https://ghostarchive.org/archive/v9Qnw
"New Orleans is having Mardi Gras regrets, and not just the kind that come from
too many daiquiris. In recent years, the city’s huge, weekslong party has been
producing more waste than ever: an average of 1,123 tons per year for the last
decade, according to the city’s Sanitation Department.
“It’s an environmental catastrophe,” said Brett Davis, who runs a nonprofit
group, Grounds Krewe, that’s trying to make Carnival greener.
The New Orleans area is especially vulnerable to climate change because of
hurricanes and coastal erosion. Yet, for weeks of ebullient parading, which
culminate on Tuesday, those problems are forgotten as float riders fling
plastic beads, cups, doubloons and foam footballs at teeming crowds. In the
moment, these baubles can seem like treasures. Within days, though, what was
caught, as well as the excess left on the streets or dangling from oak trees
like Spanish moss, ends up in the trash.
Now, a coalition of nonprofit organizations, city officials and scientists is
trying to clean up the party, pushing for everything from reusing beads to
reorienting the culture of Carnival with the environment in mind.
It’s not just that all this party detritus is swelling landfills. A 2013 study
found that more than 60 percent of Mardi Gras beads contained unsafe levels of
lead. And in 2018, the city discovered 46 tons of beads clogging catch basins
that are essential for clearing floodwaters.
“The city used to measure the success of Mardi Gras based on the trash
collected,” said Kevin Ferguson, chief of staff for the New Orleans mayor. “But
there are a lot of reasons we have to make a change.”"
Original at:
<
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/climate/mardi-gras-carnival-beads-environment.html>
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-new-orleans-carnival-cleanup/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
