A Well Played Chess Match.

Touché bp!

From their perspective, everything is working out perfectly. Not only have they got a cap on the well, but they have successfully capped all real information, imagery, upheaval, and unrest in the gulf. They have succeeded in doing this by calculating very intelligent moves, well thought out in advance, to throw dispersant on the story, and kill it before it spreads. Either that, or they are just damn lucky.




Their first order of business was to sneak a chemical dispersant past officials, and start dumping it directly into the ocean at an alarming rate. Btw, this chemical, Corexit, is manufactured in association with bp, but has been banned in the UK. They have stockpiles of it that they could not even use in many places. Somehow, they slid it past the EPA? Makes great financial sense for them to slather the gulf in it. This chemical effectively breaks up congealed crude oil on the surface, sinking it down into the water table, where it can not be seen, and has a greater tragic effect on all forms of life in the ocean. We know the effect of crude oil on wildlife and the environment, shabby to say the least. We do not however, know the outcome of crude mixed with this chemical. But here is a link to video of gulf seawater, including this mixture, exploding within a test tube!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/oil-spill-gulf-water-samp_n_651331.html


This dispersant tactic is socially akin to the brilliant move of buying up every hotel room in the area. As I told you before, there are no vacancies anywhere near the ground zero sites of Venice, or Grand Isle, LA. People can not get close to get the scene, and bp wants to keep it that way. Another genius strategy was to drum up some bunk felony charges, $40,000 fine, a no fly ceiling of 3000ft, and media ban, to bury the story. Have you heard of anyone actually being arrested? No, because no one is even down here! It effectively scared everyone off the case, and to my knowledge no one has pushed it. Hell, it nearly scared me off as well. I half expected to be followed and questioned, and have my camera confiscated, and be involved in some cloak and dagger weirdness. Maybe I watch too many movies... But maybe we all do, because it is quieter than a graveyard down here. In the same vein, bp has commandeered nearly every boat and captain in the area and put them on the payroll, in a program called vessel of opportunity (VOO). Of course, this could be seen as kindness, seeing that the fisherman's jobs and livelihood have been ripped out from under them, and they have got to feed their families. An alternative way to view this, is that this action is an undercut to keep them fat and happy, and from making too much noise. Many of these dudes became fishermen in the first place so they would not have to answer to anyone, they could be their own boss, and live life on their own terms. Not so anymore. Making a paycheck, and afraid to rock the boat, because they might get kicked out of the handout line. Also, it prohibits people from getting out into the water, again effectively sealing the scene. You can not get a boat chartered to save your life, ...without paying a boatload of money. It is a logistical nightmare down here, and bp wants it that way.

We all know bp has deep pockets. They are throwing tons of money at the situation to keep it quiet.

What they don't want you to know...



















The story has been drawn out long enough that people are starting to lose interest. bp wants to sweep it under the rug. I really hope that we do not allow them to do this. We are strong enough and have enough endurance to continue to stand for what is right. This is why we practice.


I love you guys, and I just thought you should know... These are my reflections from my time in the gulf. These, nor any other obstacle, will deter me from my mission to get into the water and rescue sea turtles. We have made massive headway on launching the Team Turtle Navy. We hope to have the operation underway within a couple of weeks.

I will be home on Thursday. I hope I get to see you! Please keep the fire alive. Continue to raise vibe, awareness, and if you can, even some dough. Talk it up, forward it on. Be a revolutionary.

Wanderlust next week! See many of you there!
http://www.wanderlustfestival.com/



Much love from the trenches, Brock

Evolution of a Revolution

Hola from NOLA rocknrollas,

Progress report: turtle rescue mission.



It is coming along!  We started with, no chance in hell, moving on toward well maybe we can do a back alleyway undertheradar kind of mission,  evolving to at least, the sea shepherd boat will come in and kick the door down, and we can be on board with that... To finally, yes we can get some boats in the water and start rescuing turtles.  Our friend Cap'n Al Walker reported yesterday that he has gotten the go ahead to assemble turtle search and rescue teams, beginning with 5 boats, quickly ramping up to 20!  This is great news for Team Turtle!

