Green Light New Orleans, the nonprofit that installs energy-efficient light bulbs in area homes, recently installed its 500,000th compact fluorescent lamp, and is throwing a party tonight (Tuesday, Jan. 20) at Carrollton Station to celebrate. Continue reading »
Protesters chant on the corner of Freret and Cadiz. (Zach Brien, UptownMessenger.com)
Article by Robert Morris; photos by Zach Brien
A group of local environmental activists huddled against the cold wind Tuesday night to create an audiovisual protest against a proposed expansion of an oil pipeline from Canada visible to Freret Street drivers. Continue reading »
Retired Lt. Gen. Russell Honore (center) and other advocates discuss contamination in the soil at the former Booker T. Washington site in front of what remains of the former school. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
When Lt. Gen. Russell Honore led 20,000 federal troops into the city of New Orleans for search-and-rescue missions in the aftermath of the collapse of the federal levees following Hurricane Katrina, he instructed his soldiers not to let the contaminated water touch them.
Nine years later, Honore said, the risk of pollution to New Orleanians is coming not from the failures of the federal government, but from decisions made by leaders right here in the city and state — such as the plan to rebuild Booker T. Washington High School in Central City on top of heavily contaminated soil at the old Clio Street dump. State documents show that in some locations, cancer-causing compounds are present in levels more than 100 times what is considered acceptable.
“As we worked nine years ago to help save this city, we’re going to work now to help save this city from itself,” Honore said. “Because you know what? It’s not the White House doing this. It’s not President Bush doing this. It’s the leaders in New Orleans doing this, and it’s people we did not put in the office — the RSD.”
Many alumni of Booker T. Washington, however, believe that the Recovery School District’s plan for treating the contamination is sufficient, that Honore’s concerns are an unnecessary excess of caution, and that it is time to move the long-delayed construction of a state-of-the-art school forward. Continue reading »
Retired Gen. Russell Honore speaks at the GreenARMY Katrina commemoration at Xavier University. (Zach Brien for UptownMessenger.com)
As New Orleans continues to recover from the devastation that followed Hurricane Katrina nine years ago, the city should pass a law preventing any schools or daycare centers from being built on top of toxic soil — including the proposed rebuilding of the Booker T. Washington High School over the old Silver City dump site in Central City, retired Lt. Gen. Russell Honore and local allies said Saturday morning.
“We’re the oldest city in this part of the country, and we ought to be the first to make a stand,” Honore said. “We’re not going to put a school on a dump.” Continue reading »
Lt. Gen. Russell Honore speaks in February at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in New Orleans. (UptownMessenger.com file photo by Robert Morris)
Retired Gen. Russell Honore will lead a Hurricane Katrina commemoration breakfast at Xavier University on Saturday with speakers from New Orleans and surrounding communities giving updates on the fight for environmental justice in Louisiana and the upcoming 2015 legislative session. Continue reading »
Mike Stagg (photo via Facebook)
Environmental activist Mike Stagg, organizer of the March from Grand Isle to the Governor’s Mansion, will discuss Louisiana’s relationship with the oil and gas industry tonight (Tuesday, Aug. 19) in a public meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Church on South Claiborne. Continue reading »
Workers begin removing a fallen oak tree from Audubon Park on Tuesday. (photo via WWL-TV)
An oak tree in Audubon Park near Walnut Street and St. Charles Avenue — believed to be between 150 and 200 years old — broke apart and collapsed Tuesday morning, likely because of underground termite damage, according to a report by our partners at WWL-TV.
Lt. Gen. Russell Honore speaks in February at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in New Orleans. (UptownMessenger.com file photo by Robert Morris)
State Rep. Neil Abramson at a town hall in Carrollton in 2013. (UptownMessenger.com file photo)
Join civic-minded New Orleanians in a panel discussion this evening (Thursday, May 15) surrounding recent legal fights with the oil and gas industry, political influence in Louisiana policy making, and coastal restoration projects in the region. Continue reading »
Former Louisiana Govs. Buddy Roemer, Kathleen Blanco and Edwin Edwards share a laugh during one of the lighter moments during Wednesday night’s panel discussion at Loyola University. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Although former Louisiana governors Buddy Roemer, Kathleen Blanco and Edwin Edwards have a number of political differences, all three agreed Wednesday night that no state officials — neither the legislature nor the current governor — should interfere with the local levee board’s lawsuit against oil companies. Continue reading »
A sign reading “Eat Local” in the edible garden at Samuel J. Green Charter School.
(Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
Wine, burgers, desserts, tacos and more will be provided during the outdoor garden party at the Samuel J. Green Charter School in the Freret neighborhood from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday (March 27). For those party goers arriving or staying late, for the first time in five years the party will go until 10 p.m., a “Late Wave” party with Company Burger and Cure. Continue reading »
(By Jean-Paul Villere)
Jean-Paul Villere
Digesting a maladjusted observation by new New Orleanian Tara Elders in a recent New York Times piece regarding her new city’s supposed lack of cosmopolitan sensibility and its apparent lack of kale requires equal parts restraint and forgiveness. Questions surface. Who is she? Who cares. Why the kerfuffle? In short, New Orleanians take pride in themselves and this comment plays as a slight, however one frames it. Adding this misfire into the whole of its missive stirs up other unsettlingly obtuse observations the article makes, but for brevity’s sake permit me to sum it up in a quote of one ex pat’s (though presently a New Yorker) Facebook update “I defy you to read this article and not want to set something on fire.”
Indeed. Continue reading »
(photo via The Audubon Nature Institute)
On Saturday (March 15), Orleans Parish voters will decide on more than just runoff races for City Council seats. A property tax worth up to $11.9 million a year is up for vote for the Audubon Nature Institute, the organization that supports the Uptown-located Audubon Zoo, as well as the Aquarium downtown and other sites around the city.
Supporters of the millage say it is a renewal of an already-existing tax. But dissenters say that it’s a new tax, because it could mark an increase in funds for the Institute for a period of 50 years. Continue reading »
Lt. Gen. Russell Honore addresses the Louisiana Landmarks Society on Monday evening at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in New Orleans. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, best known for his no-nonsense leadership in New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina, returned to the city Monday night in his new role: condemning entire generations of Louisiana lawmakers for an acquiescence to major chemical companies that is now compromising the future of the state.
Speaking before the Louisiana Landmarks Society at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in the center of Uptown New Orleans, Honore may have been preaching to the choir, or, as he calls them, his “Green Army.” What they really wanted to know — like so many audiences the general has spoken to around the state — is whether Honore plans to run for governor. Continue reading »
Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, who was widely hailed for his leadership in New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina and is now considering a run for governor, will speak about the threats to Louisiana’s environment at 7 p.m. tonight (Monday, Feb. 24) at First Unitarian-Universalist Church, 5212 South Claiborne Avenue. Continue reading »
19th Annual Tulane Summit on Environmental Law & Policy panelist topics (via the Tulane Environmental and Energy Legal Society)
The public is invited to listen to thought-provoking expert panelists discuss environmental hot topics such as the Orleans Parish Levee Board lawsuits, the Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” and the state’s “cancer alley” at the 19th Annual Tulane Summit on Environmental Law & Policy on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 21-22), in Tulane Law School’s Weinmann Hall. Continue reading »
Supporters of a greener Mardi Gras with throws that benefit the New Orleans economy are holding the “Throw Me Something Local: A Green Mardi Gras Ball” fundraiser on Thursday at NOLA Brewery. Continue reading »
(map via DOTD)
“That one time I saw them in the snow,” writes Jeffrey Bostick. (via http://librarychronicles.blogspot.com, used with permission)