The calendar is not so much a part of the anti-BP movement, as much as it is a commentary on the direction all this environmental damage is headed. Right now, the entire Gulf habitat is being destroyed, which means more than just oily birds and turtles (as if that weren't enough.) It means the potential end of all life for hundreds of miles of ocean and shoreline, right down to the micro-organisms who already feed on natural oil seeps, and coral reefs which help regulate tidal damage to our coasts. Eventually, if events like this continue to happen, our beaches will be dead to us, uninhabitable and unenjoyable. A few of us are of the opinion that the best way to make that point is by illustrating what a swimsuit calendar might look like if it were shot on an oil-slicked beach.
The problem is that our country has such a dependency on petroleum products that the companies responsible for the spill are all too easily capable of keeping the full scope of the tragedy out of the public eye. A large percentage of our country is more interested in empty entertainment than the plight of some sick bird on a foreign shore. The idea of the project is to take the damage inflicted on the plants and animals of the Gulf waters and shores, and apply it to a more familiar institution of gratuitous beauty, the swimsuit calendar. This iconic format relies on healthy models, bright, sunny beaches, and sparkling blue waters. All of these things and more are being taken away by the Deepwater Horizon explosion and other industrial accidents. The project doesn't offer a real solution, but it does present another way of looking at the problem. Some people may not think of the micro-organisms that help keep our oceans clean, our reefs which help regulate the flow of tidal water against our shores, and the birds, plants, fish and other animals which either provide us with food or simply exist as a part of our ecosystem. But if accidents of irresponsibility like the BP spill continue to happen, someday even the image of a swimsuit model on a sunny beach will be an endangered species.
Seriously, this calendar (in a nutshell) is basically asking, "What if we don't stop this damage to our ocean? What if it happens again?"
