Toronto Photography Meetup Group

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a total disaster

it really puts the entireity of the disaster into perspective

makes me ill

Apparently they don't learn from past attempts...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHmhxpQEGPo

some dark humour in this mess

incredibly sad

what happens if a spill occurs in Hibernia or in the Arctic Ocean? At least the Gulf of Mexico is easily accessible for containment and clean up.

What if? Neither are better or worse IMO.

This is from a few weeks ago already, so I'm sure the damage is much more extensive by this point. Nonetheless, I found the photos engaging and deeply disturbing.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/disaster_unfolds_slowly_in_the.html

This puts a perspective on the area impacted....

http://paulrademacher.com/oilspill/#

HOLY CRAP! That's really scary when you compare it to the size of a city you know! I can't even imagine how long the cleanup will take and then the amount of time for the environment to recover. Talk about food pollution.

Ironically the US Gov't allows NASA to release these photos but is restricting the media from taking photos up close.
Pictures of dead otters, fish, and birds, as well as oil-covered shorelines, ignited nationwide outrage and led to a backlash against Exxon and caused the public to call for increased environmental protection for oil drilling and transportation. Just as images from Vietnam of wounded soldiers prompted an end to that conflict. Media and concerned photographers are being kept away from photographing Gulf Coast wildlife reserves.

I have been informed by a friend that she has been refused access to Breton National Wildlife Refuge by the Coast Guard. It is a spot we travelled to together about 10 years ago. I am astounded at how few images we are getting of the environmental devastation.

Thank God they haven't discovered oil in the Bosque del Apache!!

Truly scary to see this tragedy in such a respect. It really puts things into perspective on how we have failed ourselves and our future.

And there is a coverup to ensure that we don't see the true environmental impact. They'll show us the theatre on the Congressional Hill. the President will appear angry on tv. But where are the images of the real damage up close?
And offshore drilling will continue unabated.

http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=bp% ... a=N&tab=wi

I like the cat pictures best.

I don't think Government is trying to cover up the mess but I am disappointed in the lack of punishment/penalty for BP.

I am also disappointed in people's apathy. It is not like the BP news is a secret, there are plenty pictures and videos out there which show the damage but most simply move on from the story. I saw a bunch of people trying to get people to sign a petition regarding saving the ocean, whales and all that with regards to BP from Yonge & Dundas square. People scarcely stopped 10 seconds to sign their name.

You get a lot more images when you google 'Exxon Valdez' than you do with the current spill.

http://www.google.ca/images?um=1&hl=en&tbs=isch:1&sa=1&q=exxon+valdez&aq=1&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=exxo&gs_rfai=

And the Exxon Valdez occurred in the middle of nowhere in Alaska and long before digital cameras were popular and the web was developed to help share this information. I remember the images of the Exxon Valdez spill. We saw a lot more of them on the news and in the papers than we do with this ongoing spill which occurred with a few hours travel of millions of people with digital cameras. The media's capacity to cover events like the BP spill is exponentially greater than it was in 1989 when the Exxon Valdez ran aground. The scope of the BP spill is also greater. yet far less photos and images.

I am sad. I am sick.

there are far less because not too many care. there will be plenty more pictures when it reaches more available space as well. there is no secret government cover up since they can't cover it up. who doesn't know about this? the difference is that people no longer hold power over authorities. a lot of people are apathetic and are hopeless as well since they know that they are powerless.

what did you do about this incident? did you donate money to oil clean up? did you write a letter to the government regarding the stupidity of these companies? did you beat up someone at BP?

government and BP prohibiting pictures is not why people don't treat this incident more significantly. it is people themselves. during the times of other accidents, and even vietnam war, pictures probably had more significance since that was the only way information was given to the general public. the public is much more aware these days thanks to internet, everyone know about this incident. they just care much less than before so nothing really happens.

The spill has already reached shore. In many sensitive areas. read the posts above. The government and BP are restricting access to these sites. It's hard to be concerned when you're uninformed - the media can't report on the real scope.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo8CJUGQhVE

Or too much coverage ... people get desensitized. Well, except if you're directly impacted by this oil spill (ie.: fishing/tourism industry, property along the affected coast, etc.).

There's definitely coverage. BP actually wanted to prevent the media in getting to certain areas hit hard but the media has been able to get in and get the images that they want....

