1. An hour and a half south of New Orleans and 21
miles from where Hurricane Katrina made landfall
in August 2005, the remaining six houses of Grand
Bayou, Lousiana are perched above waving marsh
grasses and shrimp-filled water. Twenty homes
were lost to the hurricane, and the families that
lived in them were forced to relocate.
Accessible only by boat, Grand Bayou is home
to the Atakapa-Ishak tribe whose members have
lived here for 300 years working as shrimpers,
oyster fishermen, trappers and more recently for
oil companies.
Like so many communities that dot the U.S.
Gulf Coast, tribe members are struggling to rebuild
and preserve their way of life. And they realize
that sustainability—considering environmental,
social, and economic issues in balance—is key to
their survival.
“People ask, ‘Why don’t you just pick up and
leave?’” says Myrtle Phillips, deputy chief of the
tribe. She maintains that coastal communities play
a critical role in protecting cities further inland—
like New Orleans—from storm surges and flood
damage. “If we move and don’t come back, the
land will erode a lot quicker.”
She explains: “There’s no one there to take
care of it—to bulkhead a little piece or to stop
boats from going too fast. So it’ll erode. Once it’s
gone, the Gulf will be against the back levee.”
One sign that communities on the coast are
increasingly taking matters into their own hands
are the many grassroots groups that have sprung
up since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“As communities look to rebuild, residents
want to have a voice in how that happens,”
says Betty Weiss, ISC’s director of community
initiatives. “They want redevelopment that is
respectful of the environment and culture and not
driven by outside interests or a purely financial
bottom line.”
Over the past few years, ISC has helped
leaders in Moss Point, Mississippi rebuild
sustainably and involve residents in decision
making. When other communities requested
similar help, we launched the Gulf Coast
Sustainable Communities Network for leaders
from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas
who want to share ideas and work together to
rebuild stronger and more resilient communities.
Network meetings address how the
community land trust model can help resource-
poor communities, how to assess community risk
and resiliency, and how digital advocacy can help
them reach a wider audience.
“This has been great,” said Diane Huhn, of
Bayou Grace Community Services. “We come
from different places and work on different
issues. At the core it’s really the same issue,
though,” she said. “How do we create sustainable
communities?”
Sue Taoka, executive vice president for
ShoreBank Enterprise Cascadia; Trenton
Allen, director, Municipal Securities
Division for Citigroup Global Markets,
and Cisco DeVries, president, Renewable
Funding LLC.
continued from the front cover
ing loan model that is helping homeowners offset
the initial investment of a retrofit, while Steve
Morgan of Clean Energy Solutions outlined key
elements of a successful large-scale retrofit effort
gleaned from best practices from several cities.
Many city leaders commented on how un-
usual it is for city officials responsible for energy,
workforce and economic development to get the
opportunity get together to explore new ways
to approach important issues. But this kind of
collaboration is critical if leaders want to move
beyond working building by building to retrofit-
ting on a citywide scale.
“This is just absolutely amazing to see you
here, “ said Gil Sperling of the U.S. Department
of Energy, who oversees the Energy Efficiency
and Conservation Block Grant program, a key
Recovery Act funding source. “I can’t tell you how
grateful I am that all of you would take the time to
do this, which is why I am taking the time away
from the things that I do because this is really
important.”
By the end of the camp, leaders from each city
were reinvigorated and prepared to return to their
cities to tackle the next steps. Some, for example,
set specific targets to retrofit half their buildings
in 10 years’ time. Others committed to creating a
revolving loan program modeled on those already
underway in several cities. Many said that they
would continue to meet as a team to move their
plans forward. The San Francisco team, whose
members met for the first time at the airport, said
they would work together to build a coordinated,
systems-based approach.
The boot camp was part of ISC’s broader
Climate Leadership Academy program, which pro-
vides training and peer-learning services to local
climate practitioners in four areas: building energy
efficiency, climate-friendly transportation and land
use, green job creation, and climate adaptation.
Next up, in conjunction with the Urban
Sustainability Directors' Network meeting on
September 21-23, 2009 in Chicago, ISC will hold an
intensive workshop on reducing carbon emissions
through smart transportation and smart growth
management strategies. Future programs will
focus on climate adaptation and other topics. To
find out more about the Academy or to download
the Green Boot Camp Resource Guide, visit www.
iscvt.org.
PHOTOCREDIT:LIVINGCITIES
Myrtle Phillips, deputy chief of the
Atakapa-Ishak tribe, and Michael Amos,
the tribe's principal chief.