Posted on: August 19th, 2010 by Geoff Livingston 2 Comments
Let’s be frank, lots of people are helping with #citizengulf and it’s awesome. There are so many people spreading the word, I can’t even begin to thank them. But this is not Haiti, in large part because of BP’s responsibility for causing the oil spill, and its moral and legal obligation to clean up the mess.
Many people express this to me, “Why should I help? It’s BP’s fault!”
But as we have seen over and over again, BP continues to promise fully responsible actions, only to have its actionscompletely contradictits PR and messaging. Consider the most recent lies that have been exposed this week:
2) Phytoplankton, the base element of the fishing food chain, have been poisoned by this oil. This means the entire Gulf food supply has been affected and will have crude oil poisoning to contend with.
This continued public lying (and the co-signing of this behavior by the Obama Administration) should tell all of us one thing: BP will abandon its responsibility to clean up the Gulf at the first opportunity. The Gulf cannot count on BP or the federal government to resolve this situation.
Any of us would be furious if our homes and livelihoods were treated in such a fashion. In fact, many of us who do not live in the Gulf are angered by the public hucksterism we are being offered by BP and the Obama Administration. But what can we do about it? Plenty, and as my trip to the Gulf convinced me, this hurricane ravaged region definitely needs our help.
Beyond the citizengulf program, there are more mindful actions: Write your elected officials and tell them to stand up to big oil and large corporations ruining our country, live a better sustainable life, and restore ethics to the communications profession. Want more? The AARP offers six ways you can make a difference for the Gulf.
No , it’s not Haiti. But it’s happening in our own back yard at the hands of corrupt oil company with the federal government cosigning it. Whatever you do, friends, I encourage you not to sit this one out. In my mind, it’s a civic duty. Take mindful action and say no to BP.
Posted on: August 15th, 2010 by Geoff Livingston No Comments
Oil boom workers
The CitizenGulf meet-ups are less than two weeks away, and you’re probably wondering whether to attend. Here are 10 good reasons to join your local Social Media Club for a Gulf Coast Benefit on August 25.
1) It’s the last party of the summer! Come on out and join your online friends for a good time that does good, too!
2) You like New Orleans, and want to relive a little of that Bourbon Street fun.
4) Attend in memory of Hurricane Katrina, and all the lives it took five years ago on August 28.
5) Don’t believe in BP? Neither do we. Show up and make a statement to the oil company that its PR messages to help the Gulf and its citizens recover are not enough.
6) Similarly, make a statement to the Obama Administration that more needs to be done.
7) The Gulf had just started to get back on its feet after Katrina and Rita. Now the oil spill happens. Let’s finish the Gulf recovery.
Your $10 cover fee (and any additional donations) goes directly to the Citizen Effect citizengulf program, funding Catholic charities of New Orleans After School Assembly Program for the 2010-2011 school year.
9) You believe educating children is the way to build stronger communities.
10) Your cover charge is tax deductible because Citizen Effect is a 501c3.
So what are you waiting for? Come on out and have a good time while doing some good, too!
Posted on: August 2nd, 2010 by Geoff Livingston 1 Comment
Today we opened the first #citizengulf city events for registration on the Citizen Gulf site. Citizen Effect‘s national day of citizen action seeks to help fishing families in need by providing an education for their children, in the hopes that they may be able to pursue new careers in the wake of the oil spill’s long term impact.
And as we launch, a raging controversy brews about the latest spin from BP and Obama – claims that the oil spill’s impact is disappearing. Fishing families and other members of the Gulf economy still struggle to survive. As the above video from a Grand Isle City Hall meeting last week, shows even with BP’s financial aid, the oil spill survivors are suffering and cannot pay their bills.
The fishing families of Louisiana and the Gulf beyond still need our help. It’s clear that BP and Obama will shirk this responsibility at the first opportunity. Meanwhile fishing families are left to pursue their profession of generations in diminished, or worse, permanently tainted waters.
Andy Gibson’s story is the classic example (on Friends of the Fishermen’s charity site). A fourth generation fisherman who found his waters closed to shrimping and the market for his goods bottomed out, Gibson simply went further out to the fertile fishing grounds of western Louisiana and Texas, untouched by the oil spill. Gibson is “determined he will figure out a way to make it through.”
Many fishing families will continue to choose this life style in the face of adversity. But their children can have an option. Working with Catholic Charities of New Orleans — an organization working directly with fishing families everyday in eight parishes — we can provide an opportunity for kids to have a better education and the choice for a different career path.
Join the #citizengulf effort today to make a difference. Host or attend an event on august 25, donate or vote in the Pepsi Refresh contest.
