Children of the Spills

03/25/2019

30 years ago today the Exxon Valdez, under the not-so-watchful eye of a drunk captain, was run aground on Bligh Reef and began spilling oil into Prince William Sound. The impacts of this spill linger like the oil that can still be found if you dig a few inches down on some beaches. I've seen many retrospective films about the spill, and each one brings tears to my eyes and anger to my heart. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill was, is, a painful, infuriating tragedy.

But I'd like to share some brief glimpses of the strength, grace, creativity, and hope of people, families, and communities affected by the spill. These excerpts are from interviews with young people who grew up in the aftermath of the spill, through the Children of the Spills project. The messages they share, remembering their own childhood experiences after the Spill, were directed to kids in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP/Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

Thank you to these amazing young people for sharing their stories, and for all of the people, families, and communities that participated in the morbid, often futile, backbreaking work of clean up; the ground-breaking research scrutinized and disparaged by the oil companies; the painfully incremental steps to understand and recover precious ecosystems; the invisible and thankless work of simply listening to those who were at their breaking point; and the life-long effort to rebuild a mosaic of shattered lives, fractured communities, nearly stolen ways of life. I am grateful for you.

A few excerpts that highlight themes that emerged across many interviews with young people affected by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

12/30/2015

It has been a while, but here is an update on how work with Children of the Spills inspired Katie to go back to school for a master's in science education (which also helps explain the less frequent posts).

http://childrenofthespills.org/index.php/blog/185-learning-and-teaching

04/26/2015

What an honor! Children of the Spills was included in Margaret Brown's documentary "The Great Invisible" which aired on PBS/Independent Lens earlier this week. You can watch the full documentary online: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/great-invisible/film.html The film mostly explores the fear, sadness, anger, and struggle that followed the oil spill. I can only hope that our work in the Gulf Coast helped in some small measure to buoy spirits and strengthen resolve for the long road to recovery.

I met Margaret over breakfast in a small church in Bayou la Batre, Alabama Her film crew joined me, a couple of amazing art/media teachers, and a film class as middle school students shared their spill stories and used Skype to ask questions of oil spill scientists from Alaska (Prince William Sound Science Center/Oil Spill Recovery Institute). It is amazing to be a small part of this illuminating documentary.

Documentary about the aftermath of the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf Coast communities.

04/20/2015

This week marks 5 years since the terrible explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig. That explosion took the lives of 11 men working there that day, and began a seemingly unstoppable gushing of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

I imagine for people intimately connected to the Gulf, it felt a little like being hit head on by a semi-truck. Something that actually happened this week to a friend from the Bayou. I hope with all my heart for a full recovery - both for Drew and for the Gulf.

http://www.childrenofthespills.org/index.php/blog/184-5-years

A project to gather the stories of young people affected by oil spills -- includes interviews with kids growing up after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (1989) and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010)

04/20/2014

Four years ago today, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig operated by BP exploded. I first wrote much of what follows in 2012. Sadly, not much has changed, except that many of us have forgotten even more.

11 men working on the rig lost their lives that day. 11 families lost their loved ones forever. Let us take a moment to honor and remember them.

~ Jason Anderson ~ Roy Wyatt Kemp ~ Donald Clark ~ Karl Kleppinger ~ Shane Roshto ~ Dewey Revette ~

~ Gordon Jones ~ Blair Manuel ~ Aaron Dale Burkeen ~ Stephen Curtis ~ Adam Weise ~



http://childrenofthespills.org/index.php/blog/181-4-years

A project to gather the stories of young people affected by oil spills -- includes interviews with kids growing up after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (1989) and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010)

04/17/2014

Pretty interesting art pieces created in the wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.

http://homertribune.com/2014/04/local-artist-unfurls-community-banners-on-earth-day/

On April 22, seven banners will flutter from the masts of seven boats in the Homer harbor. One of these banners is an ecology flag that flew on the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior in the 1970s. The other banners were created by Homer artist-naturalist Mavis Muller 25 years ago, in response to the Exxon V...

03/24/2014

What do you look for to know that Kachemak Bay is healthy?

"I look for happy animals and kids running about in the water. It means going out to go to the beach and having fun. I look for fish swimming in the water and enjoying the heat, birds singing in the trees, everything colorful instead of grim black. The trees a strong green and all of the animals frolicking with strong happy minds. That is what I look for." - Fireweed Academy Student, Homer, AK

This 25 year memorial will pass and the world's gaze will swing away, but we must continue the work to ensure that Kachemak Bay, Prince William Sound, and all of the ocean can fulfill that vision. And sometimes that means looking back while moving forwards. Thank you to the students of Fireweed Academy and Ms. Kris Owens for reminding me - and hopefully others - just how important this work is.

http://childrenofthespills.org/index.php/blog

(P.S. This photo is actually from a presentation COTS did in Kodiak, not Homer).

What do you look for to know that Kachemak Bay is healthy?

