Gulf Earth Month (HealthyGulf)
Louisiana/GulfCoast, Recovery, Technology & Science
April 4th, 2012
HealthyGulf.org
April is Earth Month, and throughout the country, people will be celebrating the wonders of our natural environment and working hard to protect the planet. For the Gulf, April is also a month of memorializing the on-going BP oil disaster that began on April 20, 2010.
The Gulf still needs the support of the nation, and Gulf Restoration Network is asking citizens around the country to join in Gulf Earth Month! Gulf Earth Month will be filled with education, sharing, and action. So here’s the plan (after the jump):
Social Media:
This week, we’re asking all GRN supporter to like GRN on Facebook, follow @healthygulf on twitter, and your friends
to do the same. Many of the activities over the month will be occurring
online, and we need your help to reach as many people as possible.
Everyone needs to know that the oil is still here and the oil disaster
continues. From bacteria-filled tarballs and gooey oil coming ashore
to more and more scientific reports detailing damages to the Gulf
environment, there is still much work to be done restoring the Gulf.
Aggregating scientific reports paints a bleak picture of the state of
the Gulf’s ecosystem. Dead dolphins continue to wash ashore in record
numbers and dolphin sicknesses have been linked to BP’s oil; deep water corals have been severely damaged; traces of oil have infiltrated the food chain; fewer whale sharks are being spotted in the Gulf; Gulf killfish, an important bait fish, are showing gill damage
(sublethal impacts lead to the complete collapse of the herring fishery
four years after the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound,
Alaska); and fish are being caught with lesions and bacterial
infections. Who knows what the long-term damage may be . . .
Congress Returns from Vacation:
On April 16 and 17, the Senate
and House of Representatives get back from a two-week recess, and it’s
time to focus on solutions for the Gulf. The RESTORE Act’s path to passage was complicated
before the break, but it’s imperative that Congress pass the
legislation that will direct 80% of BP’s Clean Water Act fines to the
Gulf restoration. They’ll also need to help ensure this sort of disaster
never happens again by establishing a Gulf of Mexico Regional Citizen’s
Advisory Council to give local impacted communities a voice in making
sure oil and gas companies are operating safely.
We’ll be asking
you to send “welcome back” messages to your elected officials, continue
sharing the PSA, and the caption contest will continue until April
20th.
Continue reading—>
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