The Viewing Corner: Water on Film

When an energy company begins searching for natural gas in New Brunswick, Canada, Indigenous Mi’kma’ki and white families unite to drive out the company in a campaign to protect their water and way of life. [Runtime: 22:29]

L’Eau Est La Vie, The Fight at Standing Rock Continues in the Bayous of Louisiana: Short Film

Energy Transfer Partners—the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock—is trying to extend that pipeline through the largest US wetland swamp in Louisiana, the Atchafalaya Basin. L’Eau Est La Vie (Water is Life) Camp is fighting the pipeline despite facing state violence, police that are moonlighting for the pipeline and courts that are protecting corporate interests over public good. The fight for water and life continues! “If our leaders won’t stand up to stop this pipeline and protect our water, then we the people of Louisiana will. We are building the L’eau Est La Vie camp to protect our water and our way of life from the Bayou Bridge pipeline.” -L’eau Est La Vie Statement

Locked: Short Film

Local Urban Ecologist Dr. Josh Lewis tells the hundred year history of the Industrial Canal and Lock that dissects the infamous 9th Ward in New Orleans. He describes the wide reaching effects of how we do water transportation in Louisiana and describes how irresponsible urban planning that ignores ecology has lead to repeated catastrophic flooding in the region since 1927. “Citizens United to Stop the Lock” made this history-meets-call-to-action to mobilize our city, our country, and our world to put people above profits and to look at the social and environmental ramifications of large-scale water projects in coastal landscapes. This is another true story as told by the New Orleans based filmmaking duo Patrick and Daneeta Loretta Jackson of Elektrik Zoo Films. It was co-produced by Elektrik Zoo Films, Inc. and NOVAC as part of Post Coastal: a project about land loss in Southeast Louisiana that empowers local filmmakers to engage with the most pressing local environmental issue of our time.

From the Muddy Mississippi to Morocco's Medinas, A Coastal Journey: Lecture

This lecture offers a first-hand look at Morocco’s coastline from a Louisiana perspective. Morocco’s coastal zone has long linked Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It is a region with a rich cultural legacy, and is important to the modern state. Morocco’s ports, mineral resources, fisheries and coastal-tourism all play an important role in the nation’s economy and society. The country’s coast is also a dynamic setting where large-scale weather systems and global climate changes both impact water levels and coastal hazards. The speaker, Dr. Alex Kolker of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie, LA, talks about Morocco’s coast, its history, and how it is changing today. The talk also addresses lessons Louisiana can learn from studying how other coastal systems are coping with changing water levels and a shifting coastline.