"I look for happy animals and kids running about in the water. It means going out to go to the beach and having fun. I look for fish swimming in the water and enjoying the heat, birds singing in the trees, everything colorful instead of grim black. The trees a strong green and all of the animals frolicking with strong happy minds. That is what I look for." - Fireweed Academy Student, Homer, AK

This 25 year memorial will pass and the world's gaze will swing away, but we must continue the work to ensure that Kachemak Bay, Prince William Sound, and all of the ocean can fulfill that vision. And sometimes that means looking back while moving forwards. Thank you to the students of Fireweed Academy and Ms. Kris Owens for reminding me - and hopefully others - just how important this work is.

http://childrenofthespills.org/index.php/blog

(P.S. This photo is actually from a presentation COTS did in Kodiak, not Homer).

03/24/2014

What do you look for to know that Kachemak Bay is healthy?

"I look for happy animals and kids running about in the water. It means going out to go to the beach and having fun. I look for fish swimming in the water and enjoying the heat, birds singing in the trees, everything colorful instead of grim black. The trees a strong green and all of the animals frolicking with strong happy minds. That is what I look for." - Fireweed Academy Student, Homer, AK

This 25 year memorial will pass and the world's gaze will swing away, but we must continue the work to ensure that Kachemak Bay, Prince William Sound, and all of the ocean can fulfill that vision. And sometimes that means looking back while moving forwards. Thank you to the students of Fireweed Academy and Ms. Kris Owens for reminding me - and hopefully others - just how important this work is.

http://childrenofthespills.org/index.php/blog

(P.S. This photo is actually from a presentation COTS did in Kodiak, not Homer).

03/24/2014

25 years later, simply having young people in the fishing fleet is something to celebrate.

"We were out on the water in Valdez ... my brother who is 25 and all of his group of friends have bought seine boats. It is so neat to see them all out there with their boats and realize that this is the next generation and that there is going to be a next generation, which is pretty cool."

As Malani Towle (Makena's sister) explains, the Spill made it more daunting and more meaningful to choose commercial fishing as a way of life.

"My husband and I just bought a [Prince William Sound salmon] gillnet permit last fall. Our first summer, we bought a boat and fished with a leased permit. It was a really hard decision to make because I had lived through the crash of everything, and I know that it is not something that you can depend on. So we’re actually going to nursing school ... we have some sort of back-up plan."

http://www.childrenofthespills.org/index.php/people/95-cots/people/malani/90

A project to gather the stories of young people affected by oil spills -- includes interviews with kids growing up after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (1989) and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010)

03/23/2014

"My dad tells a story about when I was a little kid.. kind of like sleep talking, saying, “My daddy’s a wisherman and I’m gonna be a wisherman too” and it was never a doubt in my mind . . . At the time that I bought into fishing it was not exactly what parents wanted their kids to be doing, and was the first kid in high school in a long time to buy into fishing and to take that jump."

The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill forced many fishing families to contemplate the tough question of whether or not the next generation should follow in their parents' footsteps. But for many of these young men and women, it was already in their blood and they were determined to make it work. Makena O'Toole of Cordova was one of the first of his classmates to commit to fishing. Now, in order to make a living and support his family while fulfilling his childhood "wish" he has to fish throughout Alaska and the West Coast, but he makes it work.

http://childrenofthespills.org/index.php/people/26-cots/people/70

A project to gather the stories of young people affected by oil spills -- includes interviews with kids growing up after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (1989) and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010)

03/21/2014

"I can’t remember how long we were out there, but I do remember being in formation, blowing the air horn, being in my survival suit, and I had this huge teddy bear that I stuck in my life jacket that I was holding on to."

In 1993, fishermen, frustrated by the dwindling salmon stocks and crashing prices in the wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, came together at Valdez Narrows to blockade and prevent tankers from passing. They demanded that some action be taken to at least study what was happening to the ecosystem. Diana Riedel of Cordova was 11 years old at the time and fishing with her dad. Her story highlights how determined these Alaskans were to help Prince William Sound recover.

Read more of her interview at http://childrenofthespills.org/index.php/14-cots/167

A project to gather the stories of young people affected by oil spills -- includes interviews with kids growing up after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (1989) and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010)

03/21/2014

For many people, these next few days may be a meaningful time to hear some of the stories about the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill that were shared through this project. Whether you want to learn more about the Spill or are seeking some hopeful words, please read more.

LaRita and Alberta Laktonen, sisters from Kodiak, spoke of the resilience of both people and the environment.

LaRita: I think people are pretty resilient and, you know, you dealt with it just like you dealt with things on a daily basis ... A lot of people worked very hard, cleaning up beaches and seeing how much coastline had changed one year to the next. But, people, you know, dealt with it. They used their positive humor and worked hard.

Alberta: I think the environment does more for itself than we ever can with all the absorbent pads anddispersants and booms and things like that.

http://childrenofthespills.org/index.php/129-cots/people/laktonens/156

A project to gather the stories of young people affected by oil spills -- includes interviews with kids growing up after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (1989) and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010)