BP oil Disaster, Louisiana coast

I just returned this past Sunday from a week long trip to the Louisiana Gulf Coast. For the first five days I was with good friend, fellow photographer and police officer Alex Couter. We meet up with another local photographer Charlie Bush who use to live in Massachusetts and now makes is home in Houma, LA. This trip would not have been possible with out the help we received from Charlie.

Our goal was to document the BP oil disaster and it's impact on wildlife and the people that live in the area. In addition to to photos I recored video and interviews along the way. We spent most of our time in and around Houma and Grand Isle. We charted a boat one day out of Grand Isle and took it thirty miles into Barataria Bay, the following day we chartered a small plane and flew out of Houma over the marsh towards Raccoon Island which is one of the Brown Pelican rookeries that was heavily impacted by the oil disaster. In addition we spent several days on Grand Isle and at Grand Isle State Park.

Please note I do not refer to the BP oil disaster as an oil spill. When I was six I would spill my milk, this is NO spill, it's a DISASTER.

Anyway we did post some photos to a three web galleries, see links below.

http://shawncarey.zenfolio.com/p23446609

http://shawncarey.zenfolio.com/p951253031

http://shawncarey.zenfolio.com/p496394949

We are working to sort through all of the photos and video and hope to post more information in coming weeks.

As for what we saw let me just say that now when I see one of the BP TV ads I don't believe much of what they say. It might look nice to the casual observer but if you saw the things we did and spoke with some of the local people we did you would not be impressed with many of the actions BP has taken to date. To be fair it's not all BP that needs to take a hit on this, the government has its fair share of blame after the rig exploded and the oil started to gush into the Gulf. That said I do not excuse BP, they are the ones that caused this disaster in the first place. And please do not forget that eleven men were killed on that oil rig when it exploded which for their families is the greatest lost of all. I attend a memorial service on a sand dune in Grand Isle next to the beach where the clean-up was taking place on Thursday July 29. This marked the 100th day since the Deepwater oil rig exploded and those men were killed. It was a very emotional event and one that I am humbled to have taken part in.

While we were down in Louisiana we reported some of what we did and witnessed back to the Massachusetts Audubon Society which posted it on their Facebook page and Twitter. Over the next several months I will be working with Mass Audubon to help share some of our photos, video and story. I am also working to set up live presentations with as many of the local (New England) bird clubs, natural history organizations and camera clubs as are interested.

If you want to watch one video that will really make you think twice about what has taken place in the Gulf you need only to watch the video clip of Susan Shaw speaking at the TED conference in Washington DC back in June.

http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_shaw_the ... e_off.html

Finally I would encourage all photographers that have an interest in the natural world to take some action (any positive action) and DO NOT sit on the sidelines. This is exactly what BP is counting on, they hope the public will do nothing, or little to effect change. They will bury the evidence, hide the truth and wait it out!

For the record I am NOT a political person by nature. While I do vote in every election (local, state and national) and have strong opinions, I'm however an independent and have no use for the far right or far left, just my two cents.

Thanks for reading and feel free to contact me if you have a group that might be interested in hearing more about what I documented.

Take care.

A friend of mine works for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

He just returned from a 4-week stint in the Gulf to rescue oil-soaked wildlife and turn them in for cleaning.

His first comment to me when he got back.

"The entire process is totally disorganized."

And he took all his orders from B.P.

Hasn't it been stated numerous times by the Obama Administration that they are in charge of the cleanup effort?

I can believe what your friend said.

The federal government is involved in many ways and as I stated above they should get some blame for how they reacted or lack of action in the first month however BP is responsible for the clean-up and is paying for the clean-up.

By the way I just learned today from one of my sources in Louisiana that a new "spill" or area of oil was found in Barataria Bay with in the last day or two.

