Changing Environments
The first time I got very homesick for my New York home was when I realized October had come to New Orleans without the pomp of changing leaves, chilly, dramatic fall breezes, and the corresponding change in the mood and fashion of those around me. Fall always signals a shift in energy in me and those around me, signals newness along with new school years and the Jewish fall holidays. After 22 years in New York, of course I’ve come to associate fall newness and energy with a shift in my natural surroundings.
This year, though, I’ve shifted my own natural surroundings by picking up and moving to an environment that is hot, sticky, and almost constantly wet. Friends from New York have supported me, but always commented on the difficulties I would face in such an environment: always warm and humid, with loose definitions of seasons; so susceptible to flooding and a larger-than-life insect population. I was worried, knowing how easily my energy, mood, and personality are shaped by my environment… It’s sad, but true.
Of course, I should have realized that I was moving to a city where civic pride and identity would be tied in with its natural habitat, where there is at universal recognition of the direct relationship between humanity and mother nature, if not a recognition of how that relationship should be treated or regarded. If I did not know this before coming, I certainly understand it to some extent after being here for five weeks. Our personal experiences and programming have both made this clear. We continue to learn about how Hurricane Katrina, a terrible natural disaster, still affects this city’s state of mind, life and politics four years later, and how it continues to uncover hidden human faults and strengths as the city tries to rebuild. We learn how something that seems to be as removed as possible from humanity - 300-year old live oak trees - become symbols of pride and despair for the black community of the Treme district who had their major cultural thoroughfare - the avenue of oaks - replaced by an interstate.
A particularly haunting program night was Richard Campanella’s historical geography of New Orleans, which highlighted the deep historical relationship and battle between environment, urban planning, and settlers in this city. It also laid out the grim battle left to figure out, and perhaps the need of the city to accept its limits over geography and situation, to compromise rather than dominate. A compelling dilemma, since doing so would possibly compromise sites of culture and the housing of low-income owners and renters still displaced by Katrina, that which we hope to help and save as AVODAHniks.
New Orleans’ natural (as well as social!) environment certainly has, in a short time, become a large part of why I am falling in love with this place. Even without my New York fall air and a new school year, I still keep that boost I always get this time of year, much to my surprise. It’s because I’m being challenged and falling in love with a new place. How can I not fall in love with the magic of the oaks draped in Mardi Gras beads and greenery, houses whose front yards are practically flowery jungles, the warmth I feel everyday when I go outside? How can I not mourn the loss of cypress swamps while marveling at the natural phenomenon of the bayous? How amazing it is that we can grow vegetables in a garden almost year round, and what a small sacrifice it is to have to deal with the occasionally frightening palmetto bug. Not even in the summer at home can I walk around and smell and see the widest variety of flowers, or pick satsumas off a neighbor’s tree, or get randomly drenched in a downpour and feel cooled and happy rather than inconvenienced. Yes, I show up sticky to work and miss the cool fall air, but so far, it seems like a small sacrifice for a city where I finally have regular conversations about the weather that are reflective of philosophy, culture and humanity rather than simple small talk.
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David Eber said:
Tina-
I enjoyed your thoughts! I too have my mood effected by the weather.
Your writing made me think about how New Orleans, in many ways, is an environmental leader with all of the experts in green building, solar, and coastal restoration. Everyone in New Orleans knows the importance of restoring the coast and everyone seems to know the terms. Yet, we still don’t have municipal recycling and we still use styrafoam and plastic bags at an alarming rate. So in some ways we are still so far behind.
Thanks for sharing, because I love thinking about how our everyday activities are intricately tied up with the natural world. Urban environments fascinate me!