film reflection #3
This week, we watched My Louisiana Love, a 2012 documentary about a Native American woman named Monique Verdin. Verdin explores issues of climate justice and environmental damage by taking her audience through the past, explaining her family history and the history of her hometown of Houma, LA and the Houma nation. The tone of Verdin's narration is one of both concern and hope, and that hope appears to be amplified and underscored by her love for her home and her family that has also lived and loved there. Houma is an area of Lousiana that has historically been victim to the environmental misdeeds of oil and gas companies that trick people into signing their land away.
The film largely highlights the dependence that the nation as a whole has on Louisiana for oil production. According to the film, Southern Lousiana wetlands and coastline communities are losing an acre of land an hour at the current rate, yet there is not strong or consistent enough preservation and mitigation efforts to combat this. This is also concerning for our future in terms of energy sources because one third of the oil used in the U.S. comes from Louisiana, so once that supply runs out and our coast is completely destroyed, people will be scrambling to find back up sources of energy as no one is doing enough right now to invest in alternative sources that are better for the environment. It also brings up the issue of land rights and recognition, as Verdin's tribe is not federally recognized which begs the question of whether or not government recognition is necessary, legally or ethically or otherwise, for a group of indigenous peoples to exist and for them to demand necessary protections.
The film also connects these issues to Hurricane Katrina, a clear example of climate change impacts devastating communities across Lousiana, as well as the BP oil spill. Verdin documents much of the aftermath and wreckage herself, claiming that this part of the project was powerful both in its ability to help her start to heal and process and in terms of her desire to highlight the real impacts of pollution and environmental disregard for some communities such as her own. This personal connection to the issue makes Verdin even more impactful as an activist, as you can feel how devastated she is emotionally by the environmental devastation around her because she has cultural and familial attachments to the land. She highlights the history of both her family and the people who inhabit Houma and who deserve to thrive in their own hometowns without threat of ecological destruction at the hands of heartless oil companies polluting their land for profit.
The film largely highlights the dependence that the nation as a whole has on Louisiana for oil production. According to the film, Southern Lousiana wetlands and coastline communities are losing an acre of land an hour at the current rate, yet there is not strong or consistent enough preservation and mitigation efforts to combat this. This is also concerning for our future in terms of energy sources because one third of the oil used in the U.S. comes from Louisiana, so once that supply runs out and our coast is completely destroyed, people will be scrambling to find back up sources of energy as no one is doing enough right now to invest in alternative sources that are better for the environment. It also brings up the issue of land rights and recognition, as Verdin's tribe is not federally recognized which begs the question of whether or not government recognition is necessary, legally or ethically or otherwise, for a group of indigenous peoples to exist and for them to demand necessary protections.
The film also connects these issues to Hurricane Katrina, a clear example of climate change impacts devastating communities across Lousiana, as well as the BP oil spill. Verdin documents much of the aftermath and wreckage herself, claiming that this part of the project was powerful both in its ability to help her start to heal and process and in terms of her desire to highlight the real impacts of pollution and environmental disregard for some communities such as her own. This personal connection to the issue makes Verdin even more impactful as an activist, as you can feel how devastated she is emotionally by the environmental devastation around her because she has cultural and familial attachments to the land. She highlights the history of both her family and the people who inhabit Houma and who deserve to thrive in their own hometowns without threat of ecological destruction at the hands of heartless oil companies polluting their land for profit.
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