| 3:30pm - 4:15pm |
Toxic Land Community
Agriculture Street Landfill
2938 Benefit Street
New Orleans, LA |
The Agriculture Street Landfill is an African American community developed on top of a municipal landfill in the 1970’s. The community is contaminated from soil, air and water pollution from the municipal waste. More than 1 out of 4 homes reported an incidence of cancer or abnormal growths. After Hurricane Katrina, when the EPA tested the ground in New Orleans, the old Ag Street landfill area yards had 50 times the normal level of the cancer-causing petroleum byproduct, benzo(a)pyrene.
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| 4:30pm - 5:30pm |
Sustainable Community
Lower Ninth Ward
Make It Right Project
1742 Deslonde St.
New Orleans, LA
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On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the City of New Orleans and killed 1,577 people. Hardest hit was the Lower 9th Ward where more than 4,000 homes were destroyed by the storm and the surge of water caused by the breach of the Industrial Canal levee.
Two years later, when actor Brad Pitt toured the city, the once-vibrant neighborhood was still silent and razed, failed by government, frustrated by a lack of progress. After meeting with community groups and families, Pitt established the "Make It Right Foundation" to build 150 green, affordable, high-quality design homes in the neighborhood closest to the levee breach.
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