announcer: on this episode of "earth focus," lessons learned during hurrice katrinare being puto the tt along e coa of louiana. so predictew orleans will be suerged byhe endf this cenry. the gion's survival depds on its abilitto adapt tolimate cnge. if succeful, louiana may provide bluepri for oers arnd the wld. [filadvance clicng]

cker: tre were milies here. tre were ds in th streetlayingootball,ight? therwere nghbors. this house s the cay lady. ids, wwould co down andpend ouruarters d si here onhis porcand eat itnd just joy the mosphere ofthe commity, rig, and that went ay just ornig. it ju got wasd away. elicopt whirrin ma: we areeeing sces like thisne throuout the ty. lberman: you rember if youold thm that e leees had oken? browni don't recall specifically, buit was tt ne orleanss floodi.

walts: no. s. ock over th plants heir poch lastnight, hh? mis is somupset wi you. aouple ofonths ag we had raistorm, jt a ordiry rainstm in soueast louisi it waone of thosdays thawe thoug, "hey, st a lite rain,"ut low ad behol the ci ooded. t drainagsystem was not upo par. cker: loved hricanes kids. i rememb when thcalm me, we wld play t in the ater. itas just other da ff from hool, right,ut now it'terrifyi.

it'terrifyng. lters: ts is not hoax. ths is rea climatehange is rea so how we liveith it? i think in ts sectn of wn, we're staing to understd that wer and lima changgoes hanin had. johnsn: new leans ithe la 5 to years hareally ken on great aptation climateesiliencand clate chang elevati is one the maor adaptions thayou somemes see,s that t houses a raised gher. thiis the cter for e sustnable engement a developmt. we ve rain gards here. help mmuniti how to ild rain rdens.e also he a orard. youee over re, we

have mons. geus one o re. ater katina, yohad all ese toxi from thwater, s tht went io the so, and that's all er the lower ninth wardnd probay a lot losiana. evintly, th rocess ogoing through the trs to beafruit, idoesn't come into the fit. also, we commend ove-bed rdens where u can pufresh so to ve you cps that e not tanted witthat poi. whawe've trd to do help with theommunityo first educate th becausthey ge coused abo, you kn, is imate chge a polical sue.s it rea we st try o give them the fas. then we try to sw how th can be advates forow we apt to th climate cker: ife don't do methin allhis beau of new oeans th everyby loves,ourists me down e, th' be loong at juswater. tt's .

willms: the plan we've reled on bieves th we can ght water, d if yo've er been to a beh when tre'a ripde and y think u can fit water,ou will arn at youill losthat bate. waoner: wi a clite adaption pla, you hava wet syst and a d system,o wheyou neeto liftater ou you cado thatbut when you ne to let e watein, you n let thwater in thrgh that stemnto the caals andirculatet around thcity. willms: i ansome peole might lk pastere andhink, "oh, yh. it's just orgrown ass.no. it's a w-lying area th has certain vegetatn in it at is th

perfect vegetion wheyou nt wateto absorand be le to diipate at more gradl rate. mean, itoesn't look ike a loof natural science,ut ther's aot of naural scice thagoes int it. ggoner:osts lesto have green frastrucre becau is is l-maintence. thiis a mod of a pa of the city the main draina basin. you ve an unrground stem, e white lis under e ear. the id was to t the aternto thespipes, tget that water to ese mps d push itut. thatas the thod. wiiams: trh of theatter is, the is no y to sol our waterssues wi just ou pum and tbines. 's no ough. will ner be enough. ggoner:ou know,ecades o dong the ong thinusually killou. wgot our ath rning in005. lliams: thereas a poitical ll to ma sure hat thisity seesnother00

yers, it wld mn havi very butiful, very aesetic bleways alg with genwa roughouthe city,s living with water, so that when that next storm comes, because it's going to come--that's a fact-- that water has a place to go other than your cars and your homes and the street. [film advance clicks] reed: at some point after hurricane katrina, people started get really serious bout costal isss, and ty staed to thk about sk reduion, procting pele frofloodingtogetherith restoraon as onthing th eds to baddresse and so we ca up wi this cotal aster plan which is a listf procts th have en scienticallyetted,nd so we ve projes that ddge marial froone place and t in anotr place actuall

buildew marsh where tre' opn watert the mont. on the risreductioside, hae extensive ries of vees a floodgas around ome crital coast commities. tse are pjects thawe thi will wo, not wok now, b work in the fute. n: this skylane478 noember. kolke state's coaal maste pln is a $ billion50-year plani conser myselan eanograpr and a astal geogist, s i lookt issue likwhy we sk in louiana, an i also ok at sues like how we rebuilcoastal landsca. the baier islas are o of thfirst lis of dense ainst atorm, rit, so notichow thiss now prty ch contious. the's n channs in theiddle oft. this is example of a reored baier isla.

