announcer: on this episode of "earth focus," lessons learned durinhurricankatrina e being puto the tt along e oast olouisian me predi new orlns will be suerged byhe endf this cenry. the gion's surval depends on s abily to ada climatehange. i succeful, louiana may provide bluepri for oers arnd the wld. [film advance clicng]

tucker:here werfamili here.here werkids in e stre playi footbal right? there wereeighbo. this house was the candy lady. as kids, we wod come dn andpend ouruarters d t here this poh and ea and jusenjoy thatmosphe the counity, rht, and tht wentway justvernig. it ju got wasd away. elicopt whirrin man: are sing scen like this onehroughouthe city iebermando you rember if y told em thatthe vees habroken? bro: i don't reca

specifally, buit was tt ne orleanss floodi. waers: no.it. knoed over em planton their rch la night,uh? mis is somupset wi you. couple months o, we haa rain stm, just ordinary rainstm in soueast louiana. it waone of the days tt we thoht, "heyjust a ltle rain but low ad behol the ci flooded.he draine sy was not up to par. tuer: we led hurrines as kidsi remeer when e calm ca, we wou play ouin the water. was jusanother y off froschool, righ but now

it's terrifng. i's teifying lters: ts is not hoax. ths is rea climatehange rel, so hodo we ve with it? i ink in ts sectn of town, 're srting to underand thatater and clite change goes hd in hand. johnsn: new leans ithe st 5 to 7 years s really takeon a gre adaptatn of climateesiliee and cimate chae. elevaon is onof the jor adaations tt you sotimes se is thathe hous are raid higher this ishe centefor the suainable gagementnd develoent. wehave rai gaens herewe help communies how tbuild ra

garden we alsoave a orard. youee over re, we havlemons. t us oneff here. ater katina, yohad all these tons from e water,o at wentnto the il, and that's all er the lower ninth ward and probably a lot in louisiana. evidently, the process of going through the ees to br fruit,t doesn't ome in theruit. so, we recommenabove-begardens where u can pufresh so to give yourops thaare not inted wh that pnt. wht we've trd to do help with theommunityo firs edate them becse theyget nfused aut, you ow, is climate ange a pitical ise. is iteal? wjust try to givehem the cts. thewe try to sw how th can be advates for how wadapt to at clima. tucker: we don't do somethg, allhis beau of new oeans th everyby love touristcome dowto see, th'llbeookingt

just water.hat'it. willia: the pl we've reli onelieves at we cafight ter, anif you've ev been to a ach when tre'a rtide andou thinyou can ght wate you willearn that y will le that btle. waggoner: with a climate adaptation plan, you have a wet system and a dry system, so when you need to lift water out, you can do that, but when you ne to let e watein, yocan let e water thrgh thasystemnto the nals a circula it arou e city. willms: i ansome peole mighwalk pas here an think, "oh, yh. it's just orgrown grass.no. it's a w-lying

ea thatas certain vegetion in ithat is e perfect vetation wn you want war to absb and be able to ssipate a more grual ratei mean, doesn't loolike a t of natur science,ut ther's a lot o tural sence thagoes int it. wagoner: cts less ave green frastrucre becau this is low-maintenance. this is a model of a part of the city as the mn draina basin. yohave an dergrounsystem, the whitlines undethe ear. the id was to t the waternto thespipes, tget thatatero the pumps and ush it o. that w the method. wiiams: trh of theatter is, ere is nway to sve our wat issues th just r pps and tbines.t's t enoughit will never be enugh. waggone you kno decades of dong thwrong thg usuall ki you.e got oudeath warning 2005. williamsif thereas a liticawill to ke sure

hat thisity seesnother00 ars, itould meahaving ery beatiful, very aesthetic blueways along with greenways throughout the city, us 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 starteto get rlly serus about astal iues, andhey staed to thk about sk reductn, proteing peop fm floodi, togeth with restotion as e thing at needs toe addresd, and s we me up th this astal master an whichs a li of pjects at havbeen scientically vette and so we ve projes that ddge marial froone ple and pu

it ianother ace to aually bui new mares wherehere's en wat at the ment. on th risk-rection de, we have eensive ries of leveesnd floodtes arou ome crital coast counities.hese arerojects thawe thi will wo, not rk now,ut work to the fute. man: thiis skyla 5478 vember. kolr: stat's cstal masr pln is a $ billi, 50-yea pl. i coider mysf an eanogrher ana coasta ologist,o i lo at issus le why weink in lisiana, d i alslook aissues like howe rebud coasta landspe. the rrier isnds are one of the first lines of defense against a storm, right, so notice how this is now pretty much continuous. there's no channels in the middle of it.

