March 21, 2007
A remnant of a halloween past hangs at the entrance to Isle de Jean Charles, a remote Native American community in southeast Louisiana that is being threatened by severe coastal erosion and contamination.
Without massive coastal restoration, the community is fighting a losing battle against erosion, pollution, increasingly powerful hurricanes and rising sea levels.

In the last century, massive land loss has left communities on the southeast coast of Louisiana, including New Orleans, increasingly vulnerable to hurricanes. Damage to coastal marshes due to oil and gas extraction is accelerating the process. The oil and gas industry has not been required to fund coastal restoration.
Photo: Kael Alford/Panos Pictures