Next week I will be embarking on a trip to the Gulf of Mexico to volunteer and help gather stories about how the BP spill has affected the people of Louisiana. Throughout the week, I will be posting pictures and snippits about my time there here on my tumblr. Feel free to also follow my twitter account, where I’ll be providing more regular updates via tweets. The entire trip is made possible by the incredible dedication of Patagonia to their core mission—utilizing their company as a vehicle to implement solutions to the environmental crisis—and is just another testament to how successful the company has been in its multi-pronged effort to marry profit-making business and environmental conservation and social responsibility.
That said, if you are concerned about this spill and are like me and frequently only keep up to date on the news through large media outlets (NYT, WSJ, other national sources), you are not getting a full picture of how precarious the situation in Louisiana and along the Gulf coast is. Even though the well is capped for now, there linger some very disconcerting questions about how life will carry on in the area after the spill, especially with regard to aquatic life and bioaccumulation of oil, chemical dispersants, and other compounds. Here is a quote from an article on the ongoing process to ensure the seafood coming out of the gulf can be eaten safely:
The situation in the Gulf is challenging in terms of determining where seafood won’t encounter oil since so much oil has entered the water column and is now so widely dispersed. “It’s very difficult to deal with while the oil can come back [to any one place],” says Wilson. The area of the Gulf just reopened to fishing will stay under ongoing surveillance for oil and dockside seafood testing for the next 30 days.
So as I said, stay tuned for updates and pictures from the Gulf coast. I feel so fortunate to have been given the opportunity do whatever I can to help out an area ravaged by such an awful disaster, and even more privileged to be able to share this story beyond my limited “real life” network.
