In business, and other organizations, we hear about “mission drift.” That’s a condition where the organization loses track of what it set out to accomplish. The way to re-focus is to get back to basics.

That’s what we’re doing today on Out to Lunch. We’re talking about three very basic elements – sunshine, water, and dirt.

And we’re looking at how we can harness these 3 elements to re-focus us on one of our missions as a city that we seem to have drifted away from – resurrecting the 9^th Ward.

James Mazzuto is Director of Make It Right Solar.

Marianne Cufone is an expert on urban and suburban farming, Executive Director of Recirculating Farms and Growing Local NOLA.

Becca Margolis has an Okra farm – in the 9^th Ward, Okra Foods.

What would a re-focus on sunshine, water, and dirt look like in New Orleans? Could a back to basics agricultural revolution revive the Lower 9^th Ward?

Photos at Commander’s Palace by Alison Moon.