Also on Grand Isle State Park the area that has the last "wild beach" which has had oil on it for over eights weeks had finally stated to be cleaned. However not by BP. My understanding is the park hired a private contractor to do the work at night during low tide so they could work longer hours. It's just to hot during the day. In five hours they cleaned up 10,000 lbs of oiled sand. At which time a BP Safety Officer (what ever the hell that is) shut them down because he claimed to have seen a snake or snakes. All I can say is you have got to be #%*&@! kidding me! This is the kind of BS that BP pulls down there.

Finally there was a massive fish kill near Port Fourchon, still need to get more details on that.

So please believe what you see on their TV ads because it's all coming up roses and they would not mislead the public, right?!
Maybe just leave a few of the facts and figures out, that's all, besides the public does not need to know the truth.

That's all for now I have to finish listening to the Sox game, they are loosing to the Tribe.

Thanks for posting your thoughts and your images.
I agree with the sentiment that BP and rig contractors should be held responsible for this disaster/hemorrhage. They bought the rights to drill, they bought the rights to the platform, they profit from the natural resource that they extract... ergo, they are responsible for the problems that follow. It is an idiotic notion that a company could extract a resource, profit endlessly, and not be responsible for damage due to negligence or malpractice.

While I believe that the government response should have been quicker, more decisive, and more damning at the time of this catastrophe, it is the profiteer that has earned the right to be responsible for carelessness. When our government stepped in to resolve the disasters associated with the auto industry and banking industry, people claimed it was a bail-out for the rich. Sure this prevented us from slipping into a deeper recession (or dare I say depression), but this rubbed a lot of people wrong... I guess I'm not one of those.

However, here we are... a giant multi-corporate industry that makes monstrous profits on U.S. resources... they F*&K up, and we blame the government for not stepping in to resolve the problem.

The logic confounds me.
What can we do as photographers, naturalists, ecologists, and citizens?
1. Hold BP and their partners responsible.
2. Continue to write about these issues... I did in my blog... not direct but clear (link: http://bruceleventhal.blogspot.com/2010 ... story.html ) ... I have many friends who have done the same.
3. Teach others about the importance of conservation, preservation, and the fragile balance of life on the planet (this is my real job).
4. Vote for people who will vote for policies that support the environment and environmental regulation.
5. ... donate money to organizations who will lobby on our collective behalves.

Final point... this is not a democrat - independent - republican issue ... this is an issue about sustainability on a planet that is becoming increasingly crowded. As an ecologist who researched pelagic birds in the Pribilof Islands between '86 & '89, I can still recall the heart ache I felt when I, isolated in the Berring Sea, learned about the destruction due to Valdez... this still haunts me today.

regards,
bruce

Bruce, RIGHT ON!

By the way I see you are from MN, I spent three days of my trip with Laura Erickson who drove down from Duluth. Like me she wanted to see what was going on for herself.

I have much more to report and show, both photos and video and the video is VERY telling!

To your question as to what we/photographers can do there is one thing I can say for sure.

MORE PHOTOGRAPHERS need to be there! I was on Grand Isle almost every day of my trip which lasted over a week. While I did see many people with cameras other then Alex Couter and Charlie Bush, both of whom were with me I saw only one other person that was a "photographer". To be fair I did not see many people that I would call "birders" as well. The two groups of people that need to be involved are the bird watching community and nature photographers.

I don't want to sound critical but this is the worst oil disaster in US history and if these two groups are not going to "step it up" then why would anyone else?

My guess is this is just what BP wants, few people outside the impacted area paying attention to what is taking place. Trust me when I tell you this idea that you see in the BP ads on TV that it's "Disney Land" down there is NOT true.

I would encourage any and all wildlife photographers that are able to spend time in Louisiana and the areas impacted by the BP oil disaster to do so, even if it's just for a day or a weekend. Charter a boat, a plane or just go to Grand Isle or other areas.

If 100 photographers showed up on Grand Isle one day that in its self would be news and would cause BP to take notice. We need to shine a VERY BRIGHT spotlight on them as soon as possible. They, BP want this to go away and the sooner the better.

