photo by New Orleans Lady (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
The centuries old Indian – or Native American – communities on the Gulf coastline of Louisiana have put up with many years of hardship. During the last few decades they have seen the wetlands they depend on for their food and livelihood diminish, and the oil industry move in.
In 2005 came the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. In 2010 it is a man-made disaster, the Deepwater Horizon oil leak, that may pose the biggest threat yet.
Watch this National Geographic video on how the oil spill is impacting the lives of the Native tribes of Louisiana’s Gulf region.