Gulf Future: A Unified Action Plan for a Healthy Gulf

The oil spill has passed, and with it, much of the media and public attention to the events of one year ago. Now it’s time to look forward to the future for the Gulf. That’s why I’m excited that our friends at the Gulf Restoration Network (GRN) and dozens of Gulf partners have come together to launch Gulf Future: A Unified Action Plan for a Healthy Gulf.

Here’s more from Dan Favre of GRN in his post: Gulf Future: A Unified Action Plan for a Healthy Gulf
originally posted on the Gulf Restoration Network blog on April 20, 2011

Today, thirty-six organizations unveiled a collaborative effort called Gulf Future: A Unified Action Plan for A Healthy Gulf. The diverse group is made up of fishermen, faith leaders, environmentalists, clean-up workers, and residents who live, work, and play on the Gulf Coast.  The organizations come from all five Gulf Coast states and represent culturally and racially diverse communities.

Divided into four areas of concern – marine restoration and resiliency, coastal restoration and resiliency, community recovery and resiliency, and public health – the Gulf Future action plan expresses immediate goals, including specific demands of Congress, federal agencies, and the Obama administration for a healthy and whole Gulf Coast.

Download the Gulf Future Action Plan or check out www.gulffuture.org for more.

Supporting self-sufficiency along the Bayou

by Evan Ponder, wetland communities advocate and Young Adult Volunteer with Bayou Blue Presbyterian Church in Gray, LA.

This entry concludes our interfaith series of reflections and calls to action around the one year memorial of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and BP oil spill disaster. Stay tuned for more from After the Spill!

One year has passed since the oil disaster began, and we still know relatively little about what the future holds. For the rest of the country, the oil spill is over. Here in Louisiana, we will be dealing with this spill for decades, and it has already begun to change our way of life. What are the long term effects on oysters, crabs and shrimp? What caused the large number of dead dolphin and sea turtles found washed ashore on Gulf Coast beaches? How much oil is at the bottom of the gulf, and will oiled marshes survive? Will people be able to fish again next year, or the year after, or the year after?

Louisiana has long been treated as an environmental sacrifice zone; a place to extract resources for the benefit of the rest of the country, with little thought and care for those who live here. Cancer rates are high, especially for communities near oil refineries and oilfield waste sites. Offshore oil workers and fishermen face some of the highest mortality rates, and the oil spill has compounded an ongoing problem linked to oil and gas activity: the erosion and subsidence of the wetlands. (more…)

The Future of the Gulf Coast

by Sr. Marge Clark, BVM, lobbyist on domestic human needs at NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

This entry is part of our interfaith series of reflections and calls to action around the one year memorial of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and BP oil spill disaster. Find resources to commemorate the memorial in your own community here.

Easter Sunday, April 24, marked the one-year anniversary of the official announcement that the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was leaking oil. One year after the disaster, tourism proponents are touting pristine and sparkling beaches –– evidence that the disaster is behind us – ready for your visit.  However, not all is pristine and much is not healthy.

In recent weeks, oil which settled to coat the ocean floor has come to the surface in hardened globs. Just a month ago new oil slicks were investigated off Grand Isle and Elmer Island in Louisiana. There is continued caution on the part of coastal residents about the health of local shrimp and oysters. The health of the ecological region is still in question and will remain so for decades to come. (more…)

A Rabbi’s Remarks on the One Year Anniversary of the BP Disaster

by Rabbi Edward Paul Cohn, Congregation Temple Sinai, New Orleans, LA
originally posted on the RACblog

This entry is part of our interfaith series of reflections and calls to action around the one year memorial of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and BP oil spill disaster. Find resources to commemorate the memorial in your own community here.

These reflections were delivered by Rabbi Cohn at a sunrise memorial held in New Orleans on April 20.

My dear friends,

One week ago I watched as our granddaughter, Ryann Eliza was brought into this world. Among my emotions and prayerful, urgent thoughts surrounding that unforgettably sweet and wonderful scene, was the fervent prayer:

And please God, may this child inherit a world of healthy air and sea and natural abundance.

On Ryann’s eighth day of life, we have gathered in this prominent place – our backs to the river and gulf but our faces toward the Citadel of faith, of government and commerce – to this day commemorate the first anniversary of the BP spill which was America’s greatest natural disaster in its 235 year history.

