Our Dream Is Becoming A Reality
Our Dreams of an Orchard Project at 4819 Dauphine Street is coming true. Acquisition, design, implementation, & resource foraging continues to be driven & accomplished with great enthusiasm by CSED staff Kathy Muse, Vincent Fedeli, Charles Reddick, & John Taylor aided by significant input & assistance from surrounding neighbors. This blight beautification effort was made possible through Louis Lauricella's donation of this vacant lot to the CSED. We are grateful to Mr. Lauricella & to Stephanie Bruno who acted as liason.
Check out our recent progress. Before the bobcat work began, trees cleared from the overgrown lot were chipped to provide mulch. Excellent bobcat services were provided by Troy Moore who lives right around the corner! He was assisted by CSED staff members Vincent & Kathy. The never-ending debris was unearthed, a neighbor's damaged fence was removed along with a very tough & extensive poison ivy vine (ouch!), and a neighbor's clothesline pole was righted for future use:
Community members stopped by to help out:
Wood chips were relocated, grass was removed, soil was graded with a slight downward slope to the left for drainage into a future french drain. Troy surveys his work thus far:
River sand was delivered, dumped & graded to cap the lead soil where the planter boxes will be built. Two trailer loads of debris were hauled away. Kudos to neighbor & friend Troy Moore for a job well done!
GW Law Students Lend a Hand in The L9
This week George Washington University Law students volunteer with CSED to help L9 community members rebuild. Pictured above, 4 students fill a 50 gallon water catchment drum to be transported to 4819-17 Dauphine for CSED's Dreams of An Orchard Project.
The Road Back Home: Environmental Justice & Wetlands Restoration in the Lower 9 (VIDEO)
It's been a long time in the making - and well worth the wait! Check out this film, just released to YouTube, by Reynaldo Morales, a graduate fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dear friends,
This documentary is part of the effort of University of Wisconsin/NOLA project addressing environmental justice in New Orleans and specifically at the Lower Ninth Ward. Produced in mid 2010 and released in 2011, this served to expose the critical situation of the Lower Ninth Ward community and their chances for its reconstruction, linked to a broader understanding of environmental justice and wetland restoration as opportunities for community sustainable development. The documentary also exposes the situation of the BP Oil Spill and the "loss of a size of a football field of wetlands every 30 minutes" in Louisiana, according to scientist Wilma Subra, and its connection with the impact on the Gulf Coast fishing community and the future of the wetlands in Louisiana and New Orleans, as well as the role of organizations and advocates to keep the hope for the future. The last threat from Hurricane Isaac and the new presence of oil slicks in the Gulf Coast confirm what it is exposed here.
Please help us to continue distributing it. This documentary has been presented to several organizations and universities in New Orleans, as well as among students and faculty from important universities such as UW Madison, Berkeley, Harvard, Yale, and others through online distribution.
Sincerely,
Reynaldo
CSED Hosts Green Corps Students for Training in Radiant Barrier Installation
Become a Part of the "Radiant Nine"
If you are a property owner in the Lower 9th Ward, you too can become part of the "Radiant Nine."
A radiant barrier can be installed at any time, before or after your house is renovated and occupied. All you need is a roof in good condition.
You can sign up online http://www.sustainthenine.org/programs/built-environment/radiant-barriers-weatherization or
Call Kathy Muse at 939-9028 or 324-9955 for more information. You can also come by the CSED office at 5130 Chartres Street, New Orleans LA 70117, Tuesday through Saturday 10am - 4pm.
Sustain the Nine! River to Bayou
RB Program Good for Residents & Environment
CSED Radiant Barrier and
Weatherization Fact Sheet
The CSED’s Radiant Barrier (RB) and Weatherization programs coordinated by the CSED, for Lower 9th Ward property owners, has dramatically increased residents’ quality of life and in some cases resulted in utility savings of up to 40%.
Home Energy Assessments (HEA) are part of this program. HEA’s inform homeowners of any health and safety issues in the home and provide written information on how to further increase energy efficiency.
Priority for the RB program is given to seniors.
CSED’s RB program includes community outreach efforts that inform residents of other CSED programs and projects, events happening in their neighborhood, and available community resources.
