It’s been nearly two months since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. For those of us living along the Gulf Coast, this avoidable but now seemingly unstoppable tragedy hangs heavily over our day to day routines. As I listen to friends and neighbors, the tone has evolved from disbelief, to extreme anger, and now has an underlying tone of resignation.
The images of oil coated beaches, marshes, and wildlife are heartbreaking. The sense of helplessness is overwhelming. I, like so many others, have added my name to numerous volunteer lists. I have written letters of concern and letters questioning the apparent lack of response that have served no purpose other than offer an avenue for venting. Feeling like I had to do something but with nothing for me to do, I decided to just go to the beach and make some photographs. For now, my local beaches remain untouched by this disaster…for now.
I decided to do some work on an ongoing personal project, a series of abstracts, images that explore the play of reflected light and color on waves as they approach the shore. I love getting visually lost in the waves. This time I couldn’t stop the thoughts that in the near future, the feel of sand between my toes may be replaced by the feel of sticky tar balls. The beautiful colors of the surf may be replaced by the orange-brown color of crude, and the wildlife I see swimming, feeding, and flying will be dead, or fighting for life.
The first photograph in the slide show is the one I made on my recent visit to the beach. The rest are part of the ongoing series, all made along Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Ever since the explosion, fingers have been pointing in all directions. While BP is certainly liable for the lost lives, the cost of clean-up, and for reimbursing those who have lost income, they don’t carry the burden of blame all alone. There should have greater oversight. There should have been more stringent regulations. There should have been more thought to the consequences of an accident of this magnitude. After all, this wasn’t the first time something like this has happened. Our unquenchable thirst for fossil fuels and our unwillingness to push for cleaner and safer energy sources certainly carries blame.
BP, like all corporations has an obligation to it’s shareholders. That obligation is to make money. Consumers (yes…you and me) want fuel, lots of it, at a low price. It’s our insistence on low cost fuel that empowered our government to loosen the reigns on oil companies so they could go after the oil as quickly and inexpensively as possible [drill baby drill] while we buried our heads in the sand. Now we’re starting to understand that those short sighted actions have consequences far greater than the money saved by taking short cuts and pretending there was no risk. The cost is greater than BP can possibly bear. No amount of money will make this right. Just ask the families of those whose lives were lost. Just ask the people whose way of life hangs in the balance. Just ask those who remember what it was like growing up along the Louisiana coast.
The big question of course is where do we go from here? Will we learn anything from this disaster? Will we change the way we take care of our natural resources? Are we willing to make a fundamental shift in how and what we consume? Or, do we keep ignoring the long term consequences of our actions and re-bury our heads in the sand until the next major disaster?
by LME
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