Rubin had been involved in some activism prior to 1969 . However , the turning point for her came during the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill , which began on January 28 , 1969 and became the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history at the time . The spill , which lasted for eleven days and polluted the Santa Barbara Channel with almost 100,000 barrels of crude oil , killed thousands of seabirds and other aquatic wildlife . She , along with thousands of other volunteers , responded to the spill , which galvanized her environmental activism . In 1970 , she successfully led a voter campaign to preserve the Gaviota Coast of California from a proposal to build 1,535 condos in the area
1969 Santa Barbara oil spill
1969 Santa Barbara oil spill
Selma Rubin