Help Cherri Foytlin get on the Colbert Report

Looking for an easy way to stay engaged in Gulf Coast Advocacy? Do you check Facebook daily (don’t we all!)? Activist Cherri Foytlin (who many After the Spill partners met on her Road to Washington walk), is working to keep the BP oil disaster and its effects on human health and the ecosystem in the national spotlight – and you can help.

Cherri is hoping to get her message out through The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, and it’s easy to support Cherri’s effort. Just “like” The Colbert Report’s facebook page, then click on “most recent” comments (just under the pictures at the top of the page). Scroll down to Cherri’s post, on May 31, “Like” what Cherri said and add your own comment. Let’s get Cherri in front of an incredible national audience to tell her inspiring story!

What do YOU Want to Know About the Gulf?

One key to an effective campaign is meeting people were they are on an issue – and that’s what After the Spill is doing today! We have hosted five field update calls to date, covering topics including the mental health impacts of the spill, Gulf Coast housing and more. Our next call is up to you!

The oil spill has so many varied impacts and it’s hard to keep up with everything happening on the Gulf Coast, but here are some ideas of what our next call  could cover:

• health impacts of the oil and dispersant
• on-going challenges to the fishing and seafood industries
• progress on coastal and marine restoration
• community organizing on the Gulf Coast
• something else entirely?

Leave your comment below and let us know what you want to learn more about on our summer update call – and we’ll plan accordingly. Thanks for supporting After the Spill!

Gulf Advocates Storm the Hill

(photo credit Jeffrey Dubinsky)

After the Spill coalition partners joined advocates from all five Gulf states this week as they traveled to Washington, D.C. to introduce “Gulf Future: A Unified Action Plan for a Healthy Gulf.” The plan, developed by dozens of Gulf groups, proposes specific steps to restore coastal and marine environments damaged by the BP spill disaster, and to improve the public health and resiliency of communities across the Gulf.

The advocates – a diverse group of environmentalists, businesspeople, and fishing community representatives – made their case to Representatives and Senators from across the Gulf Coast and on key House and Senate committees. Their message, according to one local newspaper account: “support efforts to help the region recover from last year’s oil spill and to back legislation giving their states most of the money BP will pay in fines.”

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Sing Out for the Gulf

There are many ways to raise our voices for environmental and economic justice on the Gulf Coast, and I’m thankful for the recent contribution of Dan Schatz, a Unitarian minister and folk-singer who calls for a clean energy future through his songs. His most recent song, “The Promise of the Sowing,” recounts the horrors of the BP spill and other dirty energy disasters.  Check out the video today and share your thoughts on how you speak out – or sing out – for what you care about in the comments section.

Thanks to the Unitarian Universalist Association and Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth for sharing this inspirational video and the work of their  Sacred Waters campaign.

Speak out on the NRDA Process

The Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) process, which aims to assess the damage done to the Gulf and its resources from the BP oil disaster, is now underway. The NRDA process is critical for identifying restoration projects that will receive funding to heal the Gulf and repair the environmental damage wrought by the BP spill.

Now is the time for residents from across the Gulf to speak out, urging NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco to ensure that responsible parties are held fully accountable and that the restoration process prioritizes projects that improve resiliency and sustainability of coastal communities and resources and create new restoration jobs. Check out this sample alert from the Sierra Club for a template letter to NOAA, and be sure to customize the letter with your personal story.

The deadline for comments is May 18: add your voice today!

Blue Vision Summit in Washington: May 20-23

The Blue Vision summit is a gathering of 500 leaders from the marine community including government officials, advocates and scientific experts. Restoring the Gulf will be a major theme of this year’s Blue Vision summit, which takes place in Washington D.C. May 20-23, 2011. Other themes include protecting endangered waters and seeing the President’s new Ocean Policy enacted in areas where people are already working for change and making the links between a healthy ocean and healthy economy.

The summit aims to strengthen the coalition of advocates for healthy oceans, and will include a Capitol Hill Ocean Advocacy Day on Monday. For more information and registration, visit www.bluefront.org.

Failing to Move Forward on Energy

by Rachel Cohen
(originally posted on RACblog)