No one was prepared. Oil spills are what we hear about from vague sources and mumblings of “Exxon”, “Valdez”, “Litigation”, “Compensation: and combinations thereof. Such things happen to large, bare shores in lands far far away. Until the unthinkable happened in the seas just off Koggala where a ship that had no business being in the water literally broke in two dumping thousands of gallons of toxic oils and fuels into the seas just shouting distance from some of the most diverse and pristine ecological coastal phenomena in Sri Lanka.
	The Green natural resources team was not caught napping.
	They had been fighting for years to get unseaworthy vessels out of the water and alerting coastal communities to the dangers of just such a situation. Launching ourselves into the breach with the zeal and commitment only the Greens can muster, the team worked with coastal villagers, cajoled the coast guard, marine pollution authority and even the army to help in containing the spill before it reached inland and hit the fabled Madol Duwa area. Lack of high powered equipment and lack of funds did not deter the teams. Even while they were being sickned by inhaling toxic fumes from the oil, they constructed makeshift barriers using net, mesh and of all things – plantain trees.
	They literally soaped and waters thousands of crustaceans, birds and other creatures in a valiant effort to save the eco-system. Three weeks, hospital visits on rotation, driven into the ground by exhaustion, the area was saved and a terrible disaster averted and the government and many others started reviewing strategy!