[StarfishKey]

I just saw the documentary "Vanishing Pearls," which just came out this year and shows the effect of BP's oil spill on real people living and working around the Gulf Coast. At the moment, one can find trailers for it on Youtube and Vimeo, and can see the entire movie on Netflix streaming.

Every single resident of Florida, even those who are part-time, should see this documentary. It is moving, very down to earth, has a lot of beautiful footage, and shows the real story behind the effects of the spill's ineffective clean-up, and BP's total lack of regard for local residents and our communities, as well as our natural environment. The doc shows experts from all sides, and is not one of those hyped-up stories that gets off track or insults the audiences' intelligence. It's just the story of real families trying to get by, and real footage of what various decisions regarding the drilling and clean-up, as well as compensation, have done to make the situation a whole lot worse. It also shows how grassroots efforts among community members can effect government.

Every person in our state is affected by large corporations' decisions with respect to our waters. Even if you don't live on the Gulf side, we all deal with this daily when it comes to hurricanes and the attempts of insurance to avoid pay-out, or in decisions made by nuclear plants or other large entities that supply sources of power. We see how larger government mismanages aftermath efforts and how grassroots community organization is needed to address the real needs of people, and to effect change in how such things are handled. If we do not speak up as citizens, the corporations will continue to buy out our government and streamroll right over out best interests, as well as the future of our environment and our economy here.

I urge you all, if that is not already part of your practice, not to buy BP oil in our state or support them further financially. They have shown a history of disrespect for local citizens and the welfare of our environment, even long before this spill.

It is only a matter of time until there is another oil spill or leak near us, and we deal daily with the effects of the dispersants they spray into our waters. There are areas of the Keys flats too that are very slick and slimy and gross-feeling if you step into the sand, which I have been told is the dispersant from BP that was supposed to push the oil directly down into the sea bed, which now stays there and cannot be picked up, coating all of our seagrass and wildlife at the bottom, and getting all over your feet with what are apparently cancerous chemicals. I have not seen documentation of this being dispersant, but it is a change in the local environment that did come after the BP spill, and for which I have as yet found no other scientific explanation despite a lot of trying. Every time there is a storm or hurricane, this oil with dispersant coated onto it gets thrown up onto land and pushed further and further away from its original site - the oil was never really cleaned up, and adding the dispersant means adding additional harmful chemicals to our lives beyond what was in the oil.

We as citizens need to do something to ensure these spills never happen again. They happen, as well as leaks, wherever oil is drilled, and there are astonishingly insignificant regulations in place to ensure safety in the first place, as well as procedures prepared to safely contain oil and manage clean-up and reimbursement in the aftermath.

The first step of this is at least for us all to be informed. And watching "Vanishing Pearls" is a great start.

Please share the movie with others in your community - we need to be better prepared the next time this happens.