The CSED RB Program was initially established in 2007 in partnership with Sierra Club and Alliance for Affordable Energy. LA Green Corps, Historic Green, AmeriCorps, and hundreds of volunteers have been contributing partners, as well as Lower 9th Ward property owners, who make a donation toward cost of RB materials. The RB Program continues to be a major CSED service to the community with two certified Home Energy Raters on staff to perform home energy assessments and radiant barrier installations thus increasing our quality control.
CSED’s Basic Weatherization Program was started in partnership with Alliance for Affordable Energy, and Sierra Club. Contributing partners have included LA Green Corps, Historic Green, AmeriCorps, Global Green and Nurtured World.
CSED Radiant Barrier /Weatherization Program Numbers as of October 31, 2012:
- Educational, qualitative, Home Energy Assessments (HEA) have been performed on 214 homes.
- Radiant Barrier has been installed in 138 homes in the Lower 9th Ward. (Radiant Barrier saves approximately 10% annually on homeowners utility bills, increases comfort, and reduces CO2 emissions).
- Ducts have been sealed on 19 homes. (Houses that receive duct sealing reduce energy consumption by 16% and save more than $80 a year).
- Weatherizations have been performed on 72 homes.
- Currently, 7 homes have been assessed and are pending installation of Radiant Barrier. 41 applicants are pending home energy assessments.
- CSED Radiant Barrier/Weatherization Program has potential to serve over 2,000 homes in the Lower 9. (2010 Census verified 2,101 households in the Lower 9th Ward )
Calculated savings for homes with R19 attic insulation and receive RB and Duct Sealing from the CSED.
*Radiant Barrier and Duct Sealing calculated annual savings for a 1,540-ft2 house with uninsulated ducts in the attic
|
Original Attic Modification |
R19 Attic Insulation |
Code-Level Attic Insulation |
||||
|
Attic System Modification |
Add RB, Improve Ducts, Add Insulation |
Add RB, Improve Ducts |
Add RB, and Insulation |
Add RB |
Add RB, Improve Ducts |
Add RB |
|
Miami |
$460 |
$430 |
$180 |
$140 |
$410 |
$120 |
|
New Orleans |
$730 |
$670 |
$240 |
$150 |
$610 |
$120 |
|
Atlanta |
$670 |
$600 |
$200 |
$80 |
$540 |
$70 |
|
Baltimore |
$1,210 |
$1,070 |
$320 |
$80 |
$950 |
$60 |
|
Chicago |
$1,150 |
$1,020 |
$280 |
$60 |
$910 |
$40 |
*Based on Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL). ORNL is a multiprogram science and technology laboratory managed for the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Nation - We Are All From New Orleans Now: Climate Change, Hurricanes and the Fate of America's Coastal Cities
By Mike Tidwell
The presidential candidates decided not to speak about climate change, but climate change has decided to speak to them. And what is a thousand-mile-wide storm pushing eleven feet of water toward our country’s biggest population center saying just days before the election? It is this: we are all from New Orleans now. Climate change—through the measurable rise of sea levels and a documented increase in the intensity of Atlantic storms—has made 100 million Americans virtually as vulnerable to catastrophe as the victims of Hurricane Katrina were seven years ago.
Arriving atop fantastically warm water and aided by a full foot of sea-level rise during the last century, Hurricane Sandy is just the latest example of climate change’s impact on human society. Unless we rapidly phase out our use of fossil fuels, most Americans within shouting distance of an ocean will—in coming years—live behind the sort of massive levees and floodgates that mark Louisiana today. READ MORE >>
Global Green Breaks Ground on Community Development and Climate Action Center
Congrats to Global Green on beginning another important phase of the Holy Cross Project in sustaining the Lower 9th Ward!
From Global Green:
"After a lot of elbow grease and extraordinary efforts, we finally broke ground on our Community Development and Climate Action center in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. When I visited last week, the site was busy with bulldozers, pile drivers, and other tell-tale signs of construction. This signifies the next step in our building of our Holy Cross Project, a sustainable village in one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.
Just over six years ago, this was an empty 1.3 acre site (home to an orphanage over 100 years ago) in the Holy Cross neighborhood. Soon it will be an 8000+ square foot facility that will educate the public through our visitor’s center and offer other important services for the neighborhood. It is part of the vision I put forth for Global Green just after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — to adopt a neighborhood, among other important goals, and ensure the green rebuilding of New Orleans. Now, with four of the five homes sold and occupied (the fifth one remains open to visitor’s center until the community center is completed), and the community center under construction, we are well on our way, but we still need your help." READ MORE >>
via globalgreen.org
