Funding for Eco trip is provided in part by support for WYES is made possible by the Arlene and Joseph Miro Charitable Foundation, dedicated to improving the quality of life in Saint Bernard Parish and implementing innovative strategies to creating lasting, positive change in the entire community.

Just five miles from downtown New Orleans, Saint Bernard Parish offers scenic waterways, rich history, coastal culture, and year round fishing.

Learn more at Visit Saint bernard.com.

The Gustav W McIlhenny Foundation, dedicated to strengthening communities through conservation, education and health.

Supporting organizations that preserve traditional values and expand opportunity for all Americans, especially across the South, and by the WYES Producers Circle a group of generous contributors dedicated to the support of WYESs local productions.

Around here, we take our celebrations seriously to us and those that want to be like us.

You believe and we'll find just about any excuse to celebrate.

And when the party's over.

Turns out what we leave behind might help save what we love.

Go back to the coast.

Help us out.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Look at me.

Rebuilding the coast.

♪ ♪ Every night.

♪ It's a fight, but we're running out of time.

♪ How many days does it take to get this pile up here?

It really only takes a couple of days to get here.

Or a good weekend.

Is that it?

Exactly.

Louisiana is known for its expertise at emptying bottles.

Figuring out what to do with them afterward.

That took a couple of college kids.

And one more bottle.

Glass half full.

Started, like most good ideas, over a bottle of wine.

My partner Max and I were sharing a bottle at Tulane University.

And when it was empty, we realized it was going to end up in a landfill.

And we thought that was crazy.

And we said, what if we could figure out how to recycle glass here in New Orleans?

And we found this tiny little machine that could turn one bottle at a time into sand.

And that's when things clicked.

We were like, what if we could turn that into a resource to help protect our coast?

So this is your model T. This is how it all started.

Yes.

This is the original bottle crusher.

You would put one bottle at a time into here, and then you had a bucket down here and the sand would come out.

You could probably do like six bottles a minute.

That little machine had its limits.

The public's appetite for recycling apparently didn't.

And we still had that tiny little machine.

Yes.

One ball at a time against a mountain of glass.

And we were like, there's no way.

There's no way we can get out of this mess.

How are we going to get through this?

We have no money.

And then some kind soul stepped in and helped us.

Or the community showed up and helped us, and we somehow made it out.

If you could either look at this as like, there's going to be a lot of challenges and it's going to be really hard, or we can look at a glass half full.

And we're recycling glass, so we might as well look at a glass half full.

Turns out optimism can be good for business.

What began with a bottle of wine now includes commercial and residential glass collection, and a new facility right here in Saint Bernard Parish.

And that's just the first round, so we can process about half a million beer bottles in a single day if we if we ran the whole day.

So like in a 24 hour period, half a million beer bottle.

So we have to do our part.

Yes.

The public has to do this.

Yes.

The biggest thing we need now is glass.

What?

Do you know what that means?

Drink up.

So once the glass reaches the facility, we put it through our processing machinery and turn it into a mixture of sand and gravel.

So in 2021, we partnered with Tulane University scientists and researchers looking at utilizing recycled glass sand for coastal restoration here in Louisiana.

And all that research has been going so well, that's that it's enabled us to do implementation projects with partners like CRCL.

with partners like the Coalition and Restore Coastal Louisiana.

The point is an Indian tribe and common ground relief.

What was once glass trash is finding new uses along the coast.

But back in Chalmette, Fran and her team are taking things one step further.

This island project is actually on the coast of our new site off of Paris Road.

So it's in Bayou Bienvenue on the Saint Bernard side.

So Bayou Bienvenue was an old growth cypress swamp.

So you would have seen like huge old cypress trees here.

They would have been a thriving wetland.

But when they opened the Mr.

Go.

the Mississippi River Gulf outlet, it allowed saltwater in here, which killed everything.

So this bayous come a long way.

It's been, like degraded to all end.

And now we're trying to bring back native marsh species that would have been here, you know, before the Mr.

GO opened.

Look at that caterpillar.

If you build it, they will come.

So you might as well build more.

So the point of today is to put in a containment around the perimeter of our two new islands that we're going to be building.

The containment is made out of two different types of Choir materials.

Choir is coconut husk.

It lasts for about 24 months in this condition, but it helps contain the sand when we start pumping into our islands.

And then it helps keep it together while the roots set in, and grow and hold the islands together on its own.

Before we can build an island.

We have to give the sand somewhere to stay, which means getting our hands dirty and just about everything else.

Here's the very important part.

We're going to sink the logs and they take a second to sink.

