I choose to create my collage on the most devastating man-made environmental disaster that occurred at sea; the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. The terrible tragedy happened on March 24, 1989 and spilled nearly 11 million gallons of oil into the sea. As the story goes, the ship was allowed to veer off its course to avoid icebergs in the outbound lane. The Coast Guard had given permission to use the inbound lane, but failed to keep watch as it sailed out and inevitably hit the Bligh Reef. There were allegations made against the ship’s master that he had been drunk during the time of the accident, but later in trial he was cleared of this charge. Later he had even admitted to drinking vodka that evening. Not only had he admitted that he had been drinking the two men he left in charge of the wheel were not given the time off that is mandatory before working a 12 hours shift.I think this is important for a couple of important reasons. First, you have to wonder, if the ships master had not been drinking or had the two men who took over the shift had their required time off before starting this voyage would the accident been avoided altogether? If the coast guard kept watch till it passed all possible obstacles would the spill been avoided? Second, it’s astonishing how much damage took place during the spill, especially wildlife. Hundreds of Thousands of animals died immediately; including seabirds, ear otters, river otters, harbor seals, bald eagles, orcas, billions of salmon and herring eggs. Amazingly enough, after a year of cleaning and in area’s most visited by people little visual evidence of the event remained, but even today the effects of dying wildlife still exist.
The message of my collage I hope will be a powerful emotional feeling of sadness when first viewed. While accidents do happen and they will continue to happen it would be great to have the message bring awareness to people as they look at it. I hope it will inspire an awareness of the importance of safety, the importance of consciousness and being diligent in carrying out extreme professions and awareness in the environment and how vulnerable it is. I want people to understand devastating events such as this one continue to be destructive for so many years after; and how the innocent sea life suffers on. In addition to the emotional feeling I wish to produce, I’d also like to bring a bit of shock to people when they view the collage. I’d like to show a better understanding to how much money was spent in the aftermath of cleaning this up.
