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Zap2it On the Scene: KTLA Morning Show
'One Tree Hill's' Sophia Bush talks Gulf Oil Disaster: BP has 'declared martial law'
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"One Tree Hill" star and environmental activist Sophia Bush continued her green energy crusade on the KTLA morning show on Tuesday, July 29. Bush, who shared her stories and photos from the Gulf Oil Disaster with Zap2it, is a dedicated environmentalist, or, as she says, a "greenie."
"I was really, really traumatized when I started seeing images coming from the Gulf and had a great hunch that we really weren't getting the information as to how bad the situation was," she told the KTLA news team. As Bush told us, she and her boyfriend and co-star Austin Nichols took a trip to Grand Isle with environmental group Global Green to see the damage.
She drops the shocking news that the hundreds of gallons of dispersant that is being put into the water to break up the oil is actually highly toxic. "It is not actually legal for use in Europe, but they're using it here."
Zap2it caught up with Sophia in the greenroom backstage before she went on camera, and she explained that while the fish and dolphins can recognize a giant oil slick enough to stay away from it, once the dispersant breaks up the oil particles, they swim right through it, essentially poisoning themselves.
After her trip, Bush is more sure than ever that the disaster is cause for extreme alarm. "This is a crisis," she tells us backstage. "Like, Ebola outbreak in Washington D.C., crisis."
Bush says that the situation is much worse than what we're seeing on television. "What nobody's showing you and what nobody wants the nation to know is that they're treating it practically like a police state. They won't admit that they have declared martial law, but that's what it feels like," she tells the news team. "We have no sort of public rights. They literally will not let you past a barrier on the beach, which they're calling 'the hot zone.'"
Check out the video below to learn how you can sign Global Green's petition for a greener future and to find out how to help reduce the nation's use of dirty energy with a few phone calls to your elected officials.
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While Sophia has a point in describing it as "martial law" down in the Gulf, and I agree it appears the officials should be far more transparent with the public than they are currently, as well as more willing to provide locals with safety info and hazmat training to increase the number of volunteer clean-up workers... there is an important safety reason behind them cordoning off the beach.
Oil is very toxic, so the public should not be attempting to cross the lines. This is for their own safety. Even small amounts of oil people can't even see in the sand could be harmful to their health.
So, "go Sophia" for raising the green issue, but it would be wise to try not to call the barriers so much of a "public rights" issue without also spreading a safety warning along with. What she is saying could incite uninformed members of the public to try and breach the barriers, thereby exposing themselves to dangerous toxins. So, please, Sophia, be sure to add a safety warning to your commentary!
Thanks from a concerned chemical engineer.
I understand your position, and agree with you, S-CE. I think Sophia's point is that the people on the beach are not properly protected from the toxins either. These traces of oil that may be there? The people working with the "cleanup" efforts on that stretch of beach have no way to prevent themselves from being afflicted by the oil.
Even when Sophia, Austin, Mathew Peterson and the rest of the Global Green crew asked if they could get hazmat training and then help with the relief, they were rejected and told that they would not be able to help. None of the people in the "hot zone" are being protected to the degree that they should, if they are at all. (See here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalgreenusa/4725016609/in/set-72157624210360167/) The fact seems to be that BP is doing everything in their power to keep the public out of the know as to what is going on down there.
I applaud Sophia's efforts to raise knowledge about the spill and what is really happening in the Gulf region.
Here's that link again, since the prior one didn't work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalgreenusa/4725016609/in/set-72157624210360167/