The team headed down the coast to the arts community of Ocean Springs. Our mission: stage a protest photo-shoot with our professional surfers stand-up paddling through the green Mississipi nature in full Haz-Mat suits. The idea was hatched from watching workers in the safety gear on television and the internet before the trip, but we had no idea how relevant ( the word poignant needs to be mentioned here) it actually was until experiencing the devastation in the Gulf firsthand. The beaches are toxic, even though the public has not fully caught on. Several times members of the team stepped on tar balls that had hidden themselves like landmines in the clean looking sand; the oil doesn’t just leave a dirty smear, it begins to comprise health upon contact. Seeing children play in bathing suits alongside clean-up workers dressed in hazmat suits brings the dystopian reality of what is happening here into sharp focus. What began as a provocative idea for a photo shoot quickly became an unsettling reflection of what is already a reality.
The team was working quickly and with caution against any authority figures seeking to prevent us from carrying out the shoot. We had encountered so much resistance from officials to our questions, our attempts at access and our basic curiosity to what is happening on the ground and in the water that we felt a pressure to carry out our work with stealth. As people drove by the site, we took care to conceal our cameras and subjects of the shoot, but then something unexpected occurred. The first person to notice what we were doing and pull their vehicle over to the side of the road approcahed us carrying a camera.
“What are you doing? Is this about the oil spill? Can I watch?”
Throughout the rest of the shoot, people took notice, made comments, honked horns. The idea must of translated easily because people cared about what we were doing and they supported us. We had started the shoot with a covert intent and ended moving out on to the beach in full view of a patrolling police car (albeit with a very grumpy looking officer inside) and a supportive public. Our spirits raised and our mission accomplished, a few of the team decided to race the paddle boards down the coast to a marina just around the corner. With a strong wind from the south, they made good time as the rest of us mounted up in the vehicles and drove down to meet the paddlers at the finish line.
As we pulled up to the marina, we discovered a news crew and wondered if they had shown up because of what we we’re doing. It turned out they were there to interview the mayor of Ocean Springs to find her reaction to two annual sailing races that had been cancelled (one, the Horn Island Hop, had been occurring for decades). By this point we had grown accustomed to hearing news of cancellations and restrictions due to the spill. Another bit of bad news to digest, but the public support and the smiles of congratulations for what we were doing kept us all in good spirits until one of our freshly arrived paddlers broke the mood. He was the winner in the paddle race, and in claiming his victory with raised arms got caught off guard by a windswell chop and fell into the water.
“I’m not feeling hot, I’m really itchy. I’ve got to get out of here and get a shower”.
Later that day the hope returned in a small dose as we toured a Mississippi Wildlife Conservation Animal rescue center. The vetrinarian in charge was full of passion and love for the animals she and her team treated. She gave us the red carpet treatment, showing us all aspects of the process and some of the birds being held in recovery areas. It was a good thing to see these birds cleaned of the oil that had plagued them earlier, walking aournd and shaking the chill out as they were dried by raised temprature fans. It was a small success we could all share in, however dampened by the challenging circumstance that surrounded it. The vet told us of the understaffing, the long hours, the constant challenges to her work and to the well being of the animals. She was obviously tired and overworked, but she cared deeply and it kept a spark burning in her eye.
It was a day that we all felt something had been done. Our photo shoot (photos withheld due to exclusive media release) was a small action toward inspiring change, but after meeting the MWC vet and seeing her work, we felt like it all counts together. Humanity might not be able to fix all of the problems we face, especially when a catastrophe of such enormous magnitude unfolds without end in front of us, but it is certain that each and everyone of us can make the choice to not give up.