this is an example of a restored barrier island. all rht. th you c senew orles, so th's e of the mor post-trina lee improments, sthidea waso basally to ll off ts area to preve a stormurge fro getng to thlower nih ward. leve are somimes bui with earth,nd sometes they're ilt withoncrete, b the coreoint is that ty are al a wall at protes an are from ves d risingaters rom a srm. the ggest variae in thiis sea lel rise. the sl level rise rates are athe low e of the specum of wh people pdict, th you cou rebuild large aas of thlandscap and pride flooprotecti foa lot ofeople. irates ar at the gh end, en i think aot of eas wilbe lost,ven wi the state's besefforts.

l rightwell, weome to codrie. e maste plan eds a l of inpu and so e kind owork thai do fee intohe paramers thathe ste needss part oits masr plan. so, younow, i jt wantedo ve you aiew of wt the sa marshearound here ok like. you canee that ere's rsh f miles ithat dirtion. mahes pride a loof buffe om storenergy, they're a bufr betweeour huma civilition andhe sea, the restoraon invols pumping sement inta marsh ke this to rai the eletion tallow it toetter keep pacwith s levelise and fill inreas

that he eroded. sothiss the bua dove stcture, wch is onof the major fldgates ithe morganzto the gf levee systm. with levee,ne questi that yohave is ho's inse and o is ouside the lev syste by drawg this walin the msh, you're chging thenvironme, but u'e also sting dowa serieof princles of w lives wre and t kin of chices thathese counities face the yea ahead, me of whicare gointo be ve, very tou choices

bert p. quin: th area usedo be lov's lane cause therwas treeall overhe lace. u cou get in here a go hide ck thereso we'd listen music a hang ou wityour gifriend.'al d't ind if iay that,uh? all ght. i w born anraised rightere, n theall gss rig here. iuess it presenthere allf my anctors wasorn and ised nd died,nd a l is bued ov here, s well, to me, means whole bch. comardelle: the land is important to us because it's where our ancestors settled. that's wherare famies are. that's whe the hea of who we ares. i's apacthat we becomone with

alrt p. nain: the dians we in theay of e white man, sohey all sign eaties f more la and mor land, anthat' how we t to ov here. t governmt chaseus, so we settleover hee and wahappy, a now ther nare is geing us awy. unet: ts is my andparen ony mothe's se, my grandmoth and my andfather righthere. ias raid here my whollife. y. isle d jean charlesas alwaybeen a wonderl place live. t islandidn't actuly open to the rld fuy, not uil abouthe earlyifties wn our ro was bui. was vereasy to ke up in the morng and s armadil in the yd or opoum or

ccoon, yu know,rossing e yad or whaver, whaot. all that h changedecause, th a lot of just beg water w, e tes have ed off. at u'reeeing is actualljust a keton of wt it useto , you kw? bert p.aquin: tme, it means almo, i guesyou can y, like family mber havi ncer, yoknow? i's bng aten ay, you kw, where it'just a ttle bity little bit gting desoyed. no the only thg is, the piecof land is lting lonr than t human bo can.

the one ght heres an oil fielcanal. ere's one tht passesere. the's one th passes bit furer, and ere's onthat pass in the back, soou'e lookinat water oraltwaterntrusion ming om theipeline nals, anthey desoyed the vegetati that wesed to have.. b, you kn, most othe people wk for thoil comnies. th'rethe one that's putng food d payin the nt and mtgages a stuff likehat, so,s much ayou te them,you hav to like them. dupreisle de an charl is-- what's theommon ying?-the

canary ithe mineield. w're seeing-ver herewe call relive sea vel riseyou ha the glol sea lel rise, which islight, t about % of the s level re here i becse of suidence, we th subsing and y have th globasea leverise at e sameime, soe are snking b i ink it's 3illimete a yr. it don't und like muchbut you into yea, 50 yea, and yostart to noti differees when you're alady onlylightly ove the ter likesle de jean crles. brunetin the binning, was slow press. it s really not real noticeae,ut then whever theater staed comg in evemore witit, it got to bmore rad becaue theyad more ter comi in a the ld did't snd a chae,

so many ople on eir o did makthe decion to go becau of the ter. dena naqn: my damoved of thesland, iant toay, rit before ias born cause he wasn't ablto get twork wit t road flding ande needed to rk, but i from th biloxi-ctimacha-octaw ba of isle jean chles, and that's my ritage, at is my dghter's hertage. y know, that's our mily legy. alber pnaquin:aah! aughter] get allhe peoplwho wille nam. hurry , farmeroy. a ild was rn, evrybody wt and vit

androught aift. nowt's t appening hank youor toda's srise. aiden, u want indianame? yes. your na is litt fox. th displacent real, really mada changen our cuure. now weind of le-- ha hha!--likthere arno iians, ok dup: the on way these astal mmunitiewill rvive io the ter 21st cenry is torotect oselves fm the gu of meco. i realize 300 yea, this wl probay be allpen wate i mn, the s will ta us all ov. what 'm ting to dwith e leveeystem,hat i'm tring to do, is buourselve two o3 genetions.

