The Gulf Coast
Institute

March 15 - 21, 2020

Louisiana and Texas

Fifteen years ago, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, creating a new normal for one of America’s iconic cities. Ten years ago, the Deepwater Horizon drill rig ruptured, slathering Gulf shores with millions of gallons of crude oil. In more recent years, Harvey and Michael pummeled the region, while historic flooding in the Midwest sent a gigantic pulse of freshwater down the Mississippi River and out into the Gulf. And while those catastrophes grabbed headlines, what about the slower-moving, complex natural resource issues that impact people, ecosystems and economies along the Gulf Coast day after day?

IJNR’s Gulf Coast Institute will offer participants an in-depth look at the myriad issues impacting ecological, economic and cultural systems in the Gulf. Scheduled for mid-March of 2020, this seven-day trip will begin in New Orleans and end in Houston, visiting numerous communities in between. The expenses-paid program will introduce 18 competitively selected journalists to dozens of expert sources, and will address topics such as:

The Bonnet Carré spillway and impacts of freshwater flooding on marine systems.
Algae blooms and the Gulf’s dead zone.
The BP spill, 10 years later.
Land loss, sea-level rise and efforts to restore barrier islands.
Proposed freshwater diversions, their land-building capabilities and impacts on commercial fishing.
The struggle of wild oyster fisheries and rise of oyster farms.
The resilience of indigenous communities along the Louisiana coast.
The importance of healthy coastal systems to bird migration.
The symbiotic role of crawfish and rice farming in coastal agriculture.
Oil and gas infrastructure’s ongoing impact on the Gulf Coast.
Climate-change effects on deep-water coral systems.
Preparing for future storm surges in Galveston Bay.
Houston’s complicated relationship with climate change.
Environmental justice in the land of petrochemicals.