My friend Jen is a native of the Gulf Coast and was directly involved in mobilizing medical care for people affected by Hurricane Katrina. She’s now spearheading an enormous effort to mobilize individuals to participate in getting the Gulf Coast cleaned up…now!
This is a completely grassroots effort to do something besides waiting on big government bureaucracies or relying on BP to take action by using toxic materials.
There’s a website with more information on possible solutions that can be implemented and information on how you can donate to help purchase non-toxic materials to rapidly devour the oil and turn it into dirt while compensating local fishermen, charter captains, etc. to disperse the cleanup materials.
In addition to donating, please post this on your blog, tweet it, buzz it, Facebook it–whatever it takes to get the word out, especially to those who live on the Gulf Coast and have boots on the ground.
Here’s the email I received from Jen:
Dear Friends,
It’s Friday on Memorial Day Weekend. How hard will the Oil Spill weigh on your mind this weekend? Do something before you leave today!! And share this message with everyone you know, encouraging them to get involved and give – today!
Like the rest of my friends and family on the coast, I’ve never been one to sit and wait for anyone to take care of me. The problem in the wake of the BP oil catastrophe in our Gulf of Mexico, is that no one knows really how to “take care of this”. That stops now. I’m done watching in horror as BP makes a bad situation worse with the toxic dispersant Corexit, destroying and forever altering life as we know, life as the delicate sea creatures in the Gulf know it. And I’m done watching the government, USCG and local officials do their dance around BP, talking a good game but accomplishing very little. I’m done watching images of the marshes and wetlands die, and doing nothing about it.
You can join me. You must join me. This morning my team launched: http://cleanthegulfnow.org/ which is a site dedicated to educating the public with the truth about the oil spill and behind the scenes information BP doesn’t want us to know. We are issuing a call to action to contact your local representative to demand BP stop using Corexit immediately, demand they start buying products we already know work (like the Aabaco product described on the site), and demand that the USCG step aside and allow access for all citizens (including and especially the press) to the damaged site to document and tell us all the truth about the extent of damage.
Finally, and most importantly, we are collecting donations to purchase these nontoxic remedies ourselves and will utilize local, out of work fisherman and charter captains to put the product out along affected coastline. Aabaco can produce product at a daily rate that will cost $150,000 each day to buy all they have. Add shipping and compensation for the fishermen who will be dispersing and my goal is to raise a minimum $500,000/day. Any excess will be used to purchase new products we learn about which are safe and nontoxic as well. Information can be found on the site above. The sooner we start collecting the sooner we can start placing orders and using the product. Our goal is to deploy product JUNE 5.
Please – get involved. We need help on this in multiple ways. The $500,000/day goal is ambitious, but I know we can do it. Call your contacts at gulf coast businesses who are impacted. Call everyone you know. Send this email to everyone you know. If people gave at a rate of $100 each day, we’d only need 5,000 people donating. I know there are FAR more people across our country who would jump at the chance to donate to a cause that went directly to cleaning up the coast.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cleanthegulfnow
Finally – share your ideas, questions and thoughts with us. We need you all. Together we are better.
Remember the words of Margaret Mead:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Thank you all!
Jen