So you'll have to like push and stand on it.

And then when we make the perimeter, the logs have to be exactly touching.

Okay.

Okay.

Overlap.

Yeah.

It smells so lovely.

Very rich.

Yeah.

Oh, man.

Very rich.

Right now we're really building a lot of habitat, but it is a small scale.

I just want to see it get bigger.

I want to see us make a larger difference.

It's just really fun to watch the land.

By the end of the day, we've built two islands.

Well, the outlines of two islands.

Now all we need is the sand to make the land.

Now it's time to find out what's in my waders.

What kind of swamp magic lurks where no one can see?

A few weeks later, the containment is ready.

So is the sand.

And so am I. We utilize a pump system that sucks up water from the bayou, and then mixes it with our sand to make a slurry, and then pumps that out.

♪ Hundred bottles of beer on the wall.

♪ 100 bottles of beer.

We've used, you know, in projects, about 150 tons of sand per projects.

So, like one island is about 150 tons of sand, which is 300,000 beer bottles.

♪ One bottle of beer.

♪ Knock them down.

♪ Build an island.

♪ Zero bottles of beer on the wall.

But guess what?

They're drinking more.

Woo!

We've created a system that we can recreate somewhere else.

It doesn't have to be right off of the glass.

Half full property.

We're still trying out some different methods to try to be as streamlined as possible, so that we can pick it up and go somewhere else someday.

Just to be absolutely clear.

I am not the one making these bubbles.

Okay, this is not me making the bubbles.

This is sand being pumped in right here to our containment area that we built 2 or 3 weeks ago, and we are ready to build land.

It's one of the things that we learned during the studies is that it is essentially we're turning sand that was turned into glass back into sand.

So it reacts similarly to our silica sand that we have here naturally.

So it wasn't surprising that the plants were growing in it as well as they did.

So many plants are growing, not only the ones that we planted there, but lots of stuff like windblown species showing up on its own on these islands.

And so the fact that things can blow over and establish on the islands with glass just as much as the ones on the dredge sand islands, is positive.

I'm kind of looking around the environment.

Last time we were in here building this containment, there was a bunch of us helping out.

But right now it's just me and I'm snack sized.

It's really neat to be a part of a solution that didn't even exist, like 5 or 10 years ago.

Maybe these islands aren't going to save the entire coast, but out here, a little more land is a little more hope.

It's always my goal to show everyone, not just young people, that you can take everyday action that supports these solutions and that ultimately helps combat these huge issues that feel overwhelming and like there's no way we can solve them.

But I think this all just fills me with a lot of hope.

I forgot to mention to please listen to your knees, watch your back.

People might think of it as bigger than them, something that that they can't do anything about, and so they feel helpless.

Well, this program, changes that narrative.

You know, you can be a part of it by eating a dozen oysters.

We don't need much encouragement to eat oysters.

But now, apparently, we can call it coastal restoration.

So this is just one seafood platter at a restaurant, right?

Yeah, that's pretty much.

But you gotta think of all the deliciousness.

Oh, yeah.

All the wonderful edible list that was done to make, Oh, yeah.

And really, they came through some of the city's finest restaurants.

You know, like, these brought people a lot of enjoyment.

We're on Bayou Pointe-au-Chien Near Montague, Louisiana, out here.

The road runs out long before the surprises do.

And around the next bend two horses.

Lore has it that they were left here years ago and, with the help of locals, have called the Marsh home ever since.

Not exactly what I expected on a trip about oyster shells.

This land has been disappearing and some of what's at risk can't be rebuilt.

We've started working in partnership with indigenous tribes, and they help us identify sites of cultural significance that are being threatened by erosion.

We've done two with the Poine-au-Chien community, a community still recovering after being hit by Hurricane Ida in 2021.

Yeah, you know, this reef is three years old, so there is going to be a little bit of natural settling.

So that's why it's nicer out here today adding on a mountain layer just to really keep the reef being nice and strong.

Oystercatchers right here.

All of this shell has been diverted from going to landfill.

So we're reducing waste.

We're helping restaurants engage in sustainability efforts and we're helping protect the coast.

Our reefs have been found to reduce the rate of erosion by 50%.

So we're returning the oyster shells to where they came from.

Exactly.

It is the circle of life.

Yes it is.

A dirty circle of life, but a worthwhile circle of life.

Exactly.

So oysters will grow right here.

Yeah.

It's their preferred substrate.

They.

They are looking for something hard to attach to you.

And with they prefer to attach to is old oyster shell.

So you can see this is the recycled shell.

It's broken a little bit.