all rht. en you c see w orlean so tha's on the maj post-kaina leve improvents, so the ea was t baically twall offhis area to preve a stormurge fro getti to the wer nintward. leve are somimes bui with earth, a sometim they're ilt withoncrete, b the coreoint is that ty are al a wall at protes an are from was and sing waters rom a srm. the ggest variablin this sea lev rise. the sealevel rise rateare at t low endf the specum of wh people prect, thenou couldebuild rge are of the ndscape and prove flood otection for lot of pple. if tes aret the hi end, th i think aot of eas wilbe ost, en with the state's best efrts.

l rightwell, weome to codrie. thmasterlan eds a l of inpu and so e kind owork thai do fee into t paramets that t sta needs apart of s master an. so, younow, i jt wantedo ve you aiew of wt the sa marshes ound here lo like. you canee that ere's rsh foriles in at direcon. marss provida lot ofuffer frm storm ergy, sohey' a buffebetween r human civilizaon and t sea, sohe restoration invols puing sement inta marsh ke this to rai the eletion tallow it toetter ep pace th sea level re and toill in aas at have oded.

so thiss the bua dove struure, whi is one the jor flooates in e rganza the gullevee systm. with levee, o questionhat you ve is ho'inse and o is ouside the lee syste by drawg this walin the msh, you're channg the eironmentbut yo'ralso setng dowa series princips of who lives wre and t kin of chices thathese counities face inhe yearshead, so of which e going be veryvery tou choices

bert p. quin: th area used tbe lover'sane cause there s trees l overhe place. u cou get ihere a go hide ck thereso w'd listen music a hang ou with ur girliend. y'al do't md if i s that, h? all rit. i wasorn and ised rightere, n theall grass rightere. i gss it reresent wre all omy anctors wasorn and ised nd died,nd a lots buri overere, awell, soo me, it means ahole bun. coardelle:he land is importt to ubecause 's whre our aestors stled. that's where e famili are. that's wherehe heartf who e are i. it's a sace th we become e with. albe p. naqu: the inans

werin the w of e white man, so ty all signed trties forore landnd more nd, and that' how we t to ov here. t governmt chased , so we settleover herand was ppy, andow ther nare is geing us away. brunet: this isy grandpents on my moer' side, m grndmothernd my grdfather righthere. was raid here whole fe. yesisle de anharlesas alwaybeen a wonderfuplace toive. t isld didn't actally opeup to the rld full not unt outhe earlyifties wn our ro was bui. itas very sy to wa up in he morni and seermadillo in the yd or opoum or a ccoon,ou kno crossinthe

yad or whaver, whaot. all that h changedecause, th a lot of just beg water w, th tes have ed off. at u'reeeing is actualljust a kelen of whait used be you kno alert p. nuin: to , it means almo, i guesyou can say, lika familyember hang ncer, yoknow? i's bng aten awa you kno where it'just a ttle bity little bit getng destred. now,he ly thin is, t piecof land is lting lonr than t human bo can.

the one ght heres an oil field nal. thre'one tht passesere. the's one th passes bit furer, and ere's onthat pass in the back, soou'e lookinat ter or stwater irusion ming om the peline nals, and ey destred the vegetati that wesed to have.. butyou knowmost of e people wk for thoil comnies. th'rethe one that's putti food anpaying the nt and mtgages a stuff likehat, so,s much ayou te them,you hav to li em. dupre: le de je charless-- what's theommon ying?-he nary ithe mineield. w're

seeing-ver herewe call relate sea lel rise. u havehe globasea leverise, ich islight, t about % the seaevel rishere is becau of subsence, we bo subsidi and youave the global a level se at th same te, so w are snking b i ink it's 3 mlimeters yea it doe't sod like much, t you gonto 40 years50 yearsand you art o noticeifferees when you're alady onlylightly ove the ter likesle de jean crles. brunet: the binning, was slow press. it s really not real noticeae,ut then whener the wer start coing in en more wh it, it goto be me rapid ecause th had morwater cong in andhe landidn't sta a chanc many pele on thr

ownid make e decisi to go becausef the war. na naqui my dad ved off the iand, iant toay, rit bere i wasorn becae he wasn't able get to rk with theoad floong and hneeded to wo, t i amrom the biloxi-ctimacha-octaw ba isle deean chars, and that's my hetage, th is my dauter's herige. younow, at'our faly legac alber pnaquin:aah! [lghter] t all t people o will b namedhurry upfarmer b. a chd was bo, evebody wenand visi and bught a gt. now 's no

appening tnk you f today's sunse. den, you want andian me? yes. your names littleox. the disacement ally, rely made change iour culte. now weind of le-- ha ha !--like ere are iians, ok dre: the ly way tse cotal counities ll suvive io the ter 21st centu is to ptect ourlves from e gulf of meco. i realize 300 yea, this wl probablbe all on water. i mea the seaill takes all overwhat i'm tryg to do th th levee stem, wt i' tryg to do, is buourselve twor 3 genetions.

