Talking about climate change in conservative places is hard. But we can’t afford not to

If Mississippi reflects on the deep, systemic inequalities its plantation economy created, perhaps it will see those inequalities are exacerbated by climate change

Climate change, I was told when buying a coffee, is not a "polite" topic of conversation in Natchez, Mississippi.

The city sits on the legendarily volatile Mississippi River, which is straining against an aging system of levees. Considered the oldest permanent settlement on the Mississippi, Natchez is perched on a bluff over the river's eastern banks. Three hundred miles upriver from New Orleans, Natchez was once a bastion of the old south: steamships moved enslaved people and cotton to market, enriching planters who lived in "Natchez-over-the-Hill".