James Cameron on the BP oil spill: ‘those morons don’t know what they’re doing’

Legendary, Canadian film director James Cameron, who was at the helm of movies like Avatar and Titanic, which are the first- and second-most grossing films globally of all time, has taken some time off his film life to attend more pressing issues: the devastating Gulf of Mexico crude oil spill.

James, who is also known for his longstanding beliefs in environmentalism (such was a major theme in Avatar), pulled together deep-sea experts and debated engineering fixes, and the need for the monitoring of shallow waters around the spill.

Phil Nuytten, founder of North Vancouver-based Nuytco Research, said yesterday that “Everybody in the world has seen the damage to the wetlands, but what no one has seen yet is the damage that’s being done underwater,” and added that shrimp, crab and oyster fisheries depend on shallow reefs in the Gulf. He was one of 23 people who convened in Washington earlier this week to brainstorm engineering and environmental strategies in connection with the spill. James has previously worked with many of the leading companies in the relatively small deep-sea industry.

James himself spoke publicly on the matter. “Over the last few weeks, I’ve watched as we all have, with growing sort of horror and heartache watching what is happening in the Gulf and thinking, those morons don’t know what they’re doing.”

James attempted to contact British Petroleum a few weeks ago, but to no avail. According to James, the company “basically said, ‘we’ve got this.’”

The government should have its own system to monitor the spill, James believes. “If you are not monitoring it independently,” he says, “you are asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene.”

And we all must wonder where the foresight was in deep-sea oil rigging in the first place. For now, if not before, it is known: when you gouge Mother Nature, she will bleed.