Anyone remember the earthquake in Haiti? Was not so long ago was it, and it's not much better now and you don't hear about it on the news anymore.

There will be another BIG news story and when it arrives the BP oil disaster will be for the most part long forgotten. But it will still be with us and BP will be the only ones that are happy that this new "BIG" news story had arrived, just in time to take them off the front page.

The time is now people/photographers, a lot of very talented people on this web site alone, that could equal some very powerful results.

I'm thinking about a return trip at the end of the month, we shall see.

Tomorrow morning Alex Couter and I I will be on a local radio program, Ray Brown's "Talkin Birds". We will be speaking about our trip to Louisiana and the BP oil disaster.

http://www.talkinbirds.com/

Thursday morning I did a radio interview with Mark Lynch, WICN (Worcester) which will air Sunday. To hear this interview about my week in Louisiana documenting the BP oil disaster see this link:

http://wicn.org/audio/inquiry-shawn-car ... l-disaster

Oaky enough of that for now, the Sox still need some bullpen help and another good bat.

Shawn--thanks for your efforts and personally donated time to this disastrous event. I've just started going through your pics and decided to come back here and post a comment, then I'm going back to look some more. Your pics are in desperate need of some commentary so we know and understand fully what we are looking at, how it will or will not get cleaned, and what the consequences are. For sure some are self explanatory, but others I have little understanding of what I'm looking at as far as what the exact reason for that pic to be taken. Of course I know it's the oil spill, but if you want to really impact folks your going to have to accompany your shots with informative dialog. Trying to be helpful here you understand.

What to do some ask????

You sue.

Lawyers are the poor mans best friend against the mega corps --plain and simple. Money is in bed with the government. so if that's the rules of the road then we can play them too. Sue the bastards.

Blaming BP and labeling them as an evil entity is misdirected and inaccurrate. If we didn't use so much oil then we wouldn't be drilling in such hard to reach areas as the deep water of the gulf where effecting repairs are extremely challenging. Blaming an entire company of people because one or two has not done their job is not fair either. I'm not saying that's what happened here but it could be a factor. We should be demanding a full investigation at the federal level. That's something letters to your representative could help. No matter if BP is accepting financial responsibility. In a way that has a bad side because it gave greater control of the clean up sites to BP, which then means they can control AND cover up.

I think people would love to do something they just don't know what. We have all seen that even if we went down there to physically help clean we would be turned away. Money is coming from BP so donating isn't going to help. So what then?

Are we conserving? I mean seriously conserving. Turning off stuff when not using? Seriously recycling?

Solar panels. Start with one and add more later as you can afford. Check out unisolar peel and stick solar panels..

Passive solar heating. Black is the color. How about a very inexpensive solar water heater. They work great.

Windmill--anyone? I'd be surprised to hear if anyone has one.

Hybrid car? Car pooling? Combining trips? Riding a bike? Got a scooter?



Paul

*As a roofing contractor I see a lot of possibilities at the roof level. An idea I have been thinking of would be to utilize the warm air produced under the roof deck under a black or dark colored shingled/or flat roof. There is a lot of heat energy here that normally just gets vented out to the outside via soffit/ridge vent systems when the sun is out on a winters day. Total waste of an opportunity for free heat. A passive system could be worked out with little effort and cost and just a fan to drive it. Trap this warm area with a sheet rock, or even just a roll plastic sheet attached to the opposing face of your roof rafters so a cavity is created and push the air with a blower or fan You can do this also by buying passive solar panels but now your getting into a lot more money. In areas of the country where there is no winter the hot air could be used to cool(yes you can cool with heat), heat water, concentrate and used for cooking ect. check out this link for how this works for cooling: http://www.lpappliances.com/G-Absorp.html
Houses that we all live in are built with next to zero thought to take advantage of the benefits of whats already there and free for us. If you don't believe this then attend a solar convention sometime and you'll see what's possible.

