The Big Fix
Two Yogis Journey to the Heart of an Oil Spill and Find Hope for the Future
By Josh and Rebecca Tickell
Each day Rebecca Harrell Tickell takes about 200 supplements, herbal remedies, and nutrapuncture pills. Then there’s her daily yoga practice, the vigorous hikes, the meditations and a no-sugar, no-caffeine, vegan lifestyle. She’s not a purist. She’s on a path towards healing.
Josh Tickell spends about an hour each day in meditation. His two decade-long yoga practice has intensified, as has his running and physical training. Fish, once a staple, is all but absent from his diet. Sleep, which used to be a luxury, is a daily practice.
It’s been over a year since we were both filming on the beaches of Louisiana where we were repeatedly sprayed with a deadly poison – a neurotoxin so powerful that just smelling it could leave you completely disoriented. The chemical is an “oil dispersant” developed by Exxon and approved for use by our Environmental Protection Agency. Known as Corexit, it contains the deadly chemical 2-Butoxyethanol whose Material Data Safety Sheet (MSDS) warns it can damage unborn fetuses and reproductive organs. There have been reports that somewhere between two million gallons (the official report) and forty million gallons (the expert estimate) of the stuff has been sprayed, dumped, and injected into the Gulf of Mexico to make the spilled oil disappear from view. Much of the chemical is finding its way into people and wildlife.
We met six years ago while volunteering for an educational organization. Our attraction initiated from being energetic, dedicated people committed to world change. Since then, we’ve worked on the eco documentary FUEL, we’ve toured promoting alternative energy, worked with Congress on algae fuel, consulted with Fortune 500 companies, held rallies, participated in brainstorming sessions with world leaders, and spoken at colleges across the country.
When the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill happened in the Gulf of Mexico on April 22 (Earth Day), 2010, all our advocacy work ceased. For the better part of two years, we traveled around Louisiana and the Gulf states with our cameraman, Marc Levy. Constantly running out of money, attempting to convince donors that we were uncovering a “big” story, witnessing the ongoing environmental destruction to Josh’s home state (half his family is French-Cajun), trying to stave off the sharp decline of our health – all made for a trying and often painful journey.
Only a handful of close friends and family believed in what was to become a feature documentary film. Our core group saw beyond the hundreds of millions of dollars of BP ads aimed to convince America that the oil spill had been cleaned up, the fish were safe to eat, and the beaches were back in business. Even President Obama, in a telling moment of deference to the oil giant, swam in a Florida bay (credited as the Gulf of Mexico) and told reporters “the beaches are safe.”
Our cameras captured a very different world. The beaches of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi had literally been made to look white by pouring sand imported from Florida on top of the oily sand. Working under the cloak of darkness, hordes of cleanup workers – often from poor areas or from prisons – combed the beaches with machines designed to remove tar balls. Twenty miles inland, marshes were found covered in thick, sticky crude oil. The oil that supposedly vanished continues to wash ashore. Thousands of people along the Gulf Coast are now showing signs of chemical poisoning. Their symptoms include bleeding from the ears, blood in the urine, open sores that do not heal, swelling of limbs and face, extreme photosensitivity, shaking, and extreme loss of body mass. Even Rebecca has 
experienced these symptoms and is now finding healing through her yoga and lifestyle choices.
One of the saddest things we encountered was the dolphin deaths. Dead baby dolphins began to wash ashore about a year after the initial oil spill. The spill had occurred during the first trimester of their mothers’ pregnancies. To date, approximately 600 dolphins have washed ashore along the Gulf Coast – most of them dead. Fishermen continue to report that dolphins will rub themselves on fishing nets. When inspected, the dolphins are white – presumably from rubbing off their skin. Local residents have reported seeing mother dolphins pushing their babies up onto the docks. The dead dolphins are confiscated by the federal government, so there is little known about them.
After this harrowing experience and the challenges of making an independent film, we managed to complete “The Big Fix” and launch it at the Festival De Cannes where it received a standing ovation and had a profound effect on its audience. After the movie premiered in New York City, BP sent numerous ships out to the former site of the Deepwater Horizon and later admitted that the oil is, indeed, still leaking (they call is seeping). After the premiere in Washington DC, a major environmental group filed suit against the EPA for its approval of the use of Corexit in the Gulf of Mexico. And after forty nonprofit organizations privately showed the movie on Earth Day, a BP employee who had erased text messages with early (and much higher than reported) estimates of the oil flow was indicted. The Department of Justice has warned that BP’s executives are not off the hook, either.
Our experience gave us a new perspective. We live in a heightened state of awareness of just how fortunate we are. Living in Southern California in a community of health-conscious people, we feel we are in heaven compared to the time we spent in the Gulf. On a practical level, we don’t eat anything from the Gulf of Mexico (or even “Mexico”, as much gulf-sourced seafood is now labeled). We bought a $300 “Freedom Kit” so we can fill up our Prius with alcohol fuel – an investment that will pay for itself within a year of fuel savings and one that has allowed us to stop using the substance that seems to be doing a lot of damage to our planet.
While making “The Big Fix” we experienced profound darkness. And perhaps that darkness exists in all of us. It’s a reflection of old ways of treating each other and old ways of treating the planet.
They say the night is often coldest right before the break of dawn. We believe that humanity is entering a new time of deep reverence and understanding of our delicate relationship with nature. What we destroy in the world, we destroy in ourselves. And conversely, what we create and nurture in the world, we generate in our spirits and minds. The situation in the Gulf of Mexico needs love – it needs human ingenuity, volunteers, legal protection, time, and energy – and it may need that for the rest of our lives. Unfortunately, it is not an isolated example. Similar environmental “hot spots” dot our country and our planet. But like our own bodies that were damaged with the chemicals and the oil spill, these hot spots can be healed.
If it’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that our yoga practice goes far beyond the mat. Our actions, how we use our money and what we focus on in our lives – all have a profound effect on the planet.
Josh and Rebecca Tickell are co-directors of “The Big Fix” which will release on DVD on June 19: thebigfixmovie.com
