Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana - bottom of the map, end of the world and one of the ‘fastest disappearing places on earth’. Once fertile farmland, the bird’s foot-like piece of land that stretches south from New Orleans is fraying and breaking away under the pressure of industrial canal systems, rising sea levels and a leveed Mississippi river, divorced from building up the land around her with all that rich sediment she carries. Something needs to be done - and fast - but for the communities of people who have been woven into this landscape for generations, it’s not a simple fix.
In Episode 2 I meet up with passionate ecologist, Dave Baker under the shade of an ancient oak tree in New Orleans’ City Park to get the lowdown on the urgency of this local land loss. He’s terrified for the area, but what about those who are on the front line of it? I wanted to get onto the ground, so off we go down to the ‘end of the world’ to meet people who are watching it play out in real time.
There are no neat tie-ups here, just a simmering sigh of foreboding and a hell of a lot of heart. Love you, Louisiana.
Credits
To go deeper into this episode head to
low-lines.com - including a BONUS EPISODE of the full conversation with Dave Baker.
What is Lowlines?
Lowlines is a sonic scrapbook and a passport to roam. Following one woman’s pull to tune into the pulse of place - befriending strangers along the way.
Feeling pranged out by the London business hustle, food entrepreneur Petra Barran brought an audio recorder and set off with no itinerary, guided simply by a hunger to get lower and closer to the ground.
The series is a holiday for the ears, taking us to the heartbeat of New Orleans, the low-slung wetlands of South Louisiana, the slow gyrations of the Amtrak to Tucson. Down to the brittle rasp of the Sonoran desert, the rich, volcanic soil of Mexico City’s Aztec allotments and further, to the soaring jungle chorus of the Peruvian Amazon.