Fighting Back! Leg Two of the Life Support Project's Gulf Coast Summer Tour

We kicked off the second leg of the Life Support Project’s Summer Gulf Coast Tour with a visit to the Ironton and Myrtle Grove neighborhoods of Southeast Louisiana. Local residents of both historic communities have been fighting back against a proposed RAM coal terminal in Plaquemines Parish.

We had the pleasure of spending the day with Devin Martin of the Sierra Club Delta Chapter, who took us to both communities and also showed us the nearby mountain size coal piles. As we visited with residents of Myrtle Grove we were presented with hunks of hard coal, often as big as your fist, that they had found on the area's beaches.

The day ended on a high note, however, when at a meeting in Gretna organized by Devin and Gulf Restoration Network's Grace Morris, one courageous public official, Westwego Mayor John Shaddinger, emphatically spoke out against the invading coal trains and in favor of “public safety over profit.”

Westwego Mayor John Shaddinger at a meeting held in Gretna, Louisiana, encouraging citizens to get involved in opposing plans for a RAM terminal in Plaquemines Parish, LA.

A few days later, we met up with Lori Borsage of Coden, Alabama, who is a tireless advocate for her small fishing community which was deeply affected by the 2010 BP Deep Water Drilling Disaster. The Coastal Response Center, which Lori helps to run has become a point of relief to many fishing families who continue to suffer economic damages.

Lori took us down by the water to show us the tar balls which continue to come ashore from the catastrophe. She also explained to us the continuing health concerns that her community has faced which many have contributed to the heavy use of the chemical dispersant Corexit during the height of the "spill."

Tar balls like this one, attributed to the 2010 BP Deep Water Drilling Disaster, were easy to find in Coden, AL.

Later we eagerly headed to Florida. Our first stop was in Tallahassee, where Kim Ross and her team were just wrapping up ReThink Energy Florida’s “Energy Camp.”

The two-week summer day camp teaches kids to respect their environment, keep their bodies healthy and free of GMO’s and shows how clean energy – such as solar and wind – can provide more earth-friendly alternatives to fossil fuels.

After being treated to homemade blueberry ice cream, we were able to share our travels with the campers. In return, they eagerly shared what they knew about GMO’s and other environmental issues with us.

We also had a chance to catch up with Kim, who is the president and founder of the organization, which is dedicated to educating, engaging, and empowering citizens to take action toward achieving energy independence and a sustainable environment. Talk about positive energy – wow!

Children participating in Rethink Energy Florida's Energy Camp listen to stories from the Life Support Project's Gulf Coast Summer Tour.

We took a few rays of Kim and the kid's sunshine with us and headed further south. A few hours later – after a great meal and a few pics near the Suwannee River, we made it to our friend and Gulf Coast advocate Trisha Springstead’s house. We talked into the night about her ongoing work on behalf of folks still suffering from the effects of BP’s 2010 Deep Water Drilling Disaster.

The next day, after a swim with the local manatee population, we drove to Naples and caught up with Karen Dwyer, who, along with members of the Stonecrab Alliance have been tirelessly working to fight back against the Dan A. Hughes Company's plan to frack up South Florida's precious Everglades.

Due in large part to strong community outcry, Hughes has abandoned their plans to drill in the area, with the exception of their Collier-Hogan projects, which is located in the Big Cypress Swamp Watershed. It was at this site that the company was recently exposed as having used a controversial and illegal acid fracking method.

When local residents and members of the Stonecrab Alliance found out about it, they organized and last month the state revoked Hughes permits to drill on that site. Even though Hughes is currently challenging the ruling, for right now, it is a victory!

Following a good night's sleep we found ourselves in the mostly African-American Wedgewood community of Pensacola - a quiet, middle-class neighborhood of neat homes, tidy yards and a new, spacious community center. All of which looks picture perfect, until you try to breathe, or until you hear the constant roar of diesel trucks and bulldozers.

Wedgewood is surrounded by 7 landfills, some of which are unlined and all of which contribute to the unyielding toxic fumes that hang in the air, sickening Wedgewood’s residents.

Ever wonder where BP’s oily debris went? A good bit of it is laying in the unlined Longleaf facility, only feet from many of the community's homes. The landfills are also laden with asbestos-filled storm and demolition debris and industrial waste. Regardless of what they are legally permitted to accept, from what residents and advocates told us, it’s hard to find anything that these landfills wouldn’t take in.

Victories for this community are short lived. In fact, one facility who's permit was recently revoked by Florida Department of Environmental Protection due to numerous violations, continues to operate.

Like Tuscaloosa’s South Holt community, toxic dust dragged in and out of these nearby facilities kick up when the wind blows and is carried throughout the neighborhood. Additionally, during a recent heavy rainstorm, toxic flood water gushed downhill through the neighborhood, leaving homes in it’s path unlivable.

As we spoke to residents, they pointed from one house to the next… “there the husband died of a brain tumor and his wife just died of cancer, in the house next door, both residents recently died of cancer, across the street an expectant mother was just diagnosed with breast cancer.” All across the neighborhood they pointed to homes of children with asthma, and family members with cancers and renal failure - the list was staggering. As moms we know how scary it is to have sick kids, sick parents, sick grandparents – and we can tell you this neighborhood needs doctors trained in environmental health care, and it needs them NOW.

Home in the Wedgewood Community of Pensacola, Florida, where many residents are being forced to leave due to health issues they say are being caused by the seven toxic laden landfills that surround them.

There’s so much more to tell from all of these places, and but one common thread that ties all of these communities together is the residents themselves and their conviction to stand up in protect their homes and ecosystems – sometimes working 8 - 12 hours a day on these issues. These brave and courageous folks aren’t afraid to speak out, to share their skills, to be the voice for our communities.

And each and every one of the community leaders we visited made sure to say that the struggle is not about them. It is about all of us, and it will take all of us to defend our air, land, water for future generations.

“Do what you can, no matter how big or how small,” they say. Make a flyer, send an email, attend a meeting, call your representative, make a sign - everything counts! No one can do everything, no one is going to save the world – but all of us can do something and sometimes it’s that little something that sets the victory ball rolling.

Watch this video to learn more about what we have experienced on the road so far.