Community Voice, Vision, and Resilience in Post-Hurricane Katrina Recovery

Bibliographic Data

ID15684277
AuthorsRachel Morello‐frosch (0000-0003-1153-7287, Department of Health Services, corresponding author), Phil Brown (0000-0001-7627-5228, Department of Health Services), Mercedes C Lyson (Department of Health Services), A K Cohen (0000-0001-9848-934X, Department of Health Services), Kimberly Krupa (Department of Health Services)
Year2011
Volume4
Issue1
Pages71-80
Publication date2011-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironmental Justice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1937-5174 • E-ISSN: 1939-4071
PublisherMary Ann Liebert, Inc (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1089/env.2010.0029
OpenAlexW1442482864
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited28

Hurricane Katrina has mobilized community-based environmental justice organizing and advocacy and injected a strong social justice analysis of extreme weather events and disaster recovery. Using interviews and observations with New Orleans activists and organizations, we examine three community and advocacy-based rebuilding and organizing projects that arose as a result of diminished local and federal government infrastructure and regulatory engagement: 1) a labor-environment coalition which rebuilt a single neighborhood block as a demonstration project that also provided safety and health training; 2) activists' analyses of sludge toxicity in diverse neighborhood and point source locations; and 3) community organizing to address the re-opening of public schools on contaminated land. This leads us to a broader examination of neighborhood activism regarding rebuilding, barriers and opportunities posed by political and state entities, and the connection between environmental hazards and public health infrastructure problems. An in-depth look at these three case studies underscores the importance of community-based environmental justice organizations for building grassroots infrastructure for effective disaster planning and to ensure that a foundation exists to advance recovery efforts, particularly in situations when government infrastructure and support is lacking

Community engagement · Community organization · Community organizing · Community resilience · Emergency management · Environmental justice · Geography · Government (linguistics · Grassroots · Hurricane katrina · Local government · Natural disaster · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Resilience (materials science · Resource (disambiguation · Sociology · Disaster Management and Resilience · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Law · Public Administration · Risk Perception and Management