The vanishing Louisiana coastline...

Photo shows on Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, children playing in a shed ruined by a hurricane.

Thirty square miles of southern Louisiana wetlands vanish every year into the Gulf. People here say they lose a football field every 20 minutes. Panic is constant, partly because wetlands and barrier islands act as hurricane buffers for the mainland.

Isle de Jean Charles, home to many members of the Biloxi-Chitimacha tribe, has been left out of a government project designed to stem the wetlands' erosion.

Photo: Nicole Bengiveno / The New York Times (Courtesy of Truthout)