We need a leader like an FDR to steer us all in a new energy direction. One who is not politically affraid of the big business and corporate powers and will do what we need to be done. This will change everything.

Way to go Paul...

I can't believe that I did not include conservation on my list... I'm now a bit embarrassed by the omission as it is how I live my life...
Our collective dependency on massive quantities of fossil fuel drives the maniacal pursuit for more and harder to extract oil.

As you indicated... simple things like smaller & efficient vehicle/driving choices, avoiding the extremes w/ indoor climate control, smart development, and investing in the use/development of both passive and active solar energy.

The US is so far behind in our application of solar technologies. The rooftops of the Southwest US could be a huge year-round generator of energy for the country, yet we fail to see the long-term gain by investing in the upfront costs. In 2007 I visited & traveled throughout Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic... I was amazed by the sheer number of homes in Bavaria that had solar cells attached to their roofs. Bavaria can be quite inclement (not unlike my home in MN) and when I asked about costs, I was told that the government provided a long-term subsidy to get the program going.

People will invest in alt-technology/conservation if there is a way to offset the initial cost of that investment.

With all of this said, it is still vital to hold the profit centers responsible and to make certain that the next big news story does not divert our attention away from the long-term ecological impacts of this disaster.

I am quite fearful of the food-chain effects of this oil. The use of dispersants has broken the oil down to the macromolecular level and now allows microscopic phytoplankton to metabolize the chemicals. As zooplankton consume the primary producers (phytoplankton) and fish/inverts consume the zooplankton, etc... the toxins will accumulate (bioaccumulation) and become magnified (called biomagnification) with each step of the food chain/web. I fear that when we look at the fatty tissues of large fish/birds/turtles/mammals in the next few years, we will see that toxins have accumulated to such a degree that they will impair longevity as well as the capacity to reproduce. The scariest part of this entire ecological disaster is that I'm not sure how these toxins are going to impact the basal levels of the food chain. Here I'm assuming that things like planktons and corals can survive the onslaught of the molecularized oils, but if they can't the whole system will collapse... It will take a year or two before we begin to know how this hemorrhage is going to affect the Gulf and beyond.

regards,
bruce

I truly believe that through conservation we could reduce our energy needs by 1/3 and still live fairly much the way we do now. It is also my believe that if we pushed it real hard we could reduce by 50 % our energy needs. These are just my own personal hunches. Barring military demands, and other catastrophes why not? It's within all of our reaches. I think we all are familiar with the impotence of our government brought on by a polarized and paralyzed two party system. I say take matters into your own hands and do something.

I need to re-roof my own house. (It's the worst roof on the street--go figure!). I have decided to try my idea. I didn't want black shingles but that's what they are going to be. I will strip the present roof, felt paper, add vertical 2 inch furring strips every 12 inches, add ANOTHER deck on top of this which can be a cheaper osb board 19/32 thick,felt that, and shingle. The extra cost for materials will be under one thousand dollars for my house--not a problem. My heat bill for my all electric home in the winter is $600 a month, so I figure by taking air inside the house, pumping it through the cavity between the two decks and gathering it up at the top of the ridge and sending it back down into the house will greatly alleviate that(closed loop system). I can also heat water easily especially in the summer via heat exchanger. The air can be moved by solar powered fans which will self regulate themselves to only come on during sunny times. If there is a way to take this very hot air in the summer(120-180 F) and cool with it --how wonderful this whole concept can get.

People are so positive solar is beyond affordability because they only think in photovoltaics and to be honest it is too expensive for most of us. But passive is a whole totally different approach to the problem.

I will document the process and write up results here on naturescapes for those who are interested.

Paul

**Any body here a thermodynamics engineer??

Real quick, Paul yes I will be adding more information for each photo just to busy trying to do all the day to day things after a week in Louisiana. On top of that a full time job, home life and contacting many organizations, birding groups and media here in Massachusetts to spread the word as to what I documented.