Posted on: July 1st, 2010 by Geoff Livingston 6 Comments
Our Citizens Effect Gulf Mission (full team reports here) meetings with nonprofits over the past few days wrapped up. Beyond the incredible environmental damage dealt to the Gulf of Mexico, it’s apparent that an equally damaging blow has been dealt to the fishing communities of the Gulf. As we have learned from the Louisiana Seafood Marketing and Promotion Board, the Catholic Charities of New Orleans and others, the vast impact on the Louisiana economy and its cultural way of life have been drastically underestimated by the Obama Administration and BP as reported by the media.
Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Marketing and Promotion Board estimates the problem to be a $100-$200 billion economic calamity (see above video). But because of the ongoing PR and legal culpability that’s being fought between the Obama Administration and BP, Gulf states are floundering.
Instead, a $20 billion pledge from BP is supposed to cover it. Culpable, yes. Capable of addressing the widespread calamity resulting from the oil spill? No. The Gulf may be irreparably harmed by not only the oil spill, but by our reaction to it; namely, the Obama Administration’s failure to declare the oil spill a national disaster, and the general U.S. societal turning our backs on this issue and expecting BP to pay for it.
My fellow Citizen Effect Gulf Mission goer and leader Dan Morrison painted an interesting view of it: “The more I learn on the trip, the more it becomes clear that BP can’t and won’t solve this economic disaster. The economic and social problems facing fishing communities due to the oil disaster are local problems that need local solutions. Put it another way: there is no one large top down solution and program that can address this problem). While it is hard for the country to see the impact of the oil spill on fishing families (they are not covered in oil like birds), the stories about how a families livelihood and way of life are endangered are real and tangible.”
The Unfathomable Depth of the Issue
BP’s Vessels of Opportunity program has 2100 vessels signed up, but only 500 working. These guys are not working, and their deckhands are not working. Tony Martinez, owner of the Breton Sound Marina (above) corroborated this. On our trip east yesterday, we heard similar reports from the son of a Vietnamese Fisherman in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Those are the commercial fishermen. Consider the unlicensed ones who harvest fish on a cash basis, the deckhands for these people, as well as those commercial fishermen who may not report all of their income.
These folks cannot get money from BP or the Obama Administration because they don’t have IRS reports. In essence, because they haven’t played by the system, they will be crushed by it. They are out of luck, and at the mercy of nonprofits serving the region like Catholic Charities of New Orleans, Second Harvest and the Greater New Orleans Foundation.
The losses will be just staggering for the fishing community. But it extends beyond Gulf seafood. Restaurants and tourism are hurt in all affected states. There’s also Louisiana’s other big industry: Oil. Regardless of the politics behind the moratorium, you are talking 100,000 jobs dedicated to the Louisiana oil industry. Consider job losses of 150,000 people in a region already hit by Katrina and in a recession.
FriendsoftheFisherman.org was a fund started by the Lousiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board to help the commercially licensed fishing families affected. It has four corporate partners Entergy, Rouser’s, The New Orleans Hornets, Abita beer have started it. The Board’s goal is to raise $100 million in total money. Further the Board’s LouisianaSeafoodNews.com shows real stories of fisherman.
But what about the non-commercial licensed fisherman and the deckhands? In addition to the on-the-ground fantastic work of the Catholic Charities and their partners HorizonRelief.org has been set up by Kevin Voissin, eighth generation oyster fisherman. He is taking oil and selling it in vials. Yet Voissin’s work will not be enough to resolve the long-term crisis facing the fishing culture in the Gulf.
A Way of Life Crushed?
As discussed in my Plight of the Fishing Family post earlier this week, this reaches far beyond money. We are talking about the possible destruction and ending of a culture.
Gulf fishing communities in the United States have gone back generation upon generation. It’s been the subject of movies (Forest Gump comes to mind) and has even inspired unique fashion and phrases like “down on the bayou.”
The cultural impact of taking away a profession for more than year — let’s be frank here, the overall devastation on the fishing industry will go well beyond 2010 — cannot be underestimated. While the environmental damage the wetlands has been sustaining over time may have accomplished the same result in 30 or 40 years, the sudden end via the Deep Horizon disaster breaks your heart.
Kerry (pictured above and see his story here), a sixth generation fisherman said it best to me: “My father always told me this business was a dying one. But no one imagined it would happen like this.”
What is the answer? Just as we know gulf fishing may have ended, most fishing families aren’t ready to give up yet. Getting them to suddenly become educated or get new vocations — in an ongoing long-term recession — will take more than recognition of the issue. It will take a nationally supported, yet locally driven, community wide solution.
Hollywood dreams to be a writer, but what does that mean?
The Moveable Feast writing era of Hemingway and Paris in the 1920s
Summer is here: Richard is heading to Tel Aviv, Israel!
Geoff reads Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises: “Brett was damned good-looking. She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt, and her hair was brushed back like a boy’s. She started all that.”