And then a baby settled right here and has been growing to this size.

So we had 50 individuals per meter squared, which is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's benchmark for a successful living shoreline.

What a series.

Okay, so pretend I didn't pay any attention in my biology classes.

What does that mean?

That means there's 50 baby oysters that are alive and thriving in a square meter right here.

Because of these bags, because of these bags, these reefs under water act as a sort of speed bump for this big storm surge.

It's slowing erosion of the marshes around.

And then also, it's going to help prevent all of that water hitting the coast right away.

Before an oyster shell gets a second life as a speed bump.

An oyster has to have a first.

We're in Grand Isle today, and we are going to the Grand Isle Port Commission's permitted oyster farm.

We have eight acres out there.

We have seven farmers on those eight acres, and we grow off bottom oceans, basically in cages.

It's a little different than the traditional oysterman.

We're the electric cars of the oyster industry.

It's a good analogy because we have a place in the market for Curole raises Bayside oysters.

part of Grand Isle Jewels, a regional brand for boutique oysters grown off the bottom in cages.

We buy actually, by a seed, and we planted in a cage.

And it grows.

All you need is good salt water, a little bit of flow from the tide because they're sitting literally two inches under the surface.

So the biologists who do this for a living, the smart people, tell us that the top 12 to 18in of the water column has the best dissolved oxygen and the best phytoplankton out there, so it's basically a Golden Corral buffet.

It says where it always just grow really fast.

But gorgeous, gorgeous.

But look how beautiful they are.

This is what a lot of people want.

Tom.

That's a Tom Gregory oyster That's a Dwayne Johnson oyster.

Or it can be me and Tom.

Same same same age.

oyster, Why?

I don't speak oyster.

I can't tell you.

It's just that some of them grow.

They all grow a different rates.

And that's the beauty of it.

You get the saltiness from the Gulf and you get all the nutrients from the river.

And it's almost the perfect gumbo out here.

For Kirk, coastal land loss isn't a prediction.

It's a memory.

If you look back here, these breakwaters that they put is to help attenuate the erosion on the backside of the island.

This area was full of land all the way up to here.

And this was an actual bayou.

And then there was land north of us.

So within the last 40 years, a lot of this land is eroded through hurricanes and everything else.

These waters feed Kirk's oysters, so he's giving something back.

Helping CRCL put old oyster shells back to work, including restoration efforts around Leesville.

We recycle a lot with CRCL.

CRCL is our Buddy.

We're going to go ahead and put recycled shells on the the Super Bowl 59 reef.

We did 59 tons.

Now we have 179 tons of oyster shells to recycle, which is a great program, changing the way things are done to work with an ever changing coast so they taste just as good, if not better than the wild ones.

I mean, they're really clean, they're really nice, and people like eating, putting this up to their lips and eating a clean oyster instead of something this little muddy.

It will never replace no the wild caught that have traditionally been harvested for hundreds of years here in Louisiana.

But this is a way of maintaining the oyster industry?

It gives the consumer an option.

From the waters of Grand Isle to a hidden little corner of New Orleans.

Sidecar, patio and oyster Bar is one of those places you have to work a little to find, but once you do, there's a whole lot of shucking going on.

Look for the hinge so you want to wiggle and jiggle your knife in until it kind of bites.

I am still going to lose a finger in this show.

How about this?

I'll shuck them and you can eat them.

That's just a better way of doing it.

Respect the animal.

Make it presentable.

There you go.

And enjoy it.

It's so good.

Its just, Delicious.

It's like kissing a mermaid.

Like kissing a mermaid.

Pucker up.

Ariel, pucker up.

Sidecar features both wild and boutique oysters like Grand Isle jewels.

Don't put raw oysters in front of my face and expect me not to eat those.

But here's the question.

Now what do I do with this?

Recycle it.

I started working shucking oysters on Bourbon Street before the oyster shell recycling program came in, and just throwing buckets and buckets away of oyster shells right into the landfill.

For a long time, the oysters got the spotlight and the shells got the trash.

Now the shells are getting some well-deserved love.

Let's give back from my end.

It's the same amount of work.

It's either put them in this bin or this bin, but just knowing that, you know, could be helping the wetlands, you know, and it's the best material for new oysters to grow on.

Well, one thing I've noticed from being down in New Orleans is that community is one of the most important things you can have.

And just doing things like oyster recycling.

It just makes us feel like we're part is something and really part of the community because, yeah, we can't do it alone.

We need everyone else.

Go back to the coast.

Help us out.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Look at me.

Rebuilding the coast.