it's just about impossible t clude em into a levee sysm. it wod cost pbably $30 millio and it uld be nearlympossiblbecause e salt coitions a so bad. u know, build a flo-protection prect, you ve to he more befits an ost. onehing th's no facted in thcost, th only look at the ct of theomes, the co of the sinessesthe inastructu, but, y know, i don't knohow you pt a prie ont, but ty do notonsider the co of a whe cultur filmdvance ccks] [tom-toplaying] mardelleas displement kepsappeningnd we ust furtr separa our

commity,t'llust get st. [men anti] man: turto the lt. coardelle:e learneabout a natnal disaer resilnce an compition, swe submied our pns. we wked to fitith the state's mast planand theyresentedt, and it gofunded. sanrs: righnow, theay rocationsypicallyappen t united ates, weely on anndividuabuy-out del, and so, inther ords, meone recees some mpensati to go le somewhere se, bu

in doinso, we o lose at culral fabr, so we n't really kw if we n move ople colctively a group chper and re efficntly than indiduals comardle: the's ve litt positivin t form of settleme of people. u know, gernments jt don't do well.e presend a diffent mode communitdesigned comunity-rien. i thnk that wa, hud loed on thatnd said,let's try i. let's try a ilot proam, see if wcan figurout how do thisn a smler scalso we cachange for--" have soany mmunitiein the u.sand abroad hat'facing tse same climatessues,nd i thinkhat's why many peoe are wahing, beuse 'sike, "okcan we rlly ge this rit?" beuse we kw hoimportanit is fothe fure of t worldo get it right. brnet: the's realityhere

that ion'ke, butt' somhinghat i ha to facep to beuse, you see, had to there d make aecision lee a placthat's alwaybeen ho for 7 o8 generaons, and that wn't sy to lego of, andin fact,n spite swering at questn a few tis, it stl doe't ma it eay. [film vance icks] mardelleso this is t new prefeed site r the isnd. thiis whereur communi is gonna moveo. it's a betiful ple. to methis is w life, w birth, sustnable ple. this a healthspace. saders: no we do uerstand that is is a storical

trbal commity, ande also unrstand tt populaons have ft thisarticula locion over period time, an those fks who are successf in thisroject wl hae an opptunity t reonstitutin the n locati, but ouprimary t benefiaries arthe peop ling on thisland. want to picup the pple thatre livinin this re enario and ense that ty live somewhe that isafe now d nto the ture. comarlle: i he that t ibe wou own theand, and acually, we sorof like mixeownershi you kno the lks wou have fu rights their nd, but the sam time, ithey werto go an nt to mo off of , it wou revert bk to theribe so at way, atand wille foreve sacredor the tbe to ve. sanders: we' got to lk a pret fine li by whh we'r velopingomethinghat make senseor this mmunity t alsoould be plicableo a mh wider ray of cmmunities that y be in a simir situion. we mply do't he a ood answ to tht questn yet.

omardell i find is ver empowering. it's allong us to breadown somof those cultul barrirs, som of thosrce griebarriershat's en in ple from yrs past. you di'tven reale it. if evy other rricane ason, ou' havingo replaccars or furnure, youon' have a chancto have savis, and y do't he a chan to allo yo kids toava better next step life. srting ouin is piecef proper, they canave a ho and a w to progresinto theuture. ii was tportray on an endgered specielist, th is our birth whe we can starour new pulationo get off at endanred specs lt.

announcer: "earth focus" is made possible in part by the orange county community foundation and the farvue foundation. awcai>ú

woman: we really try to focus in on deep traditions. those foods and those seeds and those animals, those relations that really ground culture. given we've been moved off of so many of our traditional lands, one of our values is to make natural areas accessible and nati again. man: we have certain native ways of taking care of the land and we want to exhibit those practices here so people will come here and they'll see this lush paradis woman: we have a tendency in the west to commodify something, to view it as a thing. even seeds. what the native people know is that it's not just a thing, and what native p