ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two very different approaches to mitigating climate change: mandatory community redevelopment in New Orleans and voluntary lifestyle change in the Northeastern United States. The Lower Ninth Ward is now committed to rebuilding sustainably and achieving carbon neutrality by 2020 and climate neutrality by 2030. 'Experiencing green' as a form of environmental sustainability, in these case studies, amounts to interaction with top-down programs or implementation of bottom-up projects that attempt to address climate change and other environmental ills. For urban planners, architects, and community and environmental groups, Hurricane Katrina seemingly presented a tabula rasa for the urban-environmental ills of New Orleans. The first city-wide solution, initiated by the Urban Land Institute on behalf of the Bring New Orleans Back Commission (BNOB), called for a drastic reordering of space. Many of the non-profits came with greening strategies, which ranged from simply reusing building materials, to weatherizing homes, to building Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified dwellings.
