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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! 

The app allows users to download compatible software which streamlines the data compilation process. While raw data is accessibly, the app’s stated goal is to streamline the data into comprehensible statistics and results that can be used for informed decision-making, to this end the data is presented to the user with initial mathematical analysis already completed by the system.

The policy effects vulnerable populations as it deals with those injured, displaced, or otherwise effected by a disaster. While the act doesn’t specifically effect a population that is currently vulnerable, individuals displaced by a disaster are dependent on the help of relief organizations and their community. This leaves them incredibly vulnerable and in need of the support systems detailed in this policy.

The US Department of Veteran Affairs is constantly adjusting to new medical research to provide the most effective care possible. This shows a differing approach to emergency response which is only possible due to the long term nature of this organization, most emergency response groups focus on quick response to disasters which does not allow for the same amount of research and adaptation as the Department of Veteran Affairs.

• Chernobyl was an unexpected disaster, however several more nuclear disasters have occurred since then. I looked into the safeguards that were changed after Chernobyl and if those had any part in mitigating other nuclear meltdowns. After the explosions several countries and international groups developed nuclear policies that attempted to prevent critical system failures as occurred during the test that caused the reactor to overheat, but many countries refused to adopt additional safeguards that may prevent future disasters.
• The article described the various zones put into place to keep people away from the most radioactive areas around Chernobyl, I looked into the zones used and the determining factors in determining the sizes of each zone. The initial response determined a zone of 30km around the site, however as scientific understanding of radiation improved the zone was extended to 2600km. This shows the importance of an informed response to prevent further damage after a disaster.

Finally, I researched the effects of low dose radiation poisoning to better understand the medical care needed by those affected. Even low exposure doses can cause lasting damage to organs, or cause cancer and blood related illnesses through the effect of radiation on bone marrow. Those exposed would need frequent medical exams and treatment for the entirety of their lives.

The report was published by United Nations Publication in 2014.