Place Attachment and Environmental Change in Coastal Louisiana

Abstract

This article examines how residents of communities frame environmental change. Specifically, how do respondents from Louisiana's coastal communities understand coastal wetland loss? For this article, the authors rely on 47 in-depth interviews from communities in two coastal parishes (counties). Respondents convey the meanings they give to land loss through constructing a narrative of place. The authors use a phenomenological approach that focuses on how stories are told and the subjective interpretations of societal members. Residents' narratives of place reveal a strong degree of place attachment where ideas of fragility and uniqueness are employed to frame the place in which they live. The authors suggest that the slow onset disaster of coastal land loss forces a constant and heightened awareness of place attachment. The data for this study are collected during 2002 and 2003, and although restoration processes are well underway, for the most part, residents felt shut out. Their alienation increases their sense of fragility about place, and they warn of disasters like those of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As major restoration plans are considered, the nature of residents' place attachment can shed light on the role the communities themselves can play in policy and restoration projects. In this regard, the meanings in residents' attachments are important for how and what decisions are made.