I was boots on the ground in SE Louisiana doing community advocacy work and oiled bird rescue during the whole BP disaster. I saw horrific suffering and the destruction of so much, with nothing but corrupt & complicit political response. Obama, with giant BP campaign donations, refused to declare it a National emergency, so necessary funding for relocation and unemployment to the affected community was never approved. EPA & OSHA, bald faced liars. I saw prisoners bussed in to do cleanup without proper protective gear, and I was there when massive clouds of banned & toxic dispersant were dropped onto the oil, just to make it sink to the floor of the Gulf. Out of sight, out of mind! I held dying pelicans in my arms, drove hundreds of miles back & forth with sick birds to the bird cleaning sites, I heard cries of dolphins dying in oil, and of the families whose ancestral waters and work were forever destroyed. I saw them develop terrible infections & permanent respiratory damage, forced out of family businesses & homes.
My dr told me, "In 7 years, we'll have waves of patients with 0 history of cancer, developing cancer," & guess what? It happened to me. Breast cancer, with 0 family history or genetic markers. As the anniversary of my mastectomy approaches, I feel it all.
The ecology & people of Southeast Louisiana are poetic and haunting and fierce and disappearing. I watched whole roads get eaten by coastal erosion caused by the oil industry, who the State of Louisiana STILL doesn't make pay state taxes, or develop prep or funds for inevitable disasters. I stood with culture bearers as ordinary rains brought toxic chemicals onto their gardens and flooded their yards, "This flooding didn't used to happen," and next - forced to relocate. Like me, yes - I was forced to move because I can't afford the climate crisis of the Deep South anymore, on any level. So, yes, grief, on this the 14 year anniversary & nothing has changed, it's only gotten worse.