What are you gonna do about it?

When the Exxon Valdez accident happened on Prince William Sound, March 24, 1989, I made a pact with myself that if another manmade disaster happened in North America, and I was within striking distance, I would do anything in my power to get there and offer to help mitigate the damages. The photographs of the oil drenched wildlife in Alaska have never faded from my mind's eye, and now twenty-one years later, similar images are coming to us live from the Gulf of Mexico. Not long ago, I was running on the Logger's Loop trail in Pattison State Park in northern Wisconsin. As I was thoroughly enjoying the lush green woods, and marveling at the rushing river, I kept thinking of the atrocity happening in the Gulf, and a voice inside me kept saying, "so, what are you gonna do about it?".

On July 4th, Independence Day, I will embark on my journey to Mobile, Alabama. The plans I have tentatively made keep changing (everyday brings a new horror, a new problem, a new need), but for now I will be working with a group called Mobile Baykeepers (http://www.mobilebaykeeper.org/). I report for duty on July 5th. This blog will be an accounting of the journey and events that occur during my one week "volunteer vacation". Please feel free to post questions, encouragements, and comments.

I have a feeling this is only the beginning of what could be a lifetime of effort to heal our precious planet from this horrendous event. Peace out.