Coastal harm from invading saltwater ‘happening right now’

On December 2, 2020, Bill Lambrecht and Gracie Todd of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism published an article in Houma Today that highlights some of the more devastating climate related impacts being observed in the USET region.

“COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Four Native American Tribes on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast requested United Nations assistance this year to force action by the U.S. government on invading saltwater. Their formal complaint cites “climate-forced displacement” and says saltwater has poisoned their land, crops and medicinal plants. “That strips us of not only being able to generate an income to provide for ourselves, it also strips us of our ability to feed ourselves healthy,” Shirell Parfait-Dardar, chief of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw in Terrebonne Parish, said in an interview.”