When BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, crew members of this year’s Big Green Bus immediately recognized the significance of the spill for their upcoming summer tour. Since then, they have adjusted their itinerary — which involves driving the bus around the country to promote energy efficiency — to spend more time visiting coastal areas affected by the oil spill, according to crew members interviewed by The Dartmouth. Crew members have found that the spill is the most frequent topic of conversation and cause of worry on their current tour, according to Becky Niemiec, one of the bus’s two logistics coordinators.
“We definitely realized, wow, besides this unbelievable disaster, this is something that is going to be really important for our trip this year,” Ben Paly, a member of this year’s crew, said. “This is probably the [main] issue, probably for the country right now, but especially for that area.”
The crew members, who departed Hanover on June 18, modified their summer itinerary to ensure they had the opportunity to directly engage with coastal communities on the Gulf, according to Niemiec. The vegetable oil-powered bus will now stop in Sarasota, Fla. on July 9 and Tampa Bay, Fla. on July 10 as part of its two-month tour.
Although the stop in Tampa Bay will not be directly related to the spill, crew members will cosponsor a public event with the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast in Sarasota, according to Niemiec. The bus will leave Orlando, Fla. earlier than originally planned in order to spend more time volunteering with the organization, she said.
“We were tentatively planning an event [with the Foundation] but [the spill] kind of solidified it,” Niemiec said.
The Foundation has been “actively involved” in the oil spill and is currently recruiting people for volunteer work should the oil hit the Florida gulf coast, according to Niemiec.
Oil mousse and tar balls have begun to wash up on the shores of Florida this month as a result of the oil spill, The New York Times previously reported.
If the spill has reached the area, the Big Green Bus crew members will volunteer in coastal cleanup projects on Sarasota beaches, Niemiec said. The bus will also stop at the Foundation’s headquarters, where the crew will talk about solutions to the spill, she said.
Although visitors to the bus have held BP responsible for the disaster at almost every stop on the tour, the crew has a slightly different take on the spill, Niemiec said. Instead, crew members have suggested that our reliance on oil for everyday transportation and household energy needs is the root cause of offshore drilling.
“Yes, it’s important to be angry at [BP] but it’s more important to be looking at our own actions,” she said. “Policies and politics can do so much but we [must] change our dependence on oil.”
Crew member Olivia Kent, who hails from Key West, Fla., said that although the spill has not yet impacted Key West, residents’ daily lives would be drastically changed if the spill did reach her hometown, as both recreation and business in Key West depend upon water and boating.
“If [the spill] did hit the Keys, the lifestyle there would completely change,” Kent said.
For Paly, the spill provides an important opportunity for reevaluation of current oil policy that would not occur otherwise.
“It’s unfortunate that it takes all of these disasters for leaders to realize that the status quo is not acceptable,” he said.