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As a participant in the NOLA Anthropocene Campus, I have gained insights on how communities, stewards, and managers of ecosystems in New Orleans have rolled out forms of interspecies care vis-à-vis ongoing environmental changes, coastal erosion, climate catastrophes and their deeply present and current effects (i.e., the 2010 BP oil disaster). Whilst much analytical lens has been given to geospatial changes in the study of the Anthropocene, here, I focus on how relations to non-human beings, also threatened by the changing tides of NOLA’s waterscapes, can enrich our understanding of such global transformations.

After disasters like Katrina, urban floodwaters harbored many hidden perils in the form of microbes that cause disease. Pathogenic bacterial exposure occurred when wastewater treatment plants and underground sewage got flooded, thus affecting the microbial landscape of New Orleans and increasing the potential of public health risks throughout Southern Louisiana. But one need not wait for a disaster event like Katrina to face these perils. Quotidian activities like decades of human waste and sewage pollution have contaminated public beaches now filled with lurking microbes. Even street puddle waters, such as those found on Bourbon Street, contain unsanitary bacteria level from years of close human exploitation of horses and inadequate drainage in 100-year old thoroughfares. More recently, microbial ecologies have also changed in the Gulf of Mexico due to the harnessing of energy resources like petroleum. Lush habitats for countless species are more and more in danger sounding the bells of extinction for the imperiled southern wild.

Human-alteration has severely damaged the wetland marshes and swamps that would have protected New Orleans from drowning in the water surge that Hurricane Katrina brought from the Gulf of Mexico. The latter is something that lifelong residents (i.e., indigenous coastal groups) of the Mississippi River Mouth have been pointing to for a  long time. Over the past century, the river delta’s “natural” infrastructure has been altered by the leveeing of the Mississippi River. Consequently, much of the silt and sediments that would generally run south and deposit in the river mouth to refeed the delta get siphoned off earlier upstream by various irrigation systems.

While some actors see it as a futile effort, there have been many proposals to restore the Mississippi River Delta. For instance, the aerial planting of mangrove seeds has even been recommended to help protect the struggling marshes and Louisiana’s coastal region. Tierra Resources, a wetland’s restoration company, proposed that bombing Lousiana’s coast with mangrove seeds could save it. Mangrove root systems are especially useful in providing structures to trap sediments and provide habitats for countless species. Additionally, mangroves have been touted as highly efficient species in carbon sequestration, thus taking carbon dioxide out of the biosphere.

Species diffusion into new environments has been of great concern for the different lifeways these soggy localities sustain, whether human or non-human. Many so-called “invasive species” have been identified throughout the river delta by researchers at the Center for Bioenvironmental Research hosted by Tulane and Xavier University. Such species have disrupted local ecological relations and practices and have had profound economic effects. Some plants have even entirely blocked waterways in the swamps and estuaries where salt and freshwater mix. 

Louisiana’s humid subtropical climate, and the diverse ecosystems therein, also warrant attention in that they can incubate some of the world’s deadliest parasites and other microbes. Of particular concern would be some of today's Neglected Tropical Diseases (i.e., Chagas, Cysticercosis, Dengue fever, Leishmaniasis, Schistosomiasis, Trachoma, Toxocariasis, and West Nile virus) often perceived as only affecting tropical regions of Latin America and revealing the enduring legacies of colonial health disparities.

How and when are seemingly quotidian events and upsets understood as not isolated but rather as produced in conjunction with other anthropocenics worldwide? What roles will interspecies relations and forms of care play as we cope with further anthropocenic agitation?

NOLA’s oldest tree, McDonogh Oak in City Park, 800 years old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK9YoGpng_c&t=0s

Other trees in New Orleans: https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/new-orleans-louisiana/trees

The NYS Ebola Preparedness Plan was criticized by the public and other agencies, primarily for its strict quarantine protocols, which have been called "overzealous" by some. In addition, the policy was criticized for its inconsistency with Federal and international guidelines which may have created confusion for the public.

Dr. Emily Goldmann, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Research Professor of Global Public Health at New York University's College of Global Public Health. She received her Master's and Doctorate's degrees in epidemiology from the University of Michigan. She has worked as an epidemiologist at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in the Bureau of Adult Mental Health, where she conducted surveillance of psychological distress, serious mental illness, and psychiatric hospitalization among New Yorkers and assisted in designing and implementing a study of patients for psychiatric illness following Hurricane Sandy.

Dr. Sandro Galea, MD, MPH, DrPH, is a physician and epidemiologist. He is also the Robert A. Knox Professor and Dean at the Boston University School of Public Health. He has also previously held academic and leadership positions at the University of Michigan and at the New York Academy of Medicine. He has been involved in numerous research efforts and publications. His research focuses on the social production of health in urban populations, with a focus on brain disorders, mood-anxiety disorders, and substance abuse. He also maintains a strong interest in the consequences of mass trauma and conflict worldwide, including as a result of the 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

This research article was authored by Dr. Vincanne Adams, Dr. Diana English, and Taslim Van Hattum who are professors and researchers at the University of California at San Francisco's Department of Anthropology, History, and Social Medicine. All three authors have been extensively involved in research in their respective fields and have authored numerous publications. 

The goal of this organization is to secure a more peaceful and safe world free from the threat of nuclear war and destruction. 

The author explores the definitions of humanitarianism and analyzes historical documents and data obtained from humanitarian aid organizations. The author compares this information with anecdotal evidence in the form of public opinion to map the development of this issue.

Dr. Knowles uses various historical reports and accounts, both official and third-party, to chart the development of disaster investigation in the United States. He cites various agencies including the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Underwriters' Laboratory or UL, LLC. 

This policy ensures that EMTs and Paramedics who transport patients to hospitals are not refused admittance or directed to other facilities due to their patients' inability to pay or other factors. While emergency departments still may declare a divert status, whereby incoming EMS units are advised that the ER is either full or unable to accept patients due to other factors, this act, and other relevant state statutes, require that hospitals still accept, treat, and stabilize any patients that are brought to their facilities.