ABSTRACT
The data showed how environmental degradation and state-led coastal restoration and hurricane protection plans reflected and reproduced social inequalities and power dynamics that have turned coastal Louisiana into an energy sacrifice zone. Local residents voiced their frustration over the injustice of continued displacement and relocation. The legacy in the United States of privatizing Earth's waters, lands, and minerals for corporate profit have continued to subjugate and marginalize tribal communities like Isle de Jean Charles, Point-au-Chien, and Grand Caillou/Dulac, as well as many other communities. Residents report a number of social and cultural impacts, including the loss of a shared family livelihood, diminished sharing and resource exchange, and loss of traditional medicines, traditions and cultural practices, social networks, social cohesion, reciprocity, and mutual aid. It is time for a cultural shift from the unsustainable ways resources are extracted and used towards a future that ensures the rights of the people and the environments in which we live for generations to come.
