Donald and Theresa Dardar live in Pointe-aux-Chenes, Louisiana, a small coastal community home to the Pointe-au-Chien Tribe. Rising seas, sinking land, and intense coastal storms all threaten this area — the tribe estimates that 90 percent of its land has already been submerged underwater over the past century.
For the Dardars, relocating would mean a lot more than simply packing up and moving. “It’s a lot to ask somebody to move whenever you don’t know the whole story about how we live, what we eat, and our connection to the land,” said Theresa Dardar.
In this original Grist mini-doc, the Dardars are trying to restore and fortify their land. But without adequate support from the state government, they’re now working to rally community members and volunteers to protect Pointe-aux-Chenes against the rising water.
Additional funding for this story was provided by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and the 11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship.
