Washing Away: Losing Louisiana
 

This is to let you know about a LPB and PBS television documentary tonight that I will probably be of interest to you.

Christina Melton, an award winning Louisiana Public Broadcasting producer has completed a powerful documentary, Washing Away, that will air nationally tonight, September 7, 2006 at 8 PM CST (9 EST).

<i>Washing Away: Losing Louisiana</i> - the story of Louisiana's disappearing coastline and how this unfolding crisis affects all of America - is told through the eyes of people affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It is narrated by Academy award winner, Susan Sarandon.

OOPS!!

LoL, that should be &quot;I think will probably . . . .&quot; I am not in the documentary. :-]

Sounds good, BG. Thanks!

BayouGal,

Thanks for the reminder about this. I won't be home but I'll record it so DH (he's teaching tonight) and I can watch it later.

About 10 years ago (not long after Opal) I attended a lecture by a coastal specialist. (I think he was from LSU.) He was telling us about how barrier islands recover. Over and over he mentioned Louisiana and the terrible lose of land and habitat and the consequences down the road, both to nature and man, if something wasn't done. Well, as we know no one in power listened to him and the others who were issuing the warnings. And we see the result. Maybe now. But, I hate to say it, I doubt it. I sure hope I'm wrong, though.

By the way, on the Colorado snow post dan76 told you to be ready for some cold weather in Yellowstone.

Fran

Grazie, BG.
Did you get a chance to see Emeril's special on the Food Channel the other day about the post Katrina restuarant scene in NOLA?

Very good program that showed the NOLA spirit during the recovery.

I saw Emeril's show the other day - just by chance, flipping through the channels. Great show.

<i>Washing Away: Losing Louisiana</i>

Wasn't that a Randy Newman song (pre Katrina)??

Suerich, this documentary is truly a documentary - no political affiliations or associations or PBS would not touch it. Spike Lee's film was called a documentary because it used some actual footage, but it was an HBO show. This one is more about the disappearing coastline, not so much about New Orleans, from what I hear from the press releases. This is not a new topic, as Fran pointed out above, this is a serious issue that is coming to the surface again because these hurricanes have brought it into the limelight and scientists are worried about our nation's coastlines - thank goodness. A silver lining to this tragedy hopefully?! :)

Thanks, Fran, I'll have to get back over to that thread. You are so right about this situation. I wish they'd have listened 10 years ago - we're losing coastline RAPIDLY. I hope people will watch and realize things like this affect us all. This is not a &quot;New Orleans&quot; issue.

Kal, thanks, but no, I haven't seen it yet. I'll be watching for it.

From the way I understand it, the coastline has always been the buffer zone for storm surges - the sandy, marshy coastlines would handle the brunt on the storm and then the bayou waterways could deal with the extra water until the storm surge receeded. But without those coastline buffers, the storm surges go further inland and do more damage.

The disappearance of wetlands is a big issue in many parts of the country, but I think that in the Gulf Coast, the problem is larger than anywhere else just because of the sheer volume of water draining out of the delta and the ability of hurricanes to push it back inland.

I have no sides in this thing, but for BayouGal to say that &quot;Suerich, this documentary is truly a documentary - no political affiliations or associations or PBS would not touch it.&quot; is bogus.

It might very well be a &quot;good documentary&quot;, but anything on PBS (our dollars, remember) needs to looked at very carefully.

Curious

I was only referring to her comparison of this and Spike Lee's docudrama. I have not seen Spike Lee's film or this new documentary, and I only know based on the tons of information available in New Olreans right now and the background of the film makers. My main emphasis is this documentary is NOT about New Orleans and Katrina, it is about Louisiana's disappearing coastline. I didn't mean any slight to Suerich. And I hope you Curious, like everyone else, will watch in order to form your own opinion. I don't really see how this issue could have &quot;sides,&quot; and my concern is that the two different issues not be lumped into the same bucket - they are not about the same thing!

North Carolina PBS in their weird wisdom isn't showing this tonight. Scheduled is a repeat of a show about a historic home in NC. Narrated by Charlie Rose, and I think is 5-10 years old.

Thanks for the information BayouGal.

For anyone in the SF/Bay Area our PBS (Channel 9) is showing Washing Away at 9:00pm tonight.

Thanks Italy! I was just going to go to the KQED web site to see when they were going to show it :)

I thought our PBS wasn't going to air it, either, since it didn't show up in the guide at 7:00. (Here in the FL Panhandle we're on CST.) But I found it on at 9:00. Just wanted to give everyone a FYI to check the entire evening schedule.

This is an extremely important issue that extends far beyond the current and future affects on New Orleans.

Fran

It will be on at 10:00 on WMFE in the Orlando/Central Florida area.

And, Curious, &quot;It might very well be a &quot;good documentary&quot;, but anything on PBS (our dollars, remember) needs to looked at very carefully.&quot; I guess we should use our critical thinking skills on whatever we see, whether it's on PBS or ABC.

I enjoyed it. Love hearing the Cajun accents. My dh's accent comes out when we visit family but otherwise I don't hear it too often - only certain words or phrases. A lot of my family still has accents but my branch has lost most of the accent - we just have a southern drawl. :)

The documentary didn't emphasize the causes of coastal erosion as much as I'd have liked, but it was still very well done. No politics, thank goodness. It did mention the many oil and gas canals/waterways cross cut through southern Louisiana. That's the major contributor to the flooding problems and permits salt water intrusion - destroying vegetation thus causing loss of landmass. The stats on oil and gas production is staggering, especially the money the U.S. makes off Louisiana resources - $5 billion of the total $7 billion a year.

I found it very moving - it'd be so sad to lose so much of a culture that's not found anywhere else.

Hi J_Correa, just in case you or anyone else here doesn't know. If you go to www.tvguide.com and type in your zipcode you can than click on Listings (far upper left part of the screen) and you will see all the programs for all of the stations..available in your area.