Louisiana Bayou Credit: Ann Herme/CSM

Residents of Louisiana are on the front lines of climate change in the United States. Rising seas are forcing bayou residents to consider leaving communities where many have lived for generations. Individuals and entire communities are facing difficult questions: Should they stay and try to adapt? Or relocate to higher ground? If they do choose to relocate, how? In one case, the state has decided to permanently relocate the entire community of Isle de Jean Charles farther inland. But in the nearby town of Empire, retreat has happened more haphazardly. The town is the second-largest commercial fishing hub in the country outside Alaska, but the population has dropped from more than 2,800 in 2000 to less than 1,000 in 2010, according to census data. These two towns exemplify the hard choices facing state managers in Louisiana. And if sea levels continue to rise as climate models predict – by as much as five feet by 2100 – residents of coastal cities from Boston and New York […]