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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 policy offer a way for EMS department staff to protect themselves on emergency calls, and especially they lack of assistance such as budget cut and reduced the staffing.

Smart autoalarm guardrail is designed for helpping people emergency contact and remind the other drivers when car accident happen in remote area. People will drive on some remote area, or late night. If car accident happens, might be no one know the accident is happen. This design is help the litigant automatically make a emergency call, and send the location through the GPS when the car is crash the guardrail. As well as, it can turn on/flash the light within the accident area to warn the other drivers. 

Different areas and sub-headings are linked to a new page, and show more information.  Resources are sorted to subtitle and tag. All the subtitle are work as a system, and linked together. 

One hundred Eleventh Congress of the United States of America, at the second session is the policy for extend and improve individual’s protections and services, which is influenced by the terrorist attack to New York City on September 11, 2001, and other purpose. Further improve policies to help WTC survivors who were affected by terrorist attack in long term.

When I see the movie, I was questioned that are the MSF are always keep helping one areas, and how long they can help. After research, I have found the projects that MSF closed are depends on the specific project and it is always a difficult decision. For example, some projects in Liberia are closed because of after many years, they had improved the emergency and health services.

There are also Medical issues offer by MSF, and they provide services within basic vaccination, maternal, pediatric care, fighting neglected diseases and complex surgery.

There are many ways to support MSF, within Foundation support, corporate support and so on.