Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) President & CEO Camille Manning-Broome will join Governor John Bel Edwards and his team to represent Louisiana’s interests at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) In Glasgow, Scotland that begins October 31. Camille was recently featured in Race to Zero’s High Level Champions interview series, where she spoke about Louisiana’s position on the front lines of climate change, the state’s overlapping vulnerabilities, opportunities for building a low-carbon economy and the need for a just transition while doing so.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, CPEX collaborator and fellow Climate Initiatives Task Force member Professor Rob Verchick published an op-ed in The Washington Post that you don’t want to miss! The article, “The New Orleans Power Outage Shows How Urgently a Climate-Resilient Power Grid is Needed,” details how our nation’s dated electricity networks are susceptible to disaster and stresses the urgent need to invest in modernized, climate-resilient infrastructure.
One of CPEX’s priorities is to create resilient communities across the state, and flood mitigation is a key part of that. This week marks the fifth anniversary of the historic flood that devastated parts of South and Central Louisiana. At the time, I was backpacking through the jungles of Peru with my husband and friends—cut-off from the outside world—without phone service or wifi. Once we reached our next big-city destination, we were immediately bombarded with phone calls from family and friends detailing the devastation taking place back home. We watched helplessly as my husband’s grandmother was rescued by the National Guard and loaded into a military vehicle, as my friend’s mom was saved from the rising floodwaters in a canoe, and as many friends and family members lost everything.
What is the role of government in climate change adaptation? Sure, we know that the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services provides SNAP benefits, and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries issues hunting and fishing licenses, and maybe we have the Louisiana Department of Revenue on our minds around this time of year -- but do we really know what state agencies do and why it is important that they, too, adapt to coastal change?
I remember my first bike without training wheels. It had a sparkly pink exterior with stunning iridescent streamers flowing from the handlebars. I rode my bike in circles around my neighborhood and over the hills of Highland Road Community Park, scraping knees and elbows along the way. Ten years later, I upgraded to a slightly larger and less colorful model and trepidatiously navigated the streets of Louisiana State University, dodging my peers on my way to class.
President Joe Biden’s visit to Lake Charles and New Orleans highlighted his $2.3 trillion proposal that includes provisions to fix roads, bridges, and ports; modernize public transit; and improve climate resilience. In Louisiana these traditional infrastructure investments are sorely needed. However, as a community-centered planner, I want us to also have a long-overdue conversation about how we invest in people-first infrastructure that addresses our growing vulnerability to climate change.
Too many Louisiana families live on the edge of hunger. Since beginning our partnership with UrbanFootprint, we’ve uncovered sobering data around the impact of COVID-19 on our state’s food security crisis. Our most recent analysis reveals that, since the start of the pandemic, the number of food-insecure households in Louisiana have increased by 44%. Of these households, 69% have not had access to nutritionally adequate food in the past week. And this crisis is disproportionately affecting communities of color, in low-income neighborhoods -- families that are already living on the margins of poverty and limited socioeconomic opportunity.
Here in Louisiana we find ourselves in the middle of a global conversation about decarbonizing the economy to combat the destructive impacts of climate change. This is undoubtedly a difficult conversation to have, because of our state’s long relationship with carbon-intense industries. But if we choose to ignore the changes going on all around us, we will fall behind environmentally and economically. As a planner who helps communities think ahead, I see a clear opportunity for all of us to play an active role in shaping Louisiana’s future. It’s time to let go of our attachment to business as usual, assess our situation, and focus on building an abundant future for our kids and grandkids.
CPEX has been so busy addressing needs that have emerged alongside the COVID-19 pandemic and hosting our virtual 2020 Smart Growth Summit, we haven’t had a chance to introduce our newest team member, Lyneisha Jackson. We were so excited to bring her GIS and wide-ranging planning expertise to CPEX, and she has already proven to be an invaluable member of the team. Read on to learn more about Lyneisha Jackson, Community Planner – and salsa dancer!