Posted on: June 18th, 2010 by Geoff Livingston 1 Comment
Yesterday’s news about the $20 million escrow fund sparked a debate about Obama’s consistent use of power on behalf of the public interest against large corporations (AP Photo). It’s an interesting conversation, and it’s ironic to watch the GOP, the party of Teddy Roosevelt — a.k.a. the Trust Buster — object to this action. But for me, while this may be a GOP mud flinging point, there are really three big $20 million takeaways from a PR perspective.
1) Obama is the big winner. For once, we are debating about whether or not our vulcan-like leader went too far in protecting the Gulf’s interests. Isn’t that refreshing?
2) BP gets points, too. By acquiescing, BP demonstrated in a very real way that when held to the flame, the company is willing to go to any length to set things right. Because it’s escrow if the full $20 billion isn’t used, BP gets the remaining money back. Further, it’s a commitment to pay money over time (as opposed to a lump sum), and it demonstrates to investors a finite penalty. Pay your dividends, BP!
3) The GOP loses. The GOP does have a point to make in its stance against reactionary policy during this crisis. This battle is best fought in the restructuring of energy policy and MMS. Defending BP’s “poor interests” was a mistake. Even the rest of the oil industry has thrown BP under the bus, and the GOP would have been wise to let BP serve as a sacrificial lamb.
Why? This is not your average big company abuse. This is the worst environmental crisis of our time. It’s an extraordinary situation. By criticizing something that BP voluntarily agreed to, the GOP makes itself — in particular Joe Barton — look insensitive. Choose your battles, folks.
What do you think about the $20 billion escrow?
P.S. Citizen Effect’s Dan Morrison and My Yu will join me on a mission to the Gulf on June 27 – July 1 to help affected fishermen. Details are here.
BP evaded responding, issuing brief statements and ducking the issue. Since then the drama about compensation and culpability has drowned out the pressure on BP’s Corexit usage. BP is content to let is stay under the rug, and the company continues refusing to listen to its U.S. regulators.
Until pressure is brought to bear on BP, we can count on the company letting the toxic chemical versions of Corexit stay under the rug. Don’t let the government BP media war distract you from the true dangers the oil spill presents: Reckless destruction of our marine environment and livelihood.
Posted on: June 13th, 2010 by Geoff Livingston 20 Comments
We believe that BP and Obama administration have been incapable of providing a satisfactory resolution to the incredible devastation from the Deep Horizon oil spill (White House Image: Obama talks to Gulf region fishermen). In fact, both BP and the federal government mostly seem to act only under the gun of media pressure.
The clear losers are the people of the Gulf and the environment. One of the most afflicted parties are the fishermen, who will receive aid from BP, but are likely to lose their careers due to the incredible and likely irreversible damage the marine environment is receiving.
As a society, we continue to experience great anger about this situation. While BP has taken responsibility, it’s clear they cannot resolve the matter. We cannot wait for corporations or the government to act. It’s been almost two months and the crisis is deepening.
We will create a Citizen Effect: Find local charities to pair with a national fundraising drive and help fishermen to find a sustainable, environmentally friendly future. This would be the best outcome from the oil spill.
To accomplish this we are going to the Gulf to talk to the people: The fishermen, local businesses and organizations. They best understand their economy and environment, and needs more than anyone– not BP and the government. We hope to pair their local expertise and knowledge with our ability to create a national, social media driven citizen movement and fundraising drive.
In addition it is clear that both BP and the government are blocking stories from reaching the public. We hope to provide a citizen journalist accounting of the story using our social media tools, specifically, Twitter, Facebook, FLickr, U-Stream and of course our blogs.
We will publish the full itinerary next week, and if you are a local organization or fisherman who would like to talk, please contact us at gulf [at] citizeneffect.org.
Yet, such acts fail to help the Gulf marine environment, suffering wildlife, and the many fisherman and local businesses getting decimated by the Deep Horizon catastrophe. Only mindful actions and protests can successfully and positively benefit those people that need us the most.
One of the greatest heroes of all time — Mohandas Ghandi — demonstrated that you can topple an empire by taking spiritually grounded mindful political action. It seems paramount to remember Ghandi’s lessons as we move through this crisis.
What Actually Helps
Seizing BP’s assets strikes me as the exact wrong thing to do. The company needs to remain viable so it can actually pay for the reparations it owes.
Further, as a moderate Democrat it’s been easy to laugh at cries from extreme elements about a socialist administration. That’s because it’s clear that these elements possess a great ignorance about what socialism and Marxism actually are. But a government seizing a company’s assets meets the text book definition of socialization. That kind of action will not benefit anyone, in my opinion. The U.S. government can’t effectively regulate the oil industry much less run an oil company.
