Facing Down the Fossils: Restore

Can discarded glass bottles be used to protect one of the country’s most endangered landscapes? A New Orleans startup is turning bottles into sand that can support new vegetation, prevent erosion, and restore lost land along the Gulf Coast. Researchers and entrepreneurs are working together on this unique solution to the combined effects of sea level rise, ecosystem damage, and climate change. 

Facing Down the Fossils is a series about the people who are dealing with generational consequences of the pollution and economic damage caused by the fossil fuel industry and who now face the prospect of even more fossil fuel projects in the United States. In response, these communities are not only standing up to wrongdoing but also leading the effort to advance clean energy production. The project takes viewers to these communities to hear from the people who have dedicated themselves to fighting injustice in opposition to governments and multinational organizations. In the process, this series reveals what has been lost, what can be saved, and what might be gained in these vibrant neighborhoods, communities, and ecosystems.

This is the second episode of the four-part Facing Down the Fossils, a co-production of Nexus Media News and Peril and Promise, a public media initiative from The WNET Group.

See all episodes and more on our website here.

Watch the series on YouTube.

Peril and Promise is a public media initiative from The WNET Group, reporting on the human stories of climate change and its solutions.

Major funding for Peril and Promise is provided by Dr. P. Roy Vagelos and Diana T. Vagelos with additional funding from Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, and the Estate of Worthington Mayo-Smith.