We are raising a navy.



And this is due in large part to y'all. (I love saying that) Thank you so much for stepping up, making your voice heard, supporting the mission, and believing in action!  We have made a difference. Now it is time to get to work.

There has been so much red tape, smoke and mirrors, half truths, full out lies, and non action down here that I don't even know where to begin. I will fill you in on that later... For now, let's celebrate the small victory, regroup, raise some dough, and get in the water!

So much love to you all, and great heaps of gratitude!

Brock

Land of Confusion

Pardners, I gotta admit... I am a bit confused.

I mean, isn't the gulf oil spill the biggest ecological disaster of our time?  It is, that's a fact.  

I spent the day in Venice, Louisiana.  One of the areas hardest hit by this tragedy. Venice is world renown for off shore sport fishing. Of course their way of life down here will never be quite the same. The captains are out of work, for years at a minimum.  Only time will tell how the gulf will recover.

My confusion lies in the issue that not much of shit is happening down here. I mean, I just can't figure out what in the world is going on. There are three hotels in all of Venice, and they are booked solid. BP has commandeered all of the rooms in town, but at the marina's only restaurant, there were 8 people at the dinner rush.  It feels like a ghost town.

Granted, there is a whole army of police rolling around. Though by the looks of things, I can't be certain as to why?    

The boat captains have all been put on salary as part of BP's compensation package, and they get paid whether their boat leaves the dock or not, so much of the time they are forced to sit around the marina shootin the breeze.  Once in awhile they will get the call to ferry some BP dudes, or the coast guard fellows here or there. It is a bit of an insult to their skill set, and potentially harmful to their boats. But it is their new job. I gotta admit, some of them were stoked with their new digs, easy money, and guaranteed income.  ...For a finite period anyway. Many of these guys were worried that as BP got the cap on the well today, that they would start pulling out, and one of the first things they would cut would be the captains salaries. Can't say that I blame their suspicions!  

Let's just note that even if the leak is stopped, there will be plenty of work to be done around here. You think BP will step up and handle it?

More intrinsic to my mission was what I witnessed as far as wildlife rescue. Let me begin by telling you that it is a federal felony, carrying jail time and a $40,000 fine to handle any at risk wildlife with out a permit.  The only people that are being issued any permits are the fish and wildlife dept. Not marine biologists, scientists, zoologists, or any other highly qualified personnel. This is insane! And if qualified personnel were to be issued permits, the process takes two years! As far as I am concerned, we need every pair of possible and willing hands getting dirty, every pair of eyes scanning the sea, and every boat in the water to make rescues.  I talked with two girls today that have been volunteering for the audubon society by overseeing the transportation of recovered birds from the docks to the proper authorities. Thus far, in their three days of duty, they have seen three birds come in. One of them was alive.  I witnessed the other two today.  They were dead.  As the birds came in there was a chain of evidence paper trail to be filled out, but nobody really knew the proper procedure. It took four  peoples signatures to get the birds from the boat into the van for transport. One dude brought the birds from the boat, then some official guy with a radio had to verify that they were in fact birds, then the volunteer girls, and finally into the hands of the transport driver. Economy of energy?

Well I will say this... The lack of organization may just make it a lil bit easier to slip through the cracks.

