James Karst is the communications director at the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, a statewide nonprofit whose mission is to unite people in action to achieve a thriving, sustainable Louisiana coast for all. Prior to joining CRCL, he was a longtime journalist at The Times-Picayune, where he served most recently as senior editor. He was a member of the paper’s staff that received two Pulitzer Prizes for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. A 2019 story he wrote about Louis Armstrong for 64 Parishes magazine was named first-place winner in feature writing by the Press Club of New Orleans, and he has received multiple awards for his newspaper headlines. In his role at CRCL, James makes frequent media appearances locally, nationally and internationally. He also moonlights as an actor, having appeared in television shows including “Treme,” “America’s Most Wanted,” “NCIS New Orleans” and “Louisiana Coastal Cooking” and in commercials for Chevrolet, Popeyes and John Deere. He is a graduate of Sewanee: The University of the South. He lives in Gentilly with his partner and three sons in a house powered by the sun; his renewable energy experience dates back to the late 1990s, when he lived off the grid in Alaska.