Funny how something we tossed aside can now help us hold on to a piece of land.

A piece of history, a way of life.

Globally, we've lost 85% of the world's oyster reefs.

And so, by reclaiming the shell from our restaurants waste stream, we're helping to.

We're doing our little part to help replenish the oyster industry as a whole.

An oyster Isn't much to look at.

Rough around the edges.

Some would say kind of slimy, but oysters have a way of sticking together.

And here in Plaquemines Parish, they've been helping hold the community together for generations.

Today's our annual Croatian American society festival.

We call it Croatia Fest.

♪ Everybody here is a volunteer.

No one's paid to be here.

It's really the Croatian work ethic and the Croatian tie to community and to the culture that really make this special.

That work ethic crossed an ocean and found a familiar home on the coast of Louisiana.

Croatians immigrated everywhere to New Zealand, to Australia, to the United States, to Canada.

Giant population in New York.

But down here, certain areas of Croatia came here.

Probably 90 plus percent of all the Croatians that came here to the United States all started out as oyster fishermen, and some of them went into restaurants and to other things.

But basically the majority of everybody that came was an oyster fisherman.

The grilled oyster is a creation of the Croatian culture.

And perfected right here.

Back in the old days, when they moved here, they didn't live in Belle Chasse or in New Orleans.

They actually lived down in the camps, in the bayous.

So basically they ate what they caught.

And so they found every kind of way to cook an oyster, basically.

So they're really good at it.

Delicious.

But life on the coast has a way of reminding you.

Nothing here is guaranteed.

When Hurricane Katrina came in 2005.

It decimated Plaquemines Parish, decimated Chalmette and so many of the Croatians that we're all here, spread out and moved, moved away.

So if the coast goes, it just breaks up our entire community.

It's already happened partially due to Katrina.

In 2023, the Croatian American community opened a new home here in Belle Chasse.

More than a building, a place to come home to.

This house has really brought back the community and really brought back people where we spend a lot of time together, pre-Katrina.

We used to have oyster dances, we used to have all kind of thing.

After Katrina, basically 90% of our events stopped for years, and this house is just starting to bring back all of the events that we used to have when I was a child.

[singing in Croatian] We have people that come to this festival every year.

We have gentleman here from Croatia.

We got them from Canada.

Last year I had people from Australia, people that have ties to Louisiana.

Well, now, even if they've been displaced, they come back for the festival and to visit the family and to visit the friends.

Croatians work hard, they live hard, they play hard.

And the taco Totti does all three years ago, These fishermen get up early in the morning, and he'd work a little while, and he'd stop in the morning, and they would make him a totti.

They make him a totti?

And what they would do, he would slice lemons and squeeze the lemons into the sugar.

Okay.

And it makes a mash.

We got the mass here.

You take the bourbon.

Just a little bourbon in their little bourbon.

I didn't get it.

We're gonna make enough for everybody.

And this is a morning drink and morning drink.

Yes, sir.

And thing is, just stir it down.

All right.

Just stir it down.

Look how its starting to frost.

on the outside.

Oh, yeah.

In Croatian, you see this word jubilee?

Jubilee!

That.

jubilee.

Jubilee!

It's the breakfast of champions.

Yes.

Yes, indeed.

The fishermen would drink this every morning, every morning, every morning.

And that would be a refresher.

Then how many would fall off the boat?

Quite a few.

[laughing] This traditional Croatian toast literally translates to let's live.

Or may you live long.

And here on the Louisiana coast.

Those words mean a little bit more.

It's a Louisiana circle of life.

All these delicious oysters that everybody's been enjoying.

Well, the shells.

They're going back into the coast to celebrate the culture of this coast.

We should all find our way back to it.

Through what we eat, through what we drink, and maybe what we give back.

For the volunteers, it also is a really joyful, fun experience which is unique, you know, because we're doing hard work, but it is just so richly rewarding.

Funding for Eco Trip is provided in part by, support for WYES, is made possible by the Arlene and Joseph Meraux Charitable Foundation, dedicated to improving the quality of life in Saint Bernard Parish and implementing innovative strategies to creating lasting, positive change in the entire community.

Just five miles from downtown New Orleans, Saint Bernard Parish offers scenic waterways, rich history, coastal culture, and year round fishing.

Learn more at Visit Saint bernard.com.

The Gustav W McIlhenny Foundation, dedicated to strengthening communities through conservation, education and health.

Supporting organizations that preserve traditional values and expand opportunity for all Americans, especially across the South, and by the WYES Producers Circle, a group of generous contributors dedicated to the support WYES local productions.