katrina 20

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near the Louisiana/Misissisippi state lines - a powerful storm, changing the Gulf South forever.  This extreme storm made the many realities of the climate crisis clear, including who exactly would be hurt first and worst by its impacts and aftermath. Katrina claimed more than 2000 lives and still ranks as one of the costliest storms in US history. 

In Mississippi, every single county was declared a disaster area and whole neighborhoods were washed into the Gulf of Mexico. In Alabama fishing communities and historic neighborhoods were impacted by massive winds and flooding even with the eye of the storm hundreds of miles away. Across Louisiana, the tidal surge along with wind gusts destroyed generational homes across several parishes. And in New Orleans, ensuing levee breaches caused by the volume of water from the storm left 80 percent of the city under water for weeks. In addition to the damage, Hurricane Katrina prompted one of the largest migrations of people from the region- some were forced to flee the immediate impact of the storm while others were forced to seek economic opportunity outside of the devastated region.

But while the storm may have broken our hearts, it strengthened our spirits. Katrina sparked a movement in the Gulf South and beyond that continues to this day. Taproot Earth was born of this movement, and 20 years later, we are still rooted in the work that brings us love, power and liberation.

The stories of Katrina belong to the survivors and communities in our region. Taproot Earth joins the Gulf South frontlines to advance our power instead of our victimhood; to remember our resistance instead of our resilience; to envision our sustainable future by learning from a past rooted in a struggle for freedom. 

Hurricane Katrina (and every extreme weather event afterward) has strengthened the bonds between the Gulf South and the Global South. Our struggles and our liberation are inextricably linked. Taproot Earth advanced the human rights to Remain, to Migrate and to Return home for those forced to leave the Gulf South after Hurricane Katrina, anyone displaced from their homeland around the world.