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Why is the rate of incarceration in Louisiana so high? How do we critique the way prisons are part of infrastructural solutions to anthropocenic instabilities? As Angela Davis writes, “prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages.” One way of imagining and building a vision of an anti-carceral future is practiced in the Solitary Gardens project here in New Orleans: 

The Solitary Gardens are constructed from the byproducts of sugarcane, cotton, tobacco and indigo- the largest chattel slave crops- which we grow on-site, exposing the illusion that slavery was abolished in the United States. The Solitary Gardens utilize the tools of prison abolition, permaculture, contemplative practices, and transformative justice to facilitate exchanges between persons subjected to solitary confinement and volunteer proxies on the “outside.” The beds are “gardened” by prisoners, known as Solitary Gardeners, through written exchanges, growing calendars and design templates. As the garden beds mature, the prison architecture is overpowered by plant life, proving that nature—like hope, love, and imagination—will ultimately triumph over the harm humans impose on ourselves and on the planet.

"Nature" here is constructed in a very particularistic way: as a redemptive force to harness in opposition to the wider oppressive system the architecture of a solitary confinement cell is a part of. It takes a lot of intellectual and political work to construct a counter-hegemonic nature, in other words. Gardeners in this setting strive toward a cultivation of relations antithetical to the isolationist, anti-collective sociality prisons (and in general, a society in which prisons are a permanent feature of crisis resolution) foster.

My interest in NOLA anthropocenics pivots on water, and particularly the ways in which capitalist regimes of value and waste specify, appropriate, and/or externalize forms of water. My research is concerned with water crises more generally, and geographically situated in Flint, Michigan. I thought I could best illustrate these interests with a sampling of photographs from a summer visit to NOLA back in 2017. At the time, four major confederate monuments around the city had just been taken down. For supplemental reading, I'm including an essay from political theorist Adolph Reed Jr. (who grew up in NOLA) that meditates on the long anti-racist struggle that led to this possibility, and flags the wider set of interventions that are urgently required to abolish the landscape of white supremacy. 

Flooded street after heavy rains due to failures of city pumping infrastructure.

A headline from the same week in the local press.

Some statues are gone but other monuments remain (this one is annotated).

A Starbucks in Lakeview remembering Katrina--the line signifies the height of the water at the time.

Reading:

Adolph Reed Jr., “Monumental Rubbish” https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/06/25/monumental-rubbish-statues-torn-down-what-next-new-orleans

P.S. In case the photos don't show up in the post I'm attaching them in a PDF document as well! 

This policy applies to all people in America who meet the eligibility requirements and are in a state who has expanded to medicaid coverage. They must apply and meet certain criteria in terms of income, household demographic and marital status. 

This article discusses the Chernobyl disaster and the management and cooperation that followed this disaster. Technologies at play, as well as government involvement, scientific knowledge and sociopolitical factors effecting this situation post disaster are also mentioned. The author also extensively reviews Chernobyl through field research based off resettled families and radiation exposed workers. The dependence of health and illness based off economics and politics is also heavily discussed. International scientific cooperation is also discussed in terms of studies done on those exposed after the disaster. 

There is a lot of controversy behind the effects that Chernobyl had on the surrounding areas. There have been accusations of officials trying to cover it up, as well as completely denying that there were any repercussions that are current and apparent today. This report shows that there is no question about it, there is nuclear fallout as a result of the Chernobyl disaster. This will not only hold government officials and those in charge accountable, but also make the public aware of their risks and what they have been exposed to and what measures they should be taking to protect themselves and reverse and aid any effects or issues that may have occurred due to the disaster. This report exposes the real detriment that the disaster had on society and makes the public aware, allowing them to better fend for and protect themselves and also to make scientists more accountable as well as the government on ways to fix and counteract the issues that have risen due to the disaster.

There is a separate section of the study that cites where the funding for the study came from. The study was supported by Grants-in -aid for the Cancer Control Policy from the Ministry of Health, labour and Welfare, Japan. The study also notes that the funder didn't play a role in the conduct of the study .

This is a chapter excerpt from a book but looking at the references throughout the chapter, it is clear that an extensive amount of work and detailed research was performed for this book. 

The American Red Cross has been on the forefront of research and testing, especially when it comes to blood. It was one of the first organizations to implement the testing of infectious diseases and is a single major contributor to clinical trials to improve blood safety according to their site. They were also among the first to develop testing for not only infectious disease, but HIV, Hepatitis B and C, West Nile, and Chagas disease. Currently they are actually working on a study in which they are investigating the blood supply for a tick-borne parasite in donated blood. They often work with the CDC and are always innovating ways to monitor donor blood by way of antibody recognition as well as disease detection and transmission. 

This policy was explicitly made for vulnerable populations who couldn't afford or for whatever reason did not have health insurance. The vulnerable parties that did not have health insurance were at risk of being turned away at hospitals during crucial times of need and emergency situations. This act completely absolved the worries and fears of this vulnerable population without health insurance by making it a law that these ED patients were to receive care and stabilization. This act was made for this specific vulnerable population, to prevent discrimination.