First blog from The Gulf Oil Spill

“I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore."
-Paddy Chayefsky

It’s pictures like this that have finally pushed me to the point where I have to act.  Signing petitions and sending donations, as important as both acts are to do, were simply no longer easing my rage, disgust and heartbreak at what, I feel, is one of man’s darkest hours. Regardless who’s to blame and who was asleep at the switch, the Gulf oil disaster has propelled us out of one environmental era and into a new, unknown and terrifying one.  As an individual I’ve always hoped that I was far from an alarmist and have tried to meet every challenge with great equanimity and balance, sometimes I’ve failed.  It is with a lot of restraint that I say that due to this man-made disaster, I feel that clean beaches and clean oceans may just very well be a thing of the past. I pray I’m wrong. Tony Hayward of BP asks, “What did we (BP) do to deserve this?”.   My question is, “What did nature and the environment do to deserve this?”

Hole In The Wall has always been committed to trying to find answers and bringing sights and sounds to those who may not be able to venture too far a field.  This Sunday, June 13th, I’m flying down to Pensacola, FL and will spend the week driving up the coast to New Orleans.  It’s my plan to post pictures, audio blogs and interviews nightly on the HITW site. Because of time restraints the video coverage, for now, will be limited. I have no pre-determined agenda, no set itinerary.  I hope to find images and stories that the main-stream-media doesn’t find “sexy” enough to report on – humanity and how it’s going to cope with this devastating and life-altering scenario.

I don’t know what difference I’ll make, if any, but I do know that I can sit around no longer.  I have to do something. Please know that while I’ll try to post as much as I can, the trip basically has no budget and will be a “work in progress” (as in “a little rough around the edges”)

All best wishes to you,
Sprague