NPR

A Refrain As Louisiana's Coast Washes Away: We're 'Water People. We Can't Leave'

Locals put the crisis into a perspective that’s easy to understand: Louisiana loses a football field of land every hour of the day.
The entrance to The Pen, a lake off the Barataria Waterway that used to be a farm. “It was a big field," says Kevin Rutley, whose family has lived in the area for generations. (Virginia Hanusik for Here & Now)

Locals put the crisis into a perspective that’s easy to understand.

Louisiana loses a football field of land every hour of the day.

“Even my customers are starting to recognize it now,” says charter boat captain Ripp Blank. “And it don’t come back once it leaves.”

Blank has been fishing the waters around Bayou Barataria — 30 miles or so north of the Gulf of Mexico — his entire life. If you’re a newcomer, it can be hard to discern where the water ends and the land begins.

“It washes through little cuts and then before you know

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR3 min read
Apple Shows Its Steepest Quarterly Decline In IPhone Sales Since Pandemic's Outset
The 10% drop in year-over-year iPhone sales for the January-March period is latest sign of weakness in a product that generates most of Apple's revenue.
NPR4 min read
Cicadas Are Back On The Menu. One Chef Shares His Dish Ideas — And An Easy Recipe
The cicadas are coming! And so are some new flavor profiles. This spring, the bugs of two broods, the 13-year Brood XIX and the 17-year Brood XIII, will crawl from the ground simultaneously across the eastern and southern parts of the United States.
NPR4 min readCrime & Violence
Captain Sentenced To 4 Years In Fiery Deaths Of 34 Aboard Scuba Boat In California
The Sept. 2, 2019, blaze was the deadliest maritime disaster in recent U.S. history, and prompted changes to maritime regulations, congressional reform and several ongoing lawsuits.

Related Books & Audiobooks