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/0 ... exico.html
http://blogs.sacbee.com/photos/2010/06/ ... h-day.html

What is of a concern is that technology has advanced to drill deeper, especially that there have been large reserves of oil discovered further out, while the technology to prevent these type of blowouts hasn't really improved. Mind you, the accident itself could have been prevented if you read the details of the events leading up to the incident.

Fines... they'll come later.

Obviously it isn't a complete cover up. The media are getting the photos that BP and the Coast Guard allow them to get.

Here's one independent film documentary-maker's experience at trying to get to the scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXg65m5q9Yg&NR=1

Sigh, do you really think people don't know the impact of so much oil floating on the ocean and coming up the shore without bazillion similar pictures of birds covered in oil? The real scope is that amazing amount of oil is leaked. People know this even without access to these areas that are cut off.

BP could have plugged the hole way sooner too, but they wanted to do it in a certain way so that they can still drill for oil in the same reserve, which made more oil spill out to the water due to all the delays and failures. People just don't care, I know what I know about this incident without any inside knowledge or specific research. Whether it is news or random blog sites, the story is everywhere and the seriousness is expressed everywhere as well. BP + Government "cover up" and media + people focusing on the "cover up" actually detract from the real environmental issue too.

Regardless if they can plug it or not, they're still going to tap into that reserve. I do believe that if they could plug it they could have but this is where I go back and saying that advancement in drilling has advanced to drill deeper but the safety mechanisms and methods to address these issues has not improved. This is leak is very similar to a leak decades ago, difference was that the leak back then was only ~250 feet under water and they couldn't even plug that. They're used the same technique to try and plug this one, except it's a mile deep. Nobody has ever tried to plug a leak at this depth ever.

Regardless if they can plug it or not, they're still going to tap into that reserve. I do believe that if they could plug it they could have but this is where I go back and saying that advancement in drilling has advanced to drill deeper but the safety mechanisms and methods to address these issues has not improved. This is leak is very similar to a leak decades ago, difference was that the leak back then was only ~250 feet under water and they couldn't even plug that. They used the same technique to try and plug this one, except it's a mile deep. Nobody has ever tried to plug a leak at this depth ever.

yup, another hit to poor ol'earth

oh, but they did. They were just not implemented because of the cost.



With this one they learned that nothing works reliably except for drilling relief wells.
With Deep Horizon, instead of drilling the relief wells at the same time with the main well BP has chosen to bet the farm on the blowout preventer. Too bad it wasn't their farm.

Sigh, sigh. Yes I do. But it is still in the interests of BP to minimize the PR damage by having as little of the devastation splashed across the media. Not sure how old you are Madelica, but do you remember the amount of coverage during the Exxon Valdez disaster?

Of course BP wants to minimize the bad press, it is bad for their business. I was laughing when I read an article about BP saying something in the lines of "We don't understand why our stock price is going down", talk about being oblivious.

I was probably in first grade when exxon one happened so not sure about the coverage, but I think the extent of coverage itself depends on the media.

My point is that there is already enough information out there already, and new information is being leaked/released as well. If media wanted to run the story 24 hours a day, they have enough material to do so. So why aren't they doing it? I don't know, but I really don't think it is because they cannot take pictures from certain areas.

There's ample evidence of collusion between BP and the government to keep photographers from chronicling the devastation on the ground. That constitutes a coverup in my mind. It isn't an attempt at a complete coverup - it is a coverup of the magnitude designed to minimise the public's growing distatste for offshore drilling and the possible environmental damages that could occur in the future. BP is trying to save it's continued existence and the US government is trying to salvage it's offshore drilling energy policy. It's not a coverup in the sense they are denying it's existence. they just want to minimize ongoing knowledge of the extent of the damage and keep it out of continued public conciosuness so that the oil industry isn't overly encumbered (in their own eyes) by new environmental legislation (as they were after the Exxon Valdez). Nothing raises the ire of people more than images after images of dead birds and tortoises. Hey, did any of you guys catch the Much Music Awards a few days ago? That was awesome.

Isn't it great the US the Land of the "Free" and all the US Gov't has done is cover it up.

THIS from the most powerful government in the world.

Truly a sad thing. If this happened in the north it would have been easy to cover up. It is a good (relatively speaking of course) that it happened on their doorstep.

Sad to say one of the few high profile people making sense on this is Bill Maher. I was watching it last week. Man he is good.