RISE PUBLICATION
RISE PUBLICATION
Stay Informed with Rise
by Sharon C. Lavigne
Welcome to Rise, a publication about healthy living with a positive message that we are more in control of our health than ever before.
In this issue we focus on a resource that we all share: our drinking water. Could it be the chemicals coming out of our tap are part of the root cause of cli-mate change and harmful human health effects?
The same toxic chemicals 1.3 million Louisianans are exposed to from their tap water are being man-ufactured in our state and also associated with cli-mate change. Their pollution is the reason the sea is washing away our coastline and that the saltwa-ter is advancing up the Mississippi River and Bayou Lafourche, causing higher sodium levels in our tap water. High sodium is a risk for high blood pressure and heart disease. Toxic chemicals in our drinking water are another huge health threat and are mark-ers of the environmental pollution stealing our chil-dren’s future.
As we report in this issue from Isle De Jean Charles, Houma, Thibodaux, Donaldsonville, and other areas of the state, our drinking water resources are incred-ibly endangered. The water level of the Mississippi is historically low; two years of drought have led to less northern melting snow pack; last year, our state’s first-ever wildfire emergency occurred. These are real-life symbols of a new normal that demands our attention.
It all fits together. Being informed and striving to protect your family’s health means understanding the real causes of your health issues and the power of pre-vention. Sometimes what you’re being told isn’t so.
In this issue, we will share with you the facts and how to take care of one of our state’s most vital re-sources and, in so doing, protect your family’s health and our shared future. ▪
Sharon C. Lavigne is the founder of Rise St. James and winner of the 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize.
Cajun Heroes, Toxic Villians
The meeting point of these two storied arteries also happens to be at Ground Zero for the most vital environmental health issues of our time. All the signs and symptoms of a warming world seem to have come to a global boiling point here in Louisiana. Record low levels of the Mississippi in 2023—combined with drought, the saltwater wedge that moved up the river and widespread intrusion into the wetlands—have all of us talking about climate change. Portions of Louisiana, along the gulf, have already succumbed to the sea.
Ascension Parish—Eric Sanchez, head of the twelve-person crew that works for the Bay-ou Lafourche Fresh Water District up here in Donaldsonville, has taken me to one of the most strategic points in the state. This is where the Mississippi and Bayou Lafourche meet and the moth-er river once emptied twelve percent of its flow into its smaller fork. Together, the two supply the tap water for some 1.3 million Louisianans.
How to Protect A Precious Louisiana Resource—and Your Family
by David Steinman
Saving Lake Maurepas
Lake Maurepas is a national treasure and economic foundation for an entire community that is now threatened by private industry and the Air Products carbon capture sequestration scheme.
Lke Maurepas needs you. A coalition of legis- lators including Representatives Kim Landry Coates, newly elected Republican state Representative for the Baton Rouge, Livingston, and Tangipaho parishes, has a message for her constituents that can be summed up in two words: “Healthy prosperity.”
What sounds at first like just a campaign talking point is in fact a mission for Landry Coates as she goes up against the powerful outside financial interests backing the nearly five billion dollar carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project proposed for Lake Maurepas, one of the largest forested wetlands in the nation.
Take Part in Our Health Survey
We all know that the parishes of Louisiana have some of the highest cancer rates in the nation. You’ve probably experienced the heartbreak when family members and friends are sickened with environmental cancers and illnesses invariably associated with chemical toxins. But we can change things. Now it’s time for accountability about the health issues in our communities and their real causes.
This pilot health survey is the beginning.
We hope you will participate in this survey and provide information that might be difficult to share. But if you do wish to share such details please know you will be among a community of activists who have all been exposed and suffered from them either personally or by losing family members and friends. Your information can be used to begin to bring accountability to state government and the companies that they regulate.
We are a team of environmental journalists and activists and will hold information as background unless specifically granted permission for its use in a follow-up interview.