Oil Spills and Community Resilience: Uneven Impacts and Protection in Historical Perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Louisiana's coastal residents have endured centuries of hurricanes and decades of oil spills. Locally based, inherent resilient practices have enabled them to persist in place. This paper documents the evolution of actions taken by Louisiana's coastal residents that constitute effective resilient activities in the aftermath of disruptive events. It compares the efforts that arose from coastal communities that were rooted in local environmental knowledge with generic external programs designed to enable hazard mitigation, emergency response, and recovery form damaging hurricanes and oil spills. Additionally, it will identify points of opportunity to fortify resilience by integrating inherent and formal resilience.

Solastalgic Landscapes: Prospects of Relocation in Coastal Louisiana

“…In the second set of interviews (October 2013-February 2015, residents were asked questions about resilient and ongoing social practices (Colten et al, 2012) taken up by mobile and immobile residents. The interviews explored the role of social networks in the anticipation, preparation, reduction of vulnerability and/or recovery from disturbances, such as hurricanes and the 2010 oil spill disaster (Colten et al, 2015). In the third set, interviewees who had direct experience with the 2010 oil spill disaster were sought out to elicit responses to "changing social effects," i.e., community livelihoods, health and environmental changes.…”

“…When hardships such as deteriorating environmental conditions or a large storm place an undue burden on residents, many people report turning to their social networks for assistance (Adger et al, 2015;Aldrich 2012;Bodin and Crona, 2009;Folke, et al, 2005;Tompkins and Adger, 2004). This is a common response in coastal Louisiana communities (Colten et al, 2012;Colten et al, 2015). Such is the case, for example, of migration from the small Island nation Tuvalu.…”

“…Louisiana coastal communities face a "triple exposure" when overlaying technological hazards onto climate change and global economic uncertainties (Colten et al, 2015). Residents are largely unable to have a meaningful say about the ongoing transformations of the bayous and marshes occurring in and around their homes.…”

Social justice and mobility in coastal Louisiana, USA

“…For several years, we have been researching resilient practices that coastal communities have deployed to rebound from repeated hurricanes, floods, and oil spills (Colten et al 2012; Colten et al 2015; Simms 2016; Colten 2016). Rather than analyze proxy economic and demographic data, we employed a qualitative approach and scoured local government records, newspaper accounts, personal papers and correspondence of elected officials, court case files, and public agency reports.…”

“…Yet, home ownership and mortgage indebtedness in the region has increased. In the coastal parishes home ownership has risen from 43 percent in 1950 to nearly 65 percent in 2010 and this serves as a mortgage anchor for many (Colten et al 2015). This trend has been most pronounced in the New Orleans region.…”