Posted by Ethereal Zephyr at 10:46pm May 4 '10Spinoff on the BP Oil Spill thread. Please, guys, if you can spare ten bucks, text "WILDLIFE" to 20222. It goes straight to the National Wildlife Federation. If you can spare more (or less! even $5 helps!), please go check them out at www.nwf.org and donate whatever you can afford. This is an environmental catastrophe beyond anything in our American history. Every dollar sent to cleanup helps.
If you can't spare funds, consider sparing a moment to compose a letter to your representatives and tot eh White House urging them to renew the offshore drilling moratorium and to earnestly pursue renewable, clean energy regardless of Big Oil's desires. This disaster was preventable! It could have been and should have been. Beyond that, however, the Gulf had failsafes and containment protocols in place. We see how well that has worked so far. 1.6 million gallons have already spilled into the Gulf with another 210,000 spilling daily. This may continue for another 90 DAYS. If this system had containment and failsafe measures, what will happen in the Arctic where such equipment and protocols don't exist? So please, please send a letter or a call. Defenders of Wildlife has a lovely email form letter right on their home page (www.defenders.org) with no donation required.
400 species will be impacted by this spill including whale sharks, Kemp's ridley sea turtles (over 20 found dead so far), sea [private]s, egrets, coral, and many other rare, endangered, or vulnerable species. 70% of North American songbirds migrate through this area, and they rely on coastal wetlands as stopover points once they pass the Gulf. Many of them won't survive the season directly due to this disaster. Songbirds are in a sharp decline anyway, and this will NOT help them.
Please, I implore you friends and community members, please do whatever you can to help. If you're in a position to do so, NWF is training volunteers in cleanup procedures. Consider volunteering.
And if you live in a coastal area, please remember: DO NOT attempt to rescue imperiled or injured wildlife. They may do you great harm, or you may hurt them. For your safety and theirs, please call the Oiled Wildlife hotline at 866-557-1401 if you see wildlife you suspect have been affected by this catastrophe. They'll get trained staff out the handle the situation.
Thanks for reading. I appreciate the time and concern.
If you can't spare funds, consider sparing a moment to compose a letter to your representatives and tot eh White House urging them to renew the offshore drilling moratorium and to earnestly pursue renewable, clean energy regardless of Big Oil's desires. This disaster was preventable! It could have been and should have been. Beyond that, however, the Gulf had failsafes and containment protocols in place. We see how well that has worked so far. 1.6 million gallons have already spilled into the Gulf with another 210,000 spilling daily. This may continue for another 90 DAYS. If this system had containment and failsafe measures, what will happen in the Arctic where such equipment and protocols don't exist? So please, please send a letter or a call. Defenders of Wildlife has a lovely email form letter right on their home page (www.defenders.org) with no donation required.
400 species will be impacted by this spill including whale sharks, Kemp's ridley sea turtles (over 20 found dead so far), sea [private]s, egrets, coral, and many other rare, endangered, or vulnerable species. 70% of North American songbirds migrate through this area, and they rely on coastal wetlands as stopover points once they pass the Gulf. Many of them won't survive the season directly due to this disaster. Songbirds are in a sharp decline anyway, and this will NOT help them.
Please, I implore you friends and community members, please do whatever you can to help. If you're in a position to do so, NWF is training volunteers in cleanup procedures. Consider volunteering.
And if you live in a coastal area, please remember: DO NOT attempt to rescue imperiled or injured wildlife. They may do you great harm, or you may hurt them. For your safety and theirs, please call the Oiled Wildlife hotline at 866-557-1401 if you see wildlife you suspect have been affected by this catastrophe. They'll get trained staff out the handle the situation.
Thanks for reading. I appreciate the time and concern.