Supporting Climate Mitigation In New Orleans

Kosmos Energy strives to invest in the communities near our operations. In the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Kosmos partnered with Common Ground Relief and Tierra Foundation to create the Climate Mitigation Fellowship, a program focused on building skills and providing real-world experience to locals pursuing careers in natural resources and ecosystem management. The Fellowship was open to adults with no formal background in the environmental restoration.

THE CLIMATE MITIGATION FELLOWSHIP AT COMMON GROUND RELIEF

The Fellowship provided two New Orleanians – August and Cedrick – with full-time paid placements at Common Ground Relief during the 2024 planting season. To develop skills and gain experience planning and leading coastal restoration projects, the Fellows: 

• Coordinated plantings involving 350 volunteers, helping plant over 3,000 trees and 23,000 plugs of marsh grass across 15.3 acres of vulnerable wetlands surrounding the city of New Orleans;
• Installed three rod Surface Elevation Tables (rSETs), which measure local elevation changes, to help determine which planting densities are most effective for long-term restoration;
• Developed health and safety site plans for Common Ground Relief’s main planting sites, Bayou Bienvenue and Bayou Sauvage;
• Earned First Aid certifications to help mitigate site safety risks through preparedness; and,
• Created educational materials for Common Ground on successful planting tips, the local ecosystem, and the local consequences of climate change.

The Fellows also pursued individual side projects that aligned with their specific interests: August created an endemic species identification guide of the wetlands where Common Ground Relief works while Cedrick earned his boating license to help transport volunteers, trees, and other supplies to and from planting sites.

THE FELLOWS

Cedrick, a Louisiana Green Corps alum and lifelong resident of southeast Louisiana, is pursuing an Associate of Applied Science degree in Wind Energy Technology at Nunez Community College. “I’m really grateful for this Fellowship,” said Cedrick. “[It] really helped mold me and pushed me into making it and choosing the wind energy technician program.”

“I feel more confident because I was out in the field, all the time, for eight months,” says August of his time in the Fellowship. “I definitely got my knowledge of southeast Louisiana through this [Fellowship].”  He is now serving as a crew leader for Grow Dat Youth Farm, where he will teach high school students how to be urban farmers. 

Commenting on Cedrick and August’s completion of the Fellowship, Director of Common Ground Relief Christina Lehew said: “These two shared an incredible amount of determination, passion, curiosity, wonder, joy, and more with our team during their time with us. We look forward to watching their respective careers blossom in renewable energy, youth engagement, and urban agroforestry.”