Mission: Challenging

But I would never say impossible!

Word, and greetings, Team Turtle! Well, here I am onboard an aircraft bound for New Orleans, perched on the edge of my seat, and the edge of the greatest undertaking of my life. In the last ten days we have managed to raise over $12,000 for the kurmalliance, operation: turtle rescue. I am so grateful to all those who have donated and spread the vibe of the project. This is a completely grass roots campaign supported by the yoga community at large, all over the country, and all over the world. Yogis have been donating generously from their own pockets, teachers have been rallying their troops, and studios have been holding fundraisers to raise awareness, as much as dough. I have been moved to tears several times as I have been reminded of the passion and dedication that the yoga community stands for. I mean, shit, it is what we practice every day.  It is brilliant to watch our practice move beyond the confines of the mat and into action!  Thank you yogis! Thank you so much. Yogactivism, baby! It is a beautiful thing. 

There have been a few major developments, which have caused a slight recalculation in the original plan. I am headed down now for a one week intelligence gathering mission; to collect stories,  information,  images, and footage. As we all know, it is hard to learn something until you truly experience it. I am hoping to lend you my eyes, my ears, and even my emotions over the course of this trip. Please stick with me on it. I don't think I can do it alone... There are going to be many obstacles in our path on this one guys. As you may or may not know, BP has effectively shut down the entire gulf to the public. There is a complete media ban in the area, and the only news that is now being leaked, are press releases from central command, and it's tributaries. Wonder how accurate they are?  Also, they have imposed a no fly zone over the gulf, and federal felony charges carrying a $40,000 fine for anyone caught within 65 feet of an oil boom, collection operation, or endangered wildlife. That is going to make my job a little tougher!
 

I have spent my whole life training to make impossible tasks merely challenging. Here we go!

As promised, I will hoist any information possible onto the Internet through new social media. This blog, facebook and twitter will be my smokesignals from the frontlines. Please, stay tuned! And even more importantly feel free to ...pssst, pass it on! We simply must keep this tragedy in our consciousness, as well as in our conversations. We simply must insist that this debacle begin to be handled with the gravity that is necessary. We must demand that our government get involved, balls deep, and not continue to let the criminal run the crime scene. BP has no interest in doing what is right for our people, for our wildlife, for our ocean, or our planet. For them it makes much more financial sense to cover their asses, and cover it up, to amortize the costs of the clean up over a twenty year period. That is the whole philosophy behind this chemical dispersant tactic. Please watch in the media as they start to spin the story, saying we've got it under control, there is a cap on the well, the oil is no longer on the surface, and we are working on clean up. This is a line of bullshit. First of all, the nondisclosed chemicals used in the dispersant are very much akin to napalm gas. They are being dumped at an (also) undisclosed rate into the gulf, then becoming aerosol, and traveling onshore with the winds.  Experienced first hand by Josh Tickell, documentary film maker (Fuel -which I highly urge you to see) and his crew as they approached the beach. At over 100 ft away, their eyes began to burn, and they all walked off the beach with some form of a skin rash. This is going to be massively toxic for all life forms. We must get them to cease and desist using this right away. Sign a petition, send a letter to your congressman, let the government know that we are not ok with this! The second issue in using these dispersants, is that it simply breaks down the oil that has congealed on the surface. Effectively sinking the oil down into the water table where it will be much harder to clean up, and honestly, much harder on all the life in the sea. But it will look better from a satellite picture!  Oh man. Shortcuts suck. We gotta do this right, and it is so obvious that it isn't going to be BP that gets it done. 

We still need to raise a boatload more dough to put the original project into motion.  Once we have acquired the boat, wildlife rescue training, and equipment that we need to get in to the water to save turtles, I promise that I will not stop fighting to do so. If you are moved to get involved, you and your crew can donate at www.kurmalliance.com

Revolution, Brock

Follow on Twitter @gravity_cowboy
www.Facebook.com/gravity cowboy