it's just about impossible t includthem inta leve stem. it uld costrobably $300 million, and it would be nearly impsible because the salt nditionsre so ba u know, build a fod-proteion prect, you ve to he more befits an ost. onehing th's t faored in e cost, ey only look athe cost the hom, the st of thbusiness, the frastrucre, but,ou know, don't knohowou put price it, buthey do n conside the st of a ole culte. [film advancelicks] [tom-toplaying] mardelleas displement

epsappeningnd we just fuher sepate our commity, it' just gelost. [men anting] man: tn to theeft. mardell we leard about nional dister resience plan coetition,o we subtted ourlans. weorked to fitith thstate's master planand theyresentedt, and it gofunded. saders: rit now, t way elocatio typical happein the unid stateswe rely anndividuabuy-out del, anso, i othewordssomeone

rees some mpensati to goive somewherelse, but in dog so, wdo losthat culral fabr, so we n't realnow if wcan move people clectivelas a gro cheaper d more eiciently than iividuals comaelle: the's ry lile posite in t form of settleme of peleyou know,overnments just don't do it wel we prested a dierent mol, communitdesigned mmunitdrien. i thnk that wa, hud loed on thatnd said, "et's try i. let's try a pot progr, see if we n figurout how do thisn a aller sce so we n change it for--we have many communits in the u.sand abroathat's facinghese sam clima issue and i thinkh's whso many peple are watcng, becae 'sike, "okcan we rlly t this ght?" beuse we kw how portant is for e fute of theorldo get it right

unet: tre'a reali there that don't ke, butt' somhing that i ve to fa up to cause, u see, had to therand make decisioto ave a ple that's alws been ho for 7r 8 generations, and that wasn't easy to let go of, a, in fac in spitof swering at questn a few times, it still doesn't make it sy. ilm advae clicks comardel: sohis is t new prerred sitfor the land. this ishere ourommuty is gonna mo to. it's a betiful ple. to methis is w life, w birth, suainable ace. thiis a healthspace.

saders: no we do uerstand thathis is historicly ibal counity, a we also derstandhat poputions havleft thi particur loation ov a perioof time, d thoseolks whore succesul in th projectill ve an oortunityo constite in theew locaon, but r primarset benefiaries arthe peop ving on e islandwe want to pk up theeople th are liing in ts dire enario and eure thathey live somewhre that safe noand nto the ture. coardelle: i hope th the tribe wld own t land, a tuallywe st of lika xed ownehip. younow, the folks wld have ll rightto theiland, buat the se time,f they we to go d nt to mo off of , it wou revert bk to theribe so at waythat land wi be forer sacr for theribe to ve. saers: we've g to walk pretty fe liney which 're deveping somhing thamakes sense f this counity bu also cou be applable to mucwider ary of counities that y be in a simir

situion. we mply do't he a ood answ to tht questn ye. omarlle: i fd this ery empowering.t's lowing uto brk down se of tho cultul barrirs, som of those grf barrie that's been in ace fromears pas you di'tven reale it. if ery othehurricanseason, ou' havingo replaccars or furnure, youon't have chanctoave savis, and y d't ave a chce to alw yo kids toe a bett next step life. srting ouin this pie of propty, they canave a ho and a w to proess intohe futur if i was tportray on an eangered specs list, is is ourebirth ere we c starour new pulationo get ofthat endgered spies lt.

announcer: "earth focus" is made possible in part by the orange county community foundation and the farvue foundation. ■í÷í÷í÷í÷o

♪ >> this is dw news, live from berlin. tonight, tallying the loss of life in the u.s., after an unprecedented swarm of tornadoes. a massive cleanup is underway in towns that were completely wiped off the map. dozens were killed. at least 64 in the state of kentucky alone. also coming up, the u.k. prime minister, warning of a tidal wave of new coronavirus infections, thanks to the omicron variant. he is pushing for all adults to