There will be plenty of parades in New Orleans leading up to Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday. on March 4. Here's what you need to know.

Three parades will roll Thursday night in New Orleans with scores of masked riders on colorful floats. More processions will continue every day through Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday. Costumed revelers will jam the French Quarter as more parades roll in New Orleans’ suburbs, other Louisiana cities, and all along the Mississippi and Alabama coasts.

New Orleans Mardi Gras krewes are continuing to explore new ways to make the greatest free show on Earth a little kinder to the actual planet. Why it matters: The city is already on the frontlines of the impacts of human-caused climate change,