Celebrities are often the first ones to speak up and act after a disaster. Remember gun wielding Sean Penn rescuing people in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina? How about Wyclef Jean raising money after the Haiti earthquake?
But, they don’t seem quite as vocal about the Gulf Coast oil disaster. So far, there are no telethons, although God love him, Kevin Costner thinks he has a solution with his oil-separation technology, which, last I heard, BP is still investigating. Director James Cameron met with scientists and officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He hoped some technology used in The Abyss or Titanic could help stop the flow of oil.
Spike Lee encouraged President Obama to “go off” because of the disaster. Not exactly sure that that means, but Ted Danson, who serves as a board member of Oceana told Larry King “No more ocean drilling.” Well, that’s fine for the future, but right now, we have to get this oil spill stopped Ted.
Leonard DiCaprio encouraged his followers to join his Save My Oceans project, in which people pledge to use reusable bottles and bags, stop eating endangered seafood, and reduce their carbon footprints. That’s wonderful, but unless we stop this oil, there may not be much ocean left to save Leonardo.
Victoria Principal donated $200,000 to Oceana and the National Resources Defense Council. Excuse me – Brad and Angelina, if Victoria can donate, where are you guys with some money?
On May 16th, New Orleans hosted Gulf Aid, which raised $350,000 which will go towards stopping “the oil from destroying our wetlands” as well as to the fishermen and families affected by the oil spill. Gulf Aid attracted such acts as Lenny Kravitz, Mos Def, Ani DiFranco, and John Legend. There will be a DVD of the concert released later this month and there is a duo by Kravitz and Def available on iTunes called “It Ain’t My Fault.”
Now that is a tidy sum of money and it was very benevolent of the artists to do that concert, but let’s look at some numbers. About $1.3 billion dollars was raised for Haiti relief. So far, almost $5.3 billion has been raised for Katrina relief. This oil thing has been going on for weeks now and Hollywood seems oddly quiet.
Maybe it is because right now, people cannot see the affects of this disaster. Right now, the wildlife casualty numbers I’ve seen are relatively small – 23 birds, 156 sea turtles, and 12 dolphins. But, surely that number will grow and in a big way. Thousands of fishermen have been put out of work and who knows for how long? Eleven men died in the explosion – what about their families?
I read somewhere once that we care more when a disaster is bigger. If a few hundred people die, we think “Aw, that is sad” whereas if thousands die, we are ready to take action. I wonder if that is what is happening in this situation.
All I know is that this week, news of oil turning up on the shores of Pensacola and photos of birds covered in oil are starting to get to some people. Come on Hollywood, now is your time to speak up about this disaster!