Last fall, I donated a Cajun/Creole dinner party for the Queen Anne Helpline’s annual fundraiser. It was a live auction item which a friend of mine purchased. Last Saturday we had the gathering. Two terrific people, Deborah Paine and Christine Kistler supplied, desserts, salads and a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. Jon Rowley offered up some delicious raw Kumamoto oysters,

Oyster shucking

and I prepared crayfish Étouffée and Andouille sausage/chicken gumbo. It was truly a special gathering for one and all.

Davis Etouffee

Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tyrin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away

Randy Newman, Louisiana 1927

Toward the beginning of the festive evening we took a moment to acknowledge the catastrophe that has landed off the shore of my home state, Louisiana. The oil disaster is now in the Gulf stream and inching its way around the horn of Florida.

Bayou Terrebonne, Louisisana

In 2008, I continued  a long-term project to photograph in Southeast Louisiana.  I visited with fisherman, shrimpers and permanent residents who were just starting to recover from the severe affects of Katrina and the storms that followed. Grand Isle, a sliver of land, was rebuilding from the winds and waves that battered that island. Life was hard for the residents. Cecil Lapeyrouse’s family lived for generations in the area and ran one of the oldest general stores.

Lapeyrouse Grocery

Eighteen months ago he was feeling overwhelmed with the loss of business, the loss of wildlife, the loss of his family’s heritage. I can’t image what is going through his mind today.

A Louisiana friend pointed out that the timing of the oil pipe hemorrhaging could not have been more environmentally disastrous. Along the coast, as everywhere, all the fowl were hatching their young, the crab had begun to revive, oysters were ready to gather.  The people dependent on the bountiful Gulf invested their winter days and funds in preparation for the beginning of the harvest season.  This is an ecological and economic disaster of the highest proportion.

It’s time we all look at our dependence on oil. From the gas in our cars to the plastic in our containers, crude (what a descriptive word) is used everywhere.

In 1968 the movie, The Graduate, was released. A key moment in the movie happens when Ben, Dustin Hoffman’s character, is given advice from his father’s friend. “Ben I have only one word to tell you, Plastics .”  As a teenager, that moment and word resonated with me. As I look back we seemed to have had very little plastic in our lives.  It’s time for a redirection of our resources to renewable energy sources and away from the clutches of crude.

I have begun in a personal way to look at where I can reduce crude from my environment. It is really, really difficult. However, when I see the horrendous destruction along our southern coastline, I’m determined to change my dependency. Change sometimes hurts. I encourage you all to do some soul searching.