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

amigos!  word.


first i want to thank all of you guys so much for your support, your outreach efforts, your kind words, and your generous donations.  if there is a silver lining in all this mess, it is that the beauty of humanity shines through in times of darkness.  sometimes, it does take an earth shattering event to motivate us.  we all know what has been going down in the world over the last few decades, but now we see the effects of it first hand.  we say enough is enough!  it is time for us to take the power back, and i for one, am stoked for the revolution!  we all know that we need a separation of corporation and state.  our first great american revolution was due in part to separation of church and state.  this could be our second.  if you want it.  it is time for more than just the bottom line.  or at least the bottom line must include the survival of our children, of our species, and of our home.  aren't these as valuable as money?

uh oh... spilled.



as many of you know, kurma is the sanskrit word for turtle.  sanskrit is the ancient language of india, hinduism, and yoga.  roughly translated our project, kurmalliance, is yoga for the turtles!  beloved Kurma, is also the second avatar of Vishnu, who, in my humble opinion, is the coolest god in the hindu trinity.  he is the preserver,  the dude who comes to the rescue.  the dude we need now!  in an age old story, Vishnu comes in earthly form as Kurma, to save humanity, by hoisting a great mountain upon his shell, churning the seas, and distilling the elixir of life.  that was the first time the turtle saved the world.  the second is now.  the turtle is the totem of this revolution.  he is providing the motivation to get involved in the war, and fight for what is right.  he saves humanity once again!.. by getting us involved, recognizing that the nectar of life lies with the ocean, and if we continue to kill it, we will be faced with our own death and extinction.  oh mylanta!  wonder how they knew 5000 years ago that the turtle would play such a huge role in our potential evolution, or our possible extinction.
KurmAlliance!
art: jilliantamaki.com


the turtle needs us now!

poor lil dude!  there are more out there, waiting to be rescued.

we have made alot of progress in the last week.  our good friends at the insights foundation have offered us an umbrella, so that we can partner through their non profit organization, and your donations are tax deductible! you can send a check made out to insights foundation, and in the memo line please write kurmalliance- turtle rescue.  you can mail it to:

brock cahill
1529 1/2 andalusia ave.
venice ca, 90291

if you prefer to donate online, easy...
www.insightsfoundation.com/donations
or
www.kurmalliance.com

i have also aligned with a brass balls crew... set to document, and distribute all of the information that we uncover as we are on the mission.  it will be a wild ride.  stay tuned.
we will hoist all information up on the web as possible.

the whole purpose of this mission, is that we are up in arms at the debacle this catastrophe has become.  we believe in the power of individuals to make a difference.  we want to get involved!  and we dont feel like making a donation to some organization... where you never know where the money ends up, you never see any real action, and you forget all about it once you have signed your check.  we want you on board.  we want your support, and we want you to stay engaged.  i promise to do my best to assure that.  this is our army for peace, and evolution.  i know that the turtle rescue mission is not going to stop the spill, but i believe that it is a catalyst to doing so.  by getting involved, and getting you involved.

our plan remains the same:  get to the gulf, get a boat, and get to work saving turtles.

"when the people lead, the leaders will follow."  ghandi

i have attached our official funding request.  it is much more professional, than me.., your highly motivated local yogi, that has had enough of this shit, and cant digest another spoonful.  have a look at it.  it is poignant!

much love from the trenches!    -brock

ps: if you'd like some background info on how this project was hatched, and would like to read the original mission statement...
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=724970816&v=app_2344061033#!/event.php?eid=129234927115240&index=1

the new gulf war
operation: start with the turtles, stop the spill.

i know we are all sickened and saddened by this catastrophe in the gulf, and how it has been handled.






man alive, huh? now, check this out...


















my name is brock cahill. i am an avid lover of the sea and all its creatures. i must admit, i do have a special and fond affinity for sea turtles. they are such beautiful, serene, and graceful animals. if you have ever swam with one, you know what chillers they are.





the unfortunate truth is that many species of sea turtles are endangered. their numbers have dwindled tremendously over the last century, but most especially in the last 50 years. one of our lil buddies in the most grave of danger is the kemp's ridley turtle. in 1947 40,000 ridley nests were counted on a single beach in mexico. by 1985 the number of nests had dwindled to less than 200. more recently the number of nesting females has climbed back upward toward 6000. great news! but a long way from a full recovery.


