Colette Pichon Battle – The 20th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
Bioneers | Published: May 6, 2025 JusticeRestoring Ecosystems Video
The passionate, long-time, award-winning Environmental Justice litigator and activist from Bayou Liberty, Louisiana, reminds us of the powerful lessons Hurricane Katrina delivered by laying bare the nation’s racism, neglect of disenfranchised communities and environmental mismanagement. She also encourages us all to participate in whatever way we can in the major events commemorating Katrina’s 20th Anniversary this August to help mobilize and redouble our efforts for Climate Justice.
This talk was delivered at the 2025 Bioneers Conference.
Colette Pichon Battle, a generational native of Bayou Liberty, Louisiana, is an award-winning lawyer and prominent climate justice organizer. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Black and Indigenous communities were largely left out of federal recovery systems, Colette led the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy (GCCLP) to provide relief and legal assistance to Gulf South communities of color. After 17 years at GCCLP’s helm, as frontline communities from the Gulf South to the Global South face ever more devastating storms, droughts, wildfires, heat, and land loss, she co-founded Taproot Earth to create connections and power across issues, movements, and geographies.
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