David Zimmerman presents his Gulf Coast series

19th Aug 2010

By David Zimmerman

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The BP oil spill has had a devastating impact on the people of the Gulf region. Many experts believe it could be decades before the region is fully restored, and the future of many who live there remains uncertain.

I spent weeks immediately after the spill photographing the landscape drenched with oil; the marshes silently dying. The devastation I saw off-shore reflected in the faces of the people on-shore. I knew then it was the stories of the people I wanted to tell.

“What I don't understand is, you talk about the oil, you talk about the wetlands, you talk about the animals; but you're forgetting the people – again. Eleven people lost their lives. My brother in law, he's been trying to call everyone to put his boat out there in the water. “Oh, we're not looking for 22 foot boats”. You can't put them out to work? You took their work! BP it's time for you to stand up and take notice of the people that need help”. Venessa Rayas, fisherman's wife, Buras, Louisiana. Generations have made these waters home, and these waters and the people of the region have become the voices that go unheard.

The courage that wills the people of the Gulf to go on is being tested once again. Tested by a disaster that will continue to replay. Tested by a corporate giant that has its own agenda. Tested by a government unwilling or unable to take the lead. While it is quite easy to demonize BP at the moment, the issue of world energy is a far greater problem, which if left unresolved, will continue to wreck havoc on the world's people.