Paul stay tuned I will have more information for the photos I posted on my web page.

Already did two radio interviews, one this morning with Ray Brown, I posted that in my reply above so people can listen online.

Having dinner tonight with one of my Mass Audubon and ABA contacts to talk more about what I might do with them.

Bruce and Paul clearly you guys "get it" and Paul I agree with 100% that we all could reduce our energy needs through more conservation. The question is will we or maybe the better question is do people really want to? At least today in 2010. I have no doubt that many people would like to do there part to help conserve energy on the other hand sadly there are many people that just do not care.

Also just to be clear I do not pretend to have all the answers as to what we should do. That said I'm doing (and did) what I can do right now and that's to help better inform people as to what is really going on down there, at least as to what I saw first hand.

Please do not take my word for it if anyone wants to see first hand then please get on a plane and fly to Louisiana and head on out to Grand Isle, when you arrive contact Drew Wheelan with ABA. Then charter a boat one day and charter a plane the next, and speak with as many of the locals as you can, it's all there to see.

Shawn P. Carey wrote:Real quick, Paul yes I will be adding more information for each photo just to busy trying to do all the day to day things after a week in Louisiana. On top of that a full time job, home life and contacting many organizations, birding groups and media here in Massachusetts to spread the word as to what I documented.

Paul stay tuned I will have more information for the photos I posted on my web page.

Already did two radio interviews, one this morning with Ray Brown, I posted that in my reply above so people can listen online.

Having dinner tonight with one of my Mass Audubon and ABA contacts to talk more about what I might do with them.

Bruce and Paul clearly you guys "get it" and Paul I agree with 100% that we all could reduce our energy needs through more conservation. The question is will we or maybe the better question is do people really want to? At least today in 2010. I have no doubt that many people would like to do there part to help conserve energy on the other hand sadly there are many people that just do not care.

Also just to be clear I do not pretend to have all the answers as to what we should do. That said I'm doing (and did) what I can do right now and that's to help better inform people as to what is really going on down there, at least as to what I saw first hand.

Please do not take my word for it if anyone wants to see first hand then please get on a plane and fly to Louisiana and head on out to Grand Isle, when you arrive contact Drew Wheelan with ABA. Then charter a boat one day and charter a plane the next, and speak with as many of the locals as you can, it's all there to see.

Hey Shawn--I sure do know how life gets in the way of what we want to do myself! Just trying to give you feed back and when you get a chance to do the captioning it would be helpful.

As far as people doing anything, or being apathetic towards conserving, I guess there's always a certain percentage like that. We need a movement now-- and higher pricing could seriously push things in that direction. Trouble is that can be so ruinous to many. A strong leader would be the ticket--so I would encourage all to vote one in if there is one next election. I voted for Obama but I have to confess he's not going to shake things up much IMO. We need a plan like Germany has for photovoltaics where the homeowner is almopst guaranteed a loan because the income from what the panels will produce, and the rate at which it will be, is backed up by the government. Then if you need fourty thousand to do your house for example the bank will have little to no risk--LOAN APPROVED!.. Pay off the bank and your riding for free. Who wouldn't put up panels?

We need ideas for passive and inexpensive methods to harvest the sun and geological sources. Pretty much a grassroots approach seems to be the only viable alternative for now. Hopefully when others see how much money they can save they'll participate also and not be apathetic.

I'll check out the broadcasts Shawn and keep up your good work.

Paul

Hi Paul, yes thanks for the feedback, lord knows I can use it.

Will try to post more details along with the photos as time allows, stay tuned.

By the way the interview with Ray Brown went well and should be posted on his web site soon.

The interview with Mark Lynch is already up so people can listen to it anytime.

Just got off the phone with Drew Wheelan (ABA) and read his latest Blog which he just posted.

