Mississippi River Blog

Washington, D.C. has been my home for many years. It is where my foundation is headquartered, where my family resides. It is also home to members of the Earth Conservation Corps, a service organization that teaches at-risk teenagers and young adults from the poorest, most violent neighborhoods to clean

Our nation’s capital casts a long shadow. Just a few miles from the Mall – famous for the White House, Lincoln Memorial, and Washington Monument – lies a troubled world that bears little resemblance to these iconic representations of democracy. No mobs of tourists throng the streets snapping photos

The team and I spend our final day on the Mississippi River visiting again with the Cajun people living at the frayed edges of the bayou close to the Gulf of Mexico. You only have to talk to a few of them to find out what their biggest concern is: land loss. We drive over an hour along the flat,

Today we feel blessed getting to spend another few hours with the generous, openhearted Cajun people. We’ve journeyed down the Mississippi River from St Louis to Louisiana to investigate how farming relates to fishing. In a general sense, both farmers and fishermen survive off the land. They may not

Here on the Lafourche bayou about an hour southwest of New Orleans, the Cajun people have passed along shrimp trawling as a way of life for generations. We have timed our visit for the Blessing of the Fleet, an annual tradition at the start of the shrimping season intended to ensure a bountiful harvest

“I’ve been doing this way longer than Erin Brokovich,” says 65 year-old grandmother, professional chemist, and spitfire activist Wilma Subra. With her short blond ponytail and bangs, Capri pants and sandals, she looks twenty years younger than she is—and has the energy of a teenager. That’s lucky for

“Louisiana’s wetlands are twice the size of the Everglades National Park, funnel more oil into the US than the Alaskan Pipeline, sustain one of the nation’s largest fisheries, and provide vital hurricane protection for New Orleans. And they are disappearing under the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 33

St Louis marks a dividing line in the Mississippi River. To the north, in Minnesota, it is a national treasure attracting more people for recreation than Yellowstone National Park. To the south, it is hardly a river anymore. It more closely resembles a drainage pipe. As it journeys through the middle

On the day we’re investigating the truth about corn ethanol, and rapidly reaching the conclusion that the American public is being robbed blind when it comes to government subsidies for the stuff, we get robbed ourselves. MeiMei, Ben, Jos and I are filming interviews and stand-ups near the arch

When your great-great-grandmother settled a place in 1823, you can call yourself a local. 186 years later, Steve Black still manages the family farm and rents out the archetypal white wooden house, complete with wraparound porch, and worn red barn. Like many other farmers in the area, Steve grows

Cold and wet. That’s what we are after an entire day out shooting in ceaseless spring rains. Only a scorching hot bath can cure this kind of shivering. In the morning, Ben, Pablo and Ali went to the cornfields to shoot b-roll of the agriculture—mostly corn and soybeans—that dominates the Mississippi

The Mississippi River stitches together a quilt of ten states from Minnesota to Louisiana. The geometric plots of agricultural land stretching out to either side form the patchwork in shades of brown, planted mostly with corn and soybeans but not yet showing signs of spring growth. The team traveled