Athletes using their Star Power to help Combat the Oil Spill
For the last three months, oil has been gushing from a ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. BP, the company that owns the ruptured well has been trying to plug the gap for the last three months unsuccessfully until yesterday. Recently athletes from America decided to try and use their star power to stir up some action and to speed up the pace of work in trying to stem the flow of the oil. It is a very positive sign that athletes are trying to help the environment by taking some time out of their schedules to push for a very worthwhile issue.
The ruptured oil well has become a major environmental and business disaster for BP. The company’s stock price has plummeted and the issue is so large that the government of the US has gotten involved in it. What caused the ruptured well was a massive explosion on an oil rig that killed 11 workers and sent a fireball into the sky. This disaster caused the oil well to break and oil started to gush into the Gulf of Mexico threatening wildlife and the environment. The effect of the oil spill was so bad that the oil eventually even reached the coast of Florida. With the US government on BP’s back and worldwide condemnation for not fixing the issue sooner the company was pressured to do something about it.
Yesterday the company managed to fit a plug on the leaking oil well that has stemmed the flow of dangerous oil pouring into the sea. Scientists have been monitoring the well and have reported that it was not leaking anymore. While this is good news, it may have come too late for the wildlife and the natural environment of the sea. With this we come to the athletes who visited the area and may have had an effect on the leak being stopped.
Several athletes got involved and were united in trying to raise the issue of the oil well leak even more in the media. They felt that their star power might highlight the issue more than it is being highlighted at the moment. Many athletes visited the site collectively and they were all shocked and horrified at the extent of the damage. Atlanta Falcons fullback Ovie Mughelli, Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference and his wife, former X Games snowboarder Krista Bradford Ference, race car driver Leilani Munter, former tennis star Chanda Rubin, 2006 and 2010 Olympic alpine skier Stacey Cook, 2008 Olympic hammer thrower Loree Smith and many others were some of the athletes who got together to bring this issue to sports fans around the world. This is the power of sports; because of the fact that many sports stars have adoring fans in the thousands and sometimes in the millions, it becomes easy for them to bring a worthwhile message to a large audience.
The athletes who took part in the boat trip to visit the area affected by the oil spill were trying to show the connection between sports, the environment and health. The oil spill will not only affect wildlife in the area but it could also affect athletes like surfers, swimmers and Olympians who rely on the water. It might also affect the air that athletes breathe in and around the worst affected areas. After the boat trip the athletes were going to organise a teleconference with the media to share their experiences. This is a very noble thing that these athletes are doing and hopefully it will bring the issue to a much larger audience. Individually each athlete can blog about this, use social media networks to connect with people, talk to their fans and make the issue one that people will not dismiss.
Whenever a large scale disaster takes place, sports stars, athletes and entertainers other famous people can really get behind an issue and help to bring it to the forefront. We saw it happen with the recent earthquake in Haiti when numerous musicians and actors donated time and money to the cause. Now we see it again with these athletes helping to bring even more light to a very serious issue. We should applaud their efforts in helping raise awareness for this issue.
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