April Vanderkamp
By April Vanderkamp, Guest Commentary -- vanderka11@up.edu
The ribbons of light reflected off Lake Martin danced across the bald cypress trees as Marcus de la Houssaye, a former crawfisherman, led me on a swamp boat tour in Southern Louisiana. His stories weren't new. A tour boat captain low on work since hurricane Katrina, boats demolished in hurricane Gustav, and diminished space for fishing since the oil spill, it sounds exactly like what most of us were hearing in the news a few months ago.
I say most of us because prior to this trip I had told a few peers about my interest in the BP oil spill that began with the Deepwater Horizon in late April and was surprised to see confused looks on their faces. "I don't watch TV", "I don't read the paper", "I don't have time for the news" they rationalized. I was in disbelief. This event completely changed an entire ecosystem and it is changing our national economy, while also contributing to the demise of tens of thousands of jobs. More importantly, the oil spill is forcing us to question whether our political system can adequately reprimand a corporation for their damages to a population and the environment, and you don't have any time for it?
As upsetting as general ignorance on this issue is, what is more distressing is that it is no longer being presented as an issue. Television news networks in this region haven't been covering the topic since those magical bacteria were found to break down the petroleum and fix all of BP's problems. Unfortunately the problem is nowhere near solved. In Louisiana the local news streams reports about job losses and tar balls. There is still more oil leftover in the gulf than the entirety of the Exxon Valdez spill in the late 1980's. And every person you talk to has an opinion about BP.
I visited Grand Isle State Park in the Gulf of Mexico and was denied access to the public beach where BP had set up a "clean up site". An impressive display of orange cyclone fences, large white tents filled with men, and mounds of sand outlined the island. Off shore oilrigs could be seen pumping the day away. When asked what they were doing they did not respond but informed us that the beach was closed. The residents of Grand Isle reckon all they're doing is digging piles of sand.
BP is trying to avoid the fact that the oil in the gulf is still an issue. By not being informed we are supporting them in this effort. The best thing that we can do is to stay educated on the topic. If you don't watch the news or read the paper, fine. You're probably better off getting your information from an Internet source that is still dedicated to real world issues anyway instead of watching the "news" about Bristol Palin's future appearance on Dancing with the Stars.
The other way we can support the people and the environment affected by this atrocity is to diminish our dependence on petroleum. I'm not asking you to never drive a car again (heck, I just got a car and I intend to use it from time to time), but there are incredibly simple actions that we can take to lessen our addiction to oil. For example, not using plastic bags, biking instead of driving, and bundling up or using space heaters to reduce the gas we use to heat our homes. By acting on an individual level, we will be able to tell these oil companies that what happened in the Gulf is an issue and we will not stand for it.