Protests against the Obama Administration’s questionable relationship with BP and shoddy first five weeks of Deep Horizon oversight have yielded results. Witness President Obama’s remarks on Friday: “”What I don’t want to hear is, when they’re spending that kind of money on their shareholders and spending that kind of money on TV advertising, that they’re nickel and diming fishermen or small business owners here in the Gulf who are having a hard time.” As BP’s behavior and PR machine demonstrates, this oversight will continue to be needed, and that means citizens need to keep the pressure on both BP and the Obama Administration.
From an action standpoint, there have been a variety of organizations that have assembled volunteer efforts, from their action from afar via computer to on-site action. Here are three articles to consider:
Whatever you decide to do, please be mindful. Remember Gandhi’s lessons. Ask yourself does it help the Gulf and those affected? Does it improve the government or industry so it doesn’t happen again? Will it help the environment?
Posted on: June 3rd, 2010 by Geoff Livingston 8 Comments
Rhode Island farmers pitch in to help the Gulf
It’s been three days since my last post on the Deep Horizon oil crisis, and what a 72 hours it has been. Let’s take a look at what’s happened in the now very apparent Obama Administration vs. BP spin war:
DoJ announces a criminal investigation of the incidents leading up to the oil spill. Attorney General Holder claims that anyone who broke the law will be held accountable.
Wow! The spin war has begun in earnest. And who loses? The Gulf community and environment, and the American taxpayer. The Deep Horizon incident is quickly becoming the greatest eco-disaster in modern history. And instead of focusing on useful actions, Obama seems bent on spinning BP as the villain.
No Need to Kick. BP Is Already Down.
BP’s shoddy PR and poor actions has done enough to vilify the company, at this point. Obama and the Democrats are sacrificing the company for public opinion points. We need leadership, not PR.
As to claims that BP’s profits should be stripped, please. The company has lost 1/3 of its market cap. Isn’t that enough? We need BP employees feeling like they have a job to do (plug well, refine oil, etc.). We need this company still for fuel because we don’t have a clean energy economy yet.
Let’s be clear: BP has owned responsibility and has maintained that it will pay the necessary financial damages. There is a lawsuit being actively explored to hold criminal offenders accountable. What else do people want?
Yes, BP PR and execs need the watchdogs, and if you read me you know I am one of those watchdogs. In fact it seems everyone is one of them now. I hardly see how BP will be able to get away with anything.
How will destroying the entire company like this help? I don’t see how putting 90,000 more people out of work helps the 10,000 fisherman who will lose their jobs. I don’t understand how killing their clean energy programs — fueled by their profits and market cap — will help us become an oil free economy. That’s what you do when you stop shareholder payouts.
What Needs to Happen
Chest beating and mindless witch hunting will only hurt all of us. We need to channel our anger towards both the government and BP and hold them to the task at hand. Specifically, protect unpoisoned Gulf waters, clean poisoned Gulf beaches and waters as best we can, plug the leak, and finally, activate citizen volunteers.
Obama needs to do a better job getting a capable command and communications structure in place to clean up the Gulf. BP is not an environmental clean up company, nor do they defend shores from danger. Last I checked that was the Coast Guard, EPA and U.S. Navy’s job. BP is an energy company that drills and refines oil. Why are they being asked to handle clean-up? Let the military do it and hand BP the bill.
Obama needs to ensure not only communications, but that the DoJ investigation holds his own administration accountable, too. For surely, some EPA/MMS employees broke the law, too. Speaking of, has the Obama Administration been checking on the safety of all the other off-shore sites? What’s the status on other active oil platforms?
The president needs to activate citizens to help, because we are angry and feel powerless. Some folks, like the video featuring the farmers above, have stopped waiting for Obama and BP to get the public engaged, and started acting on their own (See my Mashable article on four ways to clean-up the Gulf using social media). What happened to “Yes, We Can?” Heck, how about taking some of the 10% of unemployed Americans and paying them to clean up, then giving the bill to BP?
BP needs to be quiet about whether or not oil plumes exist, whether or not 10-20k barrels a day are spilling, and simply focus on getting the leak filled. There’s no further advantage to be gained by trying to minimize public perception of how bad this is. Instead, let the facts tell the story, fix the well, and simply focus on being supportive to all clean-up, DoJ and scientific efforts. Ethical, factual communications are the only way out for BP.
No elected official should take pot shots at oil company profits without first disclosing how much oil money they have in their campaign war chest. In the words of Ben Franklin, “Clean your finger before you point at my spots.” Congress and the administration need to get big corporate dollars out of their pockets and reform themselves if they want anyone to take them seriously.
Enough BS and spin about who is to blame. Let the DoJ investigation figure that out. We all need to mindfully address the Herculean problems Deep Horizon presents with solution-oriented actions.
Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica, a social enterprise that provides superior communication consulting, training, and strategy to help mindful organizations affect social change. He has worked as a public relations strategist in the Washington, D.C. region for more than 16 years. Dubbed a “local blogging guru” by the Washington Post, Geoff’s award-winning book on new media “Now is Gone” was released in 2007.
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