Land is Culture | Conservation is Preservation
Our Mission Statement
Murier helps New Orleanians work with the environment instead of against it when faced with the common climate disasters of our region. By integrating our shared culture, native foodways and traditional medicine, and the unique ecosystems that make Louisiana what it is, Murier builds thriving, low maintenance landscapes to support everything from the smallest insect to neighborhoods, and all that’s in between.
Southern Louisiana is special; everyone that lives here knows that intrinsically. While the culture that we have created together brings us together, that same culture would not exist without the immense creative power of the Mississippi River. Over thousands of years the River built the land beneath our feet, creating fertile ground for cultures to grow. The land, waters, plants, and animals play as much a part of our culture as does the people, music, and art of Southern Louisiana.
For thousands of years the land we now call Louisiana has supported the people who live here. Louisianans have always been connected to the land, but we have not always been as kind to the land as it has been to us. As we lose touch with nature, whether behind the walls of a levee or by the ease of a supermarket, we lose part of the culture. As the land begins to sink and disappear beneath our feet, we must now treat the land with the respect it deserves and foster healthy ecosystems and environments within our own homes and communities.
Reconnecting with the land reconnects us with our culture, and it may be as simple as planting a garden. Gardens are a place of plenty; they store community knowledge and traditions; and they are the building blocks of cuisine and medicine. Gardens are a place to gather and share; they track the seasons not by a calendar but in bounty.
My grandparents grew tomatoes and mirlitons in a small plot in their backyard along the low chainlink fence that separated their yard from their neighbor’s. That plot and fence provided so much for their home: joy, healthy food; the feeling of the bright sun on their skin and a pride of a job well done sinking their teeth into a ripe tomato slice with salt, pepper, and olive oil; and a place of communion and community with their neighbor leaning over the fence, sharing veggies, and chatting. That is, until Katrina put 10 feet of water over that garden, never to be rebuilt. Now we buy imported mirlitons from the supermarket.
Knowing that the land is culture, that it sustains us, that Mother Nature can at any moment overpower our “greatest” levees and pumps, that climate change is making our lives on the Sliver by the River ever more tenuous, now is the time to plant a garden. Now is the time to reconnect with the land beneath your feet, to work with the environment instead of against it, to support the ecosystem that has thrived here for thousands of years, simply by adding beauty to your home and community. Starting a garden yesterday is better, but now will do just fine.
Who We Are
Mason Page, Founder
I started Murier Ecosystem Services in April of 2022 to tie together my many disparate interests: love of and care for the natural world, climate change mitigation, emergency management, community health, food sovereignty, the list goes on. In Southeast Louisiana we have the chance to combat a number of societal ills, from urban heat island effect and air pollution to flood impacts and even food security, all at once with nature based solutions. But this window of opportunity will not last forever, and we, as concerned citizens and neighbors, must work together to improve the lives of all, even down to the smallest insect. By allowing and hastening ecosystem degradation, we threaten our own existence. On a grand scale this is most evident in the physical hazards faced by New Orleans; walled off from our surrounding waterways and sinking deeper every day, the city floods on a moment's notice. Yet for all that water, New Orleans experiences the worst heat island effect in the nation. By removing much of the native vegetation and tree cover in the city and paving over the swampy soil underneath we have created a double-edged sword. Restoring native vegetation and tree canopy as Green Infrastructure helps to protect against both dangers when built, gray infrastructure fails.