http://www.erikablumenfeld.com The artwork, photojournalism, and projects of internationally exhibiting artist and Guggenheim Fellow, Erika Blumenfeld. Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:14:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Over a year after the BP oil disaster, many Gulf Coast residents have been reporting serious health problems. In the wake of BP’s oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, countless Gulf Coast residents have been made sick by what they believe to be chemicals from BP’s oil and toxic dispersants. Their situation is made worse by BP not paying out health-related claims, despite the oil giant’s promises to “make things right” and “make people whole”. To read more about their situation, click here. Click here to see this photo gallery on Al Jazeera English…]]>http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/2011/10/03/in-pictures-sick-gulf-residents-blame-bp/ As oil, sickness and contamination persist, Gulf residents and lawyers file thousands of lawsuits against the oil giant. “If you got caught humping another woman – [if] you’re both naked and caught in the act – you’d want BP to explain to your wife how it didn’t happen.” This colorful analogy was proposed by Dean Blanchard, a seafood distributor on Grand Isle, Louisiana, to explain oil giant BP’s continuing machinations to evade liability in the aftermath of the April 2010 disaster. During a recent discussion in his office, Blanchard told Al Jazeera that the fishing waters off Louisiana are only producing one per cent of the shrimp they formerly produced. [...]]]>http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/2011/10/03/the-escalation-of-bps-liability/ Two Louisiana beaches were closed to the public after Tropical Storm Lee uncovered huge tar and oil mats In April 2010, BP’s Macondo well explosion leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico, causing one of the worst environmental disasters in US history. Now, over a year later, problems continue. On September 13, 2011, Al Jazeera investigated an announcement that two public beaches, Fourchon Beach and Grand Terre Island Beach, in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, were closed to the public by BP for undisclosed reasons. Al Jazeera was escorted to the Edward Wisner Land Donation, a land trust where most of the oil was found, along 16km of beach. Upon examining Fourchon [...]]]>http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/2011/09/22/in-pictures-bp-oil-spill-damage-continues/ Many people living near the site of the BP oil spill have reported a long list of similar health problems. Just weeks after BP’s oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, 2010, Fritzi Presley knew something was very wrong with her health. The 57-year-old singer/songwriter from Long Beach, Mississippi began to feel sick, and went to her doctor. “I began getting treatments for bronchitis, was put on several antibiotics and rescue inhalers, and even a breathing machine,” she told Al Jazeera. The smell of chemicals on the Mississippi coastline is present on many days when wind blows in from the Gulf. Presley’s list of symptoms mirrors [...]]]>http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/2011/09/18/sick-gulf-residents-continue-to-blame-bp/ Al Jazeera spots a swath of silvery oil sheen near BP’s crippled Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. Over one year after a BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico leaked, causing one of the worst environmental disasters in US history, oil continues to surface on the water near the damaged well. On September 11 Al Jazeera reported and photographed a silvery oil sheen, about 7 km long and 10 to 50 metres wide, roughly 19 km northeast of the well. Click here to see the photo gallery on Al Jazeera English…]]>http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/2011/09/15/in-pictures-ongoing-bp-oil-leaks-in-the-gulf/ Fresh oil seepages raise questions about further problems with BP’s damaged oil well. Fifteen months after BP’s crippled Macondo Well in the Gulf of Mexico caused one of the worst environmental disasters in US history, oil and oil sheen covering several square kilometers of water are surfacing not far from BP’s well. Al Jazeera flew to the area on Sunday, September 11, and spotted a swath of silvery oil sheen, approximately 7 km long and 10 to 50 meters wide, at a location roughly 19 km northeast of the now-capped Macondo 252 well. According to oil trackers with the organisation On Wings of Care, who have been monitoring the new [...]]]>http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/2011/09/13/no-end-in-sight-for-oil-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/ The day arrived in tones of deep grey, the sun barely able to penetrate the thick low hanging sky. The air, moist and briny, showed no hint of the approaching northeast winds, which would reach the island by nightfall. The sea glistened slick metallic silver, mirroring the hues above, and seemed almost impatient for the rough swells that were advancing toward us across the Northern Atlantic. My sleep was restless and undulated with the sea as our ship tossed about through the night, moored at the edge of North Rona. Fixed on the 59th latitude this small remote island sits 44 miles north of the Butt of Lewis, flanked only [...]]]>http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/2011/08/07/the-island-of-north-rona/ It’s time we secure a future without coal in New Mexico, across America, and around the world. It won’t be easy. Along the way, we will need a lot of help, creativity and inspiration. While we draw strength from each other, our movement to end coal and save our planet from climate change also honors the millions of people viciously poisoned and ruthlessly exploited by the relentless, destructive impact of coal. From infants and children to adults and our beloved elders, the litany of coal’s negative effects is brutal and it’s growing. Coal mining, coal transportation and coal-fired electricity generation are widely recognized to increase rates of asthma, emphysema, lung [...]]]>http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/2011/07/25/a-future-without-coal-in-new-mexico-supreme-court-again/ Doctors in the Gulf attribute deaths and illnesses to harmful dispersants used in the clean-up effort. Many of the chemicals present in BP oil and dispersants are known to cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney damage, altered renal function, and irritation of the digestive tract. Dispersants were used after BP’s oil disaster that began on April 20, 2010, when an explosion killed 11 workers, spilling at least 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and causing the largest environmental disaster in US history Further health problems linked to dispersants include stomach discomfort, liver and kidney damage, unconsciousness, tiredness/lethargy, irritation of the upper respiratory tract, hematological disorders, and death. Many of the chemicals [...]]]>http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/2011/05/17/in-pictures-exposing-the-human-side-of-bps-oil-spill/ Residents, fishermen and scientists believe that living on the coast is hazardous to their health. Many locals argue that living in close proximity to – and eating seafood from – the Gulf is risky and disagree with federal agencies’ claims that the Gulf is now safe. In response to their oil disaster last summer that released at least 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP admitted to using at least 1.9 million gallons of widely banned toxic Corexit dispersants (which have been banned in 19 countries) to sink the oil. The dispersants contain chemicals that many scientists and toxicologists have warned are dangerous to humans, marine life, and [...]]]>http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/2011/05/12/in-pictures-toxic-contamination-of-the-gulf-environment/