"On the Louisiana Coast, A Native Community Sinks Slowly into the Sea"

"The Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians of southern Louisiana have been called America’s first climate refugees. But two years after receiving federal funding to move to higher ground, the tribe is stuck in limbo, waiting for new homes as the water inches closer to their doors."

"Spring arrived early this year for Isle de Jean Charles. The southern gulf breeze is refreshing after an atypical freeze here deep in the Louisiana marsh. It’s late February and the thick vegetation is already sprouting a bright, luxuriant green. The birdsong threatens to drown out conversation. In a matter of weeks, shrimp, speckled trout, and redfish will be running. For members of this tribe of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians, this is nothing short of paradise.

So why is everyone moving away?

Of the 35 residential structures left on the island, many stand empty, slowly rotting back into the landscape. Due to unprecedented soil subsidence, sea level rise, and the thousands of oil and gas canals that have allowed saltwater intrusion and erosion, the once-wooded landscape is slowly disappearing beneath the sea."

Ted Jackson reports for Yale Environment 360 March 15, 2018.