It was about 30 days into the Deepwater Horizon crisis when I realized I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else until I did something, and I knew I wasn’t alone in this. Quincy (Jackson) and I had both joined the Audubon Volunteer team two weeks prior to that, and we still hadn’t heard from them because they were so overwhelmed.

Chris (Riddle) suggested that we should just go and find places to help wherever we could. He offered the use of his camera, and said we should talk to the volunteer organizations and see what their needs were. Perhaps we could make a documentary about the experience, and if nothing else, we could make short videos for the various groups to help raise awareness for their efforts.

We made a list of the organizations that seemed to be most active and pertinent and because Chris had to stay in North Carolina for his work, he agreed to act as our producerand call ahead to each of the groups we’d researched, sign us up for volunteer duties, make appointments for interviews and help us get to campgrounds and locations along the trail. He even ended up coming to the rescue when the car broke down while we were camping in Westwego, La., and joined us for the following week of the journey. Even after he returned to North Carolina and his own work, he stayed a step ahead of us on the entire trip, and smoothed the way for us as we traveled.

The day I first heard about the spill, I began researching various volunteer organizations, starting with Matter of Trust (a suggestion from Elisabeth Moore) and looking into various groups in each state, dealing with human, animal and environmental issues. We started our journey in New Orleans, because so many of the organizations we wanted to know more about had their headquarters in the city.

One of the most important connections we made was with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, which is located right on Canal street, and has been working with oil-related issues in the area for 10 years. The name comes from the free air-quality testing buckets they provide to residents and community leaders living near oil refineries. One of the group’s main goals is to provide documentation of the quality of the air in these areas and the effect it has on people living there. They have made major strides in assuring that any health issues that arise from living in contaminated areas are not ignored by the corporations who cause these problems.

We interviewed Shannon Dosemagen, LABB’s Member Action Associate, a key player in creating the Oil Spill Crisis Map (see p. 3), one of the most useful tools we’ve found in trying to deal with the health and safety related issues that have developed since the explosion in the Gulf on April 20.

Shannon told us that they were working on developing a more widespread incident report database, that would help people in affected areas make specific reports of incidents of bad air, health issues, dead or injured wildlife, etc. so that there would be a solid record of these incidents, which would strengthen research and make it easier for responsible parties to be held accountable.

When they heard about the spill, Shannon said she immediately returned to the office and finished developing the Oil Spill Crisis map. In conjunction with Tulane University, they came up with a system to help map and record all the data.

Over the weeks of planning our trip and then traveling, I watched the red dots on the map increase in number, from just a few dots in the Grand Isle area in the beginning, to all along the Coast from Texas to Florida as people began to report their incidents from injured wildlife, oil on the beaches and in some cases in their yards and around their homes, to skin, respiratory and other health issues.

Using the information gathered, they have been able to develop outreach programs, traveling to affected areas to do more testing, to talking to people with financial concerns, depression, family problems and health problems all related to the spill, and then helping them get the assistance they need. Their practical approach has affected many lives, including their own.

The thing Shannon said to me in her interview that truly hit home with us was that once you’ve seen how it really is down there, you can never look away. So many of us remain protected, even with the media pumping it into our homes, from the real stories that are happening there along the coast the lives that are being damaged, the homes and jobs that are being lost, the entire culture and way of life that is threatened.

As hard as is is to see and know, I am grateful that I made this journey, and I agree with Shannon I can never look away now, and I am grateful to know that organizations like the Louisiana Bucket Brigade are there to help. Just like the people struggling to survive and stay afloat down there, we all need to know that we are not alone and that someone is there fighting beside us, or for us, if we can’t fight for ourselves.

For more information about the Louisiana Bucket Brigade or the Oil Spill Crisis Map, or to volunteer or donate, contact www.oilspill.labucketbrigade.org or www.labucketbrigade.org.