If you think things are getting better, READ THIS!

http://www.birding.typepad.com/gulf/

Note this is from today, not a month ago, TODAY!

Like I've said it's all a bunch of BS when it comes to BP and their TV ads, you would think it's Disney Land if you listened to them.

I may now make a return trip the end of the month to do some follow up. Anyone interested?

Also as stated in one of my post above. There are many talented photographers that use this (NatureScapes) web site, get down there and see and photograph it first hand. Then help spread the truth, not this fairy-tail BP is pushing.

This is the LARGEST oil disaster in US history, more people need to get involved in any way possible.

Drew Wheelan has been down there almost from the start of this disaster. There needs to be 100 more Drew's down there making some noise with BP, the government and the media.

Please forgive me for being so bold however if you have ANY concerns for birds and wildlife at all you will watch this video from Drew Wheelan (ABA).

My post above was from his blog , this post has the video.

This is not from last month this is from this past week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUVkBPGx ... r_embedded

I spent time with Drew when I was in Louisiana a few weeks ago and there needs to be 1000 more Drew's down there.

These are some of the very areas that Alex Couter, Charles Bush, Laura Erickson and I visited just three weeks ago.

This is some of the information I have been trying to get out upon my return to Massachusetts on August 1.

While many people I have spoke with in person and via e-mail have been very supportive and wanting to help and hear this message sadly there are some that don't. Why some people don't "get it" is beyond me.

My concern is that if the birding and wildlife photography community is unwilling to make the time and effort to see and hear firsthand about the worst oil disaster in US history and how it could possibly impact migratory birds and other wildlife in a major way, then I don’t feel I would be doing my job as a concerned conservationist if I didn’t try to push a little on this topic? This disaster desperately needs much more attention than it is currently receiving. I think a look at the photos I have on my web site and videos from Drew Wheelan may speak louder than a thousand words from BP!

I feel very strongly that there is a timeliness about this issue that arguably should supersede practically anything else in the natural world right now.

If more people on this very web site do not care than why would anyone else?

We can have all the fancy new photo gear in the world but as wildlife photographers if we have nothing to photograph then what's the use?

Sorry to be so doom and gloom but I have been to Louisiana and seen it with my own two eyes.

As if I was not already in a bad mood the Sox blew a lead in 9th and lost this afternoon!

I will be a guest on the Nightside with Dan Rea radio program this Wednesday August 18 at 10:00 PM to speak about my time in Louisiana where I was documenting the BP oil disaster.

WBZ signal reaches about 30 states so please tune in and maybe even call in with a question.

WBZ 1030 AM

http://wbz.cbslocal.com/shows/nightside-with-dan-rea/

Thanks

Key word: Oil dispersed...

dis·perse   /dɪˈspɜrs/ Show Spelled [dih-spurs] Show IPA verb, -persed, -pers·ing, adjective
–verb (used with object)
1. to drive or send off in various directions; scatter: to disperse a crowd.
2. to spread widely; disseminate: to disperse knowledge.
3. to dispel; cause to vanish: The wind dispersed the fog.
4. Physical Chemistry . to cause (particles) to separate uniformly throughout a solid, liquid, or gas.
5. Optics . to subject (light) to dispersion.

doesn't mean it's gone.

Christian, RIGHT on man!

I'm going to be sure to use this one, thanks.

By the way I will have an edited copy (no commercials) of the radio interview I did with Dan Rea posted on my web site soon.

For now please note tonight we just posted the first video of Leanne Sarco digging up oil from Grand Isle State Park.

At the time this video was taken the oil had been sitting on the beach for eight weeks, it's now going on week eleven and while there has been some clean up in the last two weeks it's VERY little.

http://www.shawnpcarey.com/page7/page19/page19.html

After you view this video remember it the next time you see one of the "slick" PB ads on TV.

Sox lost tonight, Beckett pitched another bad game!