Riki Ott, PhD, Executive Director of Ultimate Civics and member of Move to Amend, has been nominated as one of Huffington Post’s “Ultimate Game Changers.” The award honors people who make significant contributions to the way we look at the world and the way we live in it. Ott has spent the past five months in the Gulf of Mexico responding to to BP’s Deepwater Horizon
disaster.

“I arrived in the Gulf of Mexico on May 3 with two goals: to coach Gulf residents on what to anticipate so they could prepare proper responses to BP’s disaster, and to gain a foothold in the Deep South for future organizing work with the democracy movement.”

In early August, the federal government unfurled its endgame of “it’s over; all’s well.” Stunned and angry Gulf residents feel betrayed. Ott says, “It is obvious to even the most genteel southerner that the big transnational corporations have hijacked our democracy.”

“Over the past twenty-one years, I have witnessed the Exxon Valdez oil spill morph from an environmental disaster to a democracy crisis as all three branches of the federal government ultimately failed to hold Exxon accountable for the damage it wrought on the ecosystem, people’s lives, and entire communities.”

Community forums in the Gulf are now turning into organizing sessions to work towards the democracy we thought we had. People are changing their vision – imagining wind generators instead of oil rigs; clean green jobs instead of dirty jobs; and healthy culture, land, and people. The Deep South is rising.

Help us spread our message by voting here for Dr. Ott as the Ultimate Green Game Changer.