Climate Change

David “Clammerhead” Cessna is Embracing Climate Change to Help Fight It

As a seventh generation commercial fisherman, David “Clammerhead” Cessna, of Smyrna, NC, speaks about how his family’s tradition led him to sustainable shellfish harvesting. At age 59, he is the co-founder of the Sandbar Oyster Company, producing job opportunities, environmental solutions and green gill oysters for Coastal NC and beyond.

Read More

Mapping the Floods

Where will you be when sea waters rise the most? Climate change is affecting coastal communities right now, across the world. Even so, people still don’t understand exactly how badly they will be affected. Don Bain, a scientist at Climate Central in Princeton, NJ takes us through the “Surging Seas” project, a map-based tool to help people better understand…

Read More

Columbus County: A Series of Disasters

In the last 10 years, disasters like Matthew, Florence, and now COVID-19 have changed the fabric of Columbus County, North Carolina and its community. Wallyce Todd and Gerry Lenahan work at Community CPR, a nonprofit focused on disaster relief in the city of Whiteville – its county’s seat. They talk about how their county is…

Read More

Raleigh to Morehead in 1974

Ellis Jones had a good job and good life in Raleigh in 1974. He didn’t want to move to the coast. Reluctantly, he drove into Morehead City on a highway 70 shadowed by trees “shaped by nature, and the hurricanes, and the salt… and the fellowship that people have here? It’s incredible.” Jones speaks to…

Read More

A Church Torn Down Around You

Ethel Hill is a lifetime member of St. Stephen’s AME Zion Church in Morehead City. “I grew up in Morehead City, went away, came back, and I’m still here. So, I love my church.” When Hurricane Florence approached the coast in 2018, Ethel and seven family members decided to ride out the storm in their…

Read More

North River is Low, North River is Home

It’s been nearly two years since Hurricane Florence’s winds devastated homes in North River, a small coastal community in Carteret County, NC. But Yvonne Pittaway still isn’t home.  “Two rooms – if I can get two rooms repaired, I’m going back home.” Pittaway has been staying with her sister in Morehead City. There, as Pittaway…

Read More

On Slowness

The speed of hurricane recovery efforts is pernicious, says Matthew Reddick of Washington, NC. If he had one word to describe how hurricane recovery functioned in his hometown – he would choose ‘slow.’ “Slow to react, slow to get something done.” In a context when folks are out of their homes, and Reddick sees the…

Read More

Rural Areas: The Kindergarten to High School Factor

Angela Lewis, of Washington NC, speaks to how people would be surprised to know that locals in Washington are not just still recovering from Hurricane Florence in 2018 – many are still recovering from Hurricane Matthew in 2016. And some families will never financially recover. She notices that her church’s predominantly African American section of…

Read More

Confused Shrimp

“I think the shrimp are confused just as much as the people are.” Melvin Dunn is a shrimper from North River– a small, coastal community in Carteret County, NC. His father was a commercial fisherman, and his father before him. But climate change is making Dunn consider leaving his days on the water behind him….

Read More

Cheated Out of Their Homes

“I’m not against integration, but I think people are being cheated out of their homes.” Her mother’s home was condemned. Then her uncle’s. Ophelia Chambers’ family homestead has been in the same location off of Bridges Street in Morehead City, NC for at least 4 generations. In the wake of Hurricane Florence, her traditionally African…

Read More