side of our operation. 

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In many ways this episode is a seamless continuation from our last episode. We’re going to build on many of the ideas put out there by Jessi Parfait and Ian Richardson. If you’d like to listen to that episode first, CLICK HERE. 

In this episode, we’re going to talk about the idea of using old methods for creating new sustainable practices, as well as the need for more education surrounding food and nutrition. 

First, Carl Motsenbocker, an LSU professor and Executive Director of the Louisiana Farm To School program called Seeds to Success. Education is going to be the key because currently we are plant blind. We’re seeing it in the lack of connection to our natural environment and in the lack of understanding about healthy eating. 

Marguerite Green is our second guest and she is the Executive Director of Sprout New Orleans, a nonprofit organization focused on creating a community food system rooted in equity. The organization has several programs rooted in that mission. CLICK HERE to learn more about them and how to get involved. 

Both guests in this episode represent individuals with or from LSU’s agriculture program. However, Southern University is also located in Baton Rouge and has an amazing agriculture program. To learn more about that program, CLICK HERE. 

Also featured in this episode is Helena Williams, the head of our marketing department. She takes a look at the historical perspective of our agriculture system and how that’s played out in our grocery stores. This was part of her research for an article she published in our monthly newsletter. To read that article, CLICK HERE. 

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Before we get into the meat of this episode, I’d love for you to listen to the last interview of season 1. It is referenced a few times in this episode. 

Season 1, Episode 11: Crisis on the Coast: Corey Miller

The person referencing that interview with Corey Miller is Jessi Parfait. She is the Campaign Representative at the Sierra Club for the Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign. Additionally, she is a citizen of the United Houma Nation. 

Jessi is going to tell you about her tribe and the impact that industry has made on the Louisiana coastline, a place her community has called home for thousands of years. 

In addition to Jessi, we have Ian Richardson, a Louisiana native who is operating a backyard plant nursery called Beaver’s Abundance. His focus is on native plants and he explains why you should consider planting native plants on your property. 

Having knowledge and respect for our land and the plants that keep it thriving is going to be an important component to having a sustainable future. If you didn’t already know, The Walls Project has a program devoted to urban agriculture and sustainability practices. It’s called Baton Roots! 

Program Director SK Groll joins in to talk about Sow Good Saturday. We realize that this program is really only good for those of you in the Baton Rouge area, so we want to hear about the programs happening in YOUR area. Tell us about it on social media. 

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The experts weighed in on the last episode of Walls Plus One and they agree that climate change is happening now. What’s going to happen next is still up for debate, but we know for certain that we have a lot to think about when it comes to housing. 

Urban sprawl has been attributed to be responsible for about a third of global CO2 emissions. That new, beautiful subdivision on the outskirts of town seems like such a great value, it’s costing us all a lot more than we care to admit. 

But the demand for housing never seems to go away. So what’s the solution? Many are turning back to the cities that were all but abandoned when urban sprawl really started to take off. More importantly, there are questions as to whether or not we can retrofit them to be more sustainable. 

I have two guests who will weigh in on the future of our cities. 

First up is Manny Patole, an engineering professor at NYU and research scholar who specializes in sustainable urban environments. He lives in Brooklyn, so he is no stranger to the challenges faced by city living. He also knows that improving city life is the way forward in a future with a changing climate. 

Stephen Poss is a former lawyer turned public school educator. Based out of Baton Rouge, he spends his free time advocating on environmental issues and putting his knowledge to use through green landscaping practices. 

During our talk, Stephen schooled me in a few different areas. 

First, I had no idea leaf blowers were as environmentally harmful as they are annoying. In fact, some are more harmful than a cross-country trip. I did, however, do a little more research on the topic and found an additional report that suggests the numbers are maybe a little less dramatic than some reports, but even so, they are still worse than one would ever imagine. 

ADDITIONAL READING

Verify: Is pollution from a leaf blower equal to a cross country drive

More cities consider bans on gas powered leaf blowers

Second, I never thought about how polluted a lake situated next to a golf course could become from fertilizer and herbicide runoff. In this case he’s talking about the history of the LSU lakes, a major human landmark in Baton Rouge. I wrote a story about the history of the lakes if you’d like to get a little more context regarding how they were created. 

And finally, he told me about a fun way to share with people the idea that a traditional lawn is harmful. It’s called Lawns and God.  

Also in this episode is an introduction to Pepper Roussel, the program manager for OneRouge. 

To gain access to full interviews and bonus material, sign up to become a Walls Project Insider. With a donation of $10 a month or more, you will help sustain this podcast as well as the many programs sponsored by this organization.

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