enter bp and the deepwater horizon oil spill... so far the turtle death toll has reached 407, and that is just the corpses that have washed up on the beaches. this is a massive percent of the population. the kemp's ridleys follow their annual migration to the same beach in mexico every year. guess what, it leads directly past the deepwater horizon site. many lil dudes are getting caught in the oil as they come up to surface for breath. once fouled by the oil they cant swim and are trapped. bp is now towing collection booms behind fishing trawlers to wrangle oil on the surface, and once collected, burn the oil to get rid of it. i wonder what else they are burning in that mass of collected oil? ...oh shit. you got it. juvenile kemp's ridley turtles, amongst a plethora of other sea creatures, including pelicans and other sea birds, fish and anything that gets fouled on the surface of the oil. burning them alive! here is the kicker... it is in bp's best financial interest to burn the evidence, as there is a mandatory fine of up to $50,000 that they will be liable for, for every turtle killed. there have been a few organizations out in the water trying to make rescues for these turtles, and bp will not let them near where they need to go. they have had some successes on the periphery of the spill, reaching some of the turtles and getting them cleaned transported back to the audubon aquarium in new orleans and nursed back toward health. but of course no one is being allowed near the collection booms, or the burns! hmm. wonder why..? this is not okay with me. not for a single frickin second! this is when my mission became clear. i simply can not sit by and watch this happen. im not the kind of guy that is going to let bp get away with this, at least not without having a severe problem with me.

my plan is to head down to louisiana, get a boat, and get to work saving turtles. i am a strong individual, both in will, and physical nature, and i tend not to let impossible obstacles stay in my path. my work ethic helps me turn impossibilities into mere challenges. i am not afraid of hard work, my only fears lie in letting this go down without a fight; without standing up for what is right. we cant go down like this. oh man, the gulf, my beloved caribbean, the entire ocean..? the integrity of our humanity, as well as our planet and home depend on our action now, more than ever. of course my mission is to save the turtles, but my real motivation lives in creating enough political outrage, enough social unrest, that we as a public, force the government into action. i cant sit around and talk about it. i'm hoping this story, and my example will light a fire under the ass of the nation, and the world, to get this spill stopped now. it is so urgent, and i dont feel as though the magnitude of this urgency has been comprehended. there are ideas on how to fix this, to stop the leak, and i am hoping that we as a people will not rest until we have exhausted every single possibility and come up with a solution. i know at times it feels helpless, but we must keep it on the tip of our consciousness, keep talking about it, keep brainstorming, and finding things that we can do as individuals to point our energies in the right direction. to fight the good fight.

so... the details of my mission are, that i hope to travel to the gulf for one month, to see how much i can accomplish, and then reassess. to put the plan into action, my target is that i will need to raise about $100,000. this will include a minimal travel & living expense as well as charter for boat, captain and crew. no small chunk of change, especially when the outcome is so uncertain. but... if i can save 33 turtles, the price tag looks manageable at $3k per turtle saved! that might be optimistic, it might be easy. not sure, and really hard to say until i get down there. the reason for this is that no accurate or trustworthy information has been funneled back to our communities. thorough my network, and new social media, i know i can get information out to people, and i wont rest until i do, so folks can really see what is going on down there. as i said before, my hope is that this will ignite a whole new army of activism.

this is really a grass roots effort. i believe that our community can pull this off. it is massive, but we have to get involved. here is a good first step! please, pass this around, if you know of any organizations or individuals or businesses that may want to help with donations or grants, could you talk it up to them? i got 5 days to raise the dough. i know you want to help, so lets do it together. if you are a yoga studio, perhaps you could throw a fundraiser or something? is there a chance that some of the yoga community businesses might donate? if you are a yoga teacher you could ignite your communities and rally the troops! etc...
get in touch with me if you have ideas. brock@gravitycowboy.com

i hope to leave on the 4th of july. that's sunday. time is of the essence!

please help. please get involved. we all have our part to play in this revolution. find yours! and maybe help me with mine?


you may want to take a look at this video link. this is mike ellis. he is my boat captain, and we will make a difference.