2026 SPE Annual Conference: Catalyst for Exchange
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print this pageImpermamence: Louisiana's Vanishing Coast
Daniel Kariko
Saturday, October 21 - 11:00AM to 12:00PM
Corn Center, Room 150
Louisiana is at the forefront of global sea level change, experiencing the highest rate of coastal erosion in America, losing about one hundred yards of land every thirty minutes- land loss the size of a football field every half-hour. In addition to global sea level rise, in this century alone, a dozen major storms, including Katrina and Rita in 2005, and Ida in 2022, drastically changed the geography of Louisiana's coast.
People of Louisiana are closely defined by the landscape they inhabit. Unfortunately, this fascinating correlation between people and geography is under a dire threat of vanishing simply because the land they occupy is physically retreating. Our modern technology and engineering is capable of physically slowing the coastal erosion, but it is not very good at preserving the cultural heritage. Many of South Louisiana's communities, including Indigenous Americans, Cajuns, and Asian Americans are affected by loss of natural resources, economic impact, and direct loss of property. Every year, many small local communities gradually sink into the wetlands.
These images are a recent selection of a long-term investigation of rapid changes in wetlands geography and population in Southern Louisiana, largely due to human activity. The photographs are results of more than two decades of annual revisitation of the specific geographic area, The Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary. Witnessing this physical unraveling of landscape became a visual metaphor for the disintegration of my native country of Yugoslavia.
The global environmental concerns that place Louisiana in center of world's attention make this project timely in its relevance. It is the longest undertaking of my career so far, chronicling the continuous shifting of the landscape and adaptation of humanity to our new world.
speaker
Daniel Kariko
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