Discussion on Climate Justice and Human Rights after a Disaster with Colette Pichon Battle, Executive Director of US Human Rights Network

Colette is a leading expert in the field of equitable disaster recovery.

For over 11 years, Colette worked to advance human rights in the post-Katrina, post- BP Gulf Coast focusing on Global Migration, Community Economic Development, Climate Justice, and Equitable Disaster Recovery. Colette served as a lead coordinator for the Gulf South Rising regional initiative around climate justice in the South. In 2016 Colette was named a White House Champion of Change for Climate Equity. In 2015 Colette was selected as an Echoing Green Climate Fellow and was awarded the US Human Rights Network Movement Builder Award for her climate equity work across the Gulf South. She received her Bachelors of Arts degree in International Studies from Kenyon College and her Juris Doctor from Southern University Law Center. Colette’s movement inspirations include: Harriet Tubman, Thurgood Marshall, Nelson Mandela and Lauryn Hill. She represents USHRN in the following allied spaces: US Climate Action Network; Southern Movement Assembly Governance Council; building Human Rights at Home Lawyers Network.

Workshop on Green Infrastructure for Resiliency

What is Green Infrastructure? The workshop featured Claire Bourseleth, a current DRLA MS student and a civil engineer, covered the terminology used, reviewed some local New Orleans projects and reviewed recent research on resiliency in the area. Attendees walked to view flood mitigation projects in use, talked about the pros and cons and learned how to implement some of these practices in their own yards.

Workshop Overview

• Walking tour of some local green infrastructure projects
• Review Urban Water Plan, Resiliency Plan and Green infrastructure initiatives in City of New Orleans.
• Best practices for integrating green infrastructure techniques
• Small Group Discussion of Strategies
• Design Session - Mockup of urban area for flood mitigation using green models
• Life by the Drop: A Forum on Water Management in NOLA

The event, moderated by Environment and History professor Eric Hardy, will feature the City of New Orleans Chief Resilience Officer, the Assistant Inspector General, a major urban landscape architect developing resilient water landscapes in the city, Mr. David Waggonner, our own Environmental Law Chair Dr. Robert Verchick, and WWNO reporters.