Your Achievements for Our Planet
FISCAL YEAR 2023 ANNUAL REPORT
WHY I FIGHT
BUDDY DREAS FIGHTS LIKE HE LIVES HERE BY GIVING MONTHLY
Please introduce yourself to our readers. I’m Buddy Dreas, a retired deep-sea diver. I worked in oil fields as a diving consultant, salvaged wrecks, and hunted treasure in waters all around the world. I currently live in New Orleans, Louisiana. How did you hear about Food & Water Watch, and what motivated you to make your first gift? Food & Water Watch found me in 2019 when my 12-year-old neighbor showed me a copy of her climate change homework. As I read it, my inner voice said, “It’s time to learn more.” Two days later, I had ten kids at my house writing down all they knew about climate change. We called our group “The Starfish Kids.” That same day I received my first Food & Water Watch flier with a U.S. map showing current and potential fracking sites. It was titled, “What you need to know: frightening facts about fracking.” It resonated with me immediately — I’ve been a monthly donor ever since. How do the issues Food & Water Watch works on impact where you live and the world around you? In 2010, British Petroleum’s (BP) Deepwater Horizon exploded, causing the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. I was scheduled to oversee a dive job in an oilfield eight miles north of Deepwater soon after the blowout. That was canceled due to safety concerns. I was lucky.
After the blowout, thousands of fishermen, unemployed because of the spill, worked in the clean-up effort, exposing themselves to a chemical oil dispersant called Corexit. Many of them broke out in rashes, coughed up blood, and had respiratory issues. Some suffer to this day. I learned later that not only did BP lowball the volume of the spill, it also lied to workers, saying Corexit was safe. Despite proof that Corexit is highly toxic, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) still approves it for use in oil spills. Big Oil and the government … this is what we're up against. If you were talking to someone about giving to and getting involved with Food & Water Watch/ Food & Water Action, what would you tell them? I would tell them that Food & Water Watch is a knowledgeable group of passionate environmentalists fighting on our behalf, for the welfare of humanity and our planet. Without their dedication to education, truth, and social justice, we wouldn’t have a voice. Because I give, when
Buddy Dreas at work in the 1980s
“... I received my first Food & Water Watch flier with a U.S. map showing current and potential fracking sites… It resonated with me immediately — I’ve been a monthly donor ever since.”
they fight like they live here, so do I. What gives you hope for the future?
I’d love to see students worldwide start their own version of “The Starfish Kids” as an after-school program that will lead to all schools incorporating climate change into their curriculum. I hope kids unite to become a force for climate change awareness.
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Food & Water Watch • Food & Water Action
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