For the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the National Wildlife Federation asked me to reflect on my experiences.
On a late June afternoon, some U.S. educators and I visited a secondary school in Zanzibar as part of a Fulbright. After the formalities, the staff ushered us into a room with Zanzibari students who were passionate about climate change. Students threw around a small ball to indicate whose turn it was to speak. As they discussed their goals to mitigate climate change, I gained a rare sense of optimism, especially considering the dilemmas facing Zanzibar mirror my own state, Louisiana. At one point, a young girl threw the ball at me. The question was simple but piercing:
“How does climate change impact your community?”
My mind immediately leapt from Zanzibar’s vulnerable coast to my own. Stark images of Hurricane Katrina flooded my mind: levees breaking, water rushing in, people scrambling to survive. It feels like an eternity when this happens, which is often, but I probably paused for no more than two seconds.
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Chris Dier 