Colette Pichon Battle

Brent Leggs, the Head of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, discusses the importance of preserving historic sites like the 16th Street Baptist Church and A.G. Gaston Motel. Climate activist Colette Pichon Battle highlights the urgent need for inclusive climate discussions after Hurricane Katrina. Joy Buolamwini, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, sheds light on how algorithmic bias can reinforce inequality, calling for accountability in technology. Together, they explore the intersection of history, activism, and the fight for equity.

Colette Pichon Battle, a visionary leader, discusses her transition from lawyer to environmental activist post-Hurricane Katrina. She highlights the deep connection between land and heritage, societal inequities in disaster relief, equitable recovery, climate migration trauma, and embracing differences with love and freedom. Through Taproot Earth, she leads initiatives in disaster recovery, global migration, economic development, and energy democracy.

Colette Pichon Battle, an attorney and co-founder of Taproot Earth, teams up with Jade Begay, a Diné and Tesuque Pueblo climate policy expert, to discuss the essence of home amidst climate challenges. They explore the intersection of culture, democracy, and community resilience, sharing insights on grassroots organizing. The conversation critiques traditional environmental activism and emphasizes the need for inclusive approaches that prioritize Indigenous knowledge. They also highlight the power of communal rituals in fostering healing and adaptation in the face of environmental and social injustices.

There is an ecological transformation unfolding in the places we love and come from. On a front edge of this reality which will affect us all, Colette Pichon Battle is a singular model of brilliance and graciousness of mind and spirit and action. And to be with her is to open to the way the stories we tell have blunted us to the courage we’re called to, and the joy we must nurture, as life force and fuel for the work ahead. As a young woman, she left her home state of Louisiana and land to which her family belonged for generations, to go to college and become a powerful lawyer in Washington, D.C. Then in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina made, as she has said, "a crack in the universe," she returned home to a whole new life and calling. Colette Pichon Battle is a vivid embodiment of the new forms societal shift is taking in our world — led by visionary pragmatists close to the ground, in particular places, persistently and lovingly learning and leading the way for us all.Colette Pichon Battle is Co-founder and Vision & Initiatives Partner for Taproot Earth, a global organization which has emerged from the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy that she founded and led in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. She and her colleagues are influencing manifold aspects of our ecological present, including equitable disaster recovery and global migration, community economic development and energy democracy.This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode "Colette Pichon Battle — On Knowing What We're Called To." Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org.

Kelsey Leonard, a water policy expert and Shinnecock Nation member, shares the urgent need for equitable water rights. LaToya Ruby Frazier, a visual artist, documents environmental injustices affecting vulnerable families, illustrating the human impact of the Flint water crisis. Colette Pichon Battle emphasizes resilience in Southern Louisiana's communities while advocating for legal personhood for water. The discussion highlights the deep connection between identity and water, urging listeners to rethink their relationship with this vital resource.