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Leaving The Island
Leaving The Island episodes
- When The Dust Settles
In August 2022, a year after Hurricane Ida had devastated Isle de Jean Charles, the first families moved to the resettlement site, The New Isle. As challenges over construction issues and affordability threaten the sustainability of the new settlement, a new state agency takes over management of the subdivision, bringing its own vision of what success will look like there.
51 min - Broken Promises
Upon the receipt of the $48.3 million award, the state agency administering the grant, Louisiana's Office of Community Development (OCD), learned that members of the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation were not the only people who called the disappearing Isle home — a fact that forced the OCD to change the resettlement plans. The Jean Charles Choctaw Nation fought back to restore its original vision.
51 min - Ancestral Home
It took Albert Naquin, the Chief of the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation, over 20 years and two failed attempts to move his tribe from Isle de Jean Charles, a tiny barrier island at the tip of Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish. Since the 1950s, the Isle has lost 98% of its landmass. And with a federal grant of over $48 million awarded to the state of Louisiana in a national competition, Chief Albert's plan started to become reality. The Isle de Jean Charles resettlement was positioned as a pilot program for other US communities in need of climate relocation. But then, a letter landed on the Governor's desk and changed everything.
39 min - "Leaving The Island" Trailer
"Leaving The Island" investigates the first-ever resettlement of an entire community by the U.S. government due to climate change.
5 min
About Leaving The Island
From the publisher's feed
More than 13 million Americans may be displaced due to climate change by the end of this century. Where will they move, and who will decide how it happens?
"Leaving The Island," a new investigative podcast series, reports from the frontlines of the Great Climate Migration, featuring the voices of historically marginalized communities, concerned scientists and the officials tasked to carry it out. Season One focuses on the 2022 resettlement of the primarily Native American community on Isle de Jean Charles, a barrier island at the tip of Louisiana's Terrebonne parish that will be completely underwater by 2050.
Albert Naquin, the traditional chief of The Jean Charles Choctaw Nation, had been trying to move his tribe to higher ground for over two decades when Louisiana was awarded nearly $50 million to resettle the residents in 2016. It was the first federally funded effort of its kind, met with great fanfare. But seven years later, the tribal leadership compares it to the Trail of Tears.
What went so wrong? "Leaving the Island" explores this question, as well as a bigger one more Americans will have to face: what happens when to survive, you have to leave the only home you've ever known?
"Leaving The Island" is a collaboration between Amnesty International Media Award-winning investigative journalist Olga Loginova and Peabody-nominated podcast studio Audiation (Kabul Falling, Fat Leonard, Radiant Minds: The World of Oliver Sacks), with editorial support from Type Investigations. For over two years, Olga has reported this story, reviewing more than 2,000 government and tribal records and conducting nearly 100 hours of interviews with subjects.
The original investigative piece was published by The Center for Public Integrity and Type Investigations as a part of the "Harm's Way" series, and was picked up by Mother Jones, Yahoo! News, Civil Beat and others. The series won the SABEW award, was a semifinalist for the 2023 Goldsmith Prize, and was a finalist for the 2023 Dateline Awards for the online series category.
For more information about "Leaving The Island," see our website, leavingtheislandpod.com.
"Leaving The Island" is an Audiation Original Production.