People quite rightly are asking: (more…)

For Gulf Coast Residents, the Oil Spill Nightmare Continues

by Patty Whitney
originally posted on God’s Politics

This entry is part of our interfaith series of reflections and calls to action around the one year memorial of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and BP oil spill disaster. Find resources to commemorate the memorial in your own community here. (photo © 2010 International Bird Rescue Research Center)

For three months last year the Gulf Coast oil spill was the major topic of news reports all over the world. From the explosion on April 20, 2010, until the capping of the gushing well on July 15, 2010, the headlines were consumed with images and dialogue about the tragedy unfolding before our very eyes.

Shortly after the news of the capping, the government reported that “most” of the oil was gone, and that things were getting back to normal. The camera crews packed up. The reporters turned in their hotel room keys and gathered their deductible tax receipts. And they all left. Kumbaya, the oil was gone, and the world was normal again. The world could move on to other, more pressing interests. That is … the rest of the world could move on to other, more pressing interests.

For the people of the Gulf Coast the nightmare continues. Oil still washes up daily in marshes and beaches along the coast. Birds and marine animals are dying in unprecedented numbers, and scientists can’t seem to find the cause. (more…)

The Oil Spill Disaster – One Year Later

by Rachel Cohen

This entry is part of our interfaith series of reflections and calls to action around the one year memorial of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and BP oil spill disaster. (photo © 2010 International Bird Rescue Research Center)

This week we mark one year since the Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 men and beginning the dumping of five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. There are dozens of events taking place across the Gulf and across the country (more here) to commemorate the disaster and raise awareness about the on-going impacts of the spill for the environment, economy and health of communities on the Gulf Coast.

Their message: despite the TV ads and media messages, this crisis is not over for the most impacted communities and ecosystems across the region, and we must continue to pay attention and take action. That is why we as faith communities began the After the Spill campaign, and why we will work throughout this anniversary week – and in the weeks and months to come – to focus attention from across the nation on the lasting impacts of the BP oil spill disaster. (more…)

One Year Later – What Oil Spill?

Next week we will commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and BP oil spill, a disaster that killed 11 men and devastated the environment and economy of the Gulf Coast. We’ll feature daily blog posts from faith leaders across the Gulf Coast and across the country on After the Spill throughout the week, so check back often for reflections and calls to action.

However, today I’m struck by two recent New Orleans Times-Picayune articles, both of which express the enormous frustration of Gulf residents at the government, the oil industry and all Americans for our failed response to the spill. The staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune got it right in their recent piece: “A year after the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, Congress has done virtually nothing to address the issues raised by the oil spill — from industry liability limits, to regulatory reform, to coastal restoration, to broader issues of energy policy.” (more…)

Call for letters from the Gulf

Bridge the Gulf, a storytelling initiative focused on economic and environmental justice for the communities of the Gulf Coast, is currently collecting testimonial letters to be delivered during an upcoming series of meetings with congressional leaders. Delegates will hand distribute all letters to federal entities and leaders, and a sampling from each category will be posted online for public viewing.

Faith voices are important to this conversation, and we hope faith leaders across and beyond the Gulf Coast will submit one page letters about their experiences with the oil spill and its long-term impacts. Suggested topics include the impacts of dispersants, the claims process and media coverage of the spill. Letters must be submitted by email by  this Friday, March 11.

For more information about the project and the process, visit Bridge the Gulf’s Call for Letters page.

Videos for the Gulf: Deepwater Deliberations

The latest episode of Gulf Tides, a series of online videos from the Gulf Restoration Network, went live this week. The video features the testimony of coastal residents directly impacted by the oil spill, from environmental scientists to the President of the Louisiana Shrimp Association. The bottom line: both BP and the government have made many promises since the Deepwater Horizon exploded nearly one year ago, but little action has been taken.

It’s time for that to change! We’ve studied the Gulf and watched the harm from natural and man-made causes decimate the coast, and it’s time for a serious response. Watch the video and learn how you can take action today.

And if you need another reminder of why we should act, check out these amazing photos from Bayou Grace Church, where they asked congregants of all ages “Why Should We Save Coastal Louisiana?” Answers range from preserving the state’s natural beauty to stopping hurricane erosion. What’s yours?

Beyond Recovery

(originally posted on RACblog)

(photo courtesy of United Press International)

Remember last summer, when you couldn’t open a newspaper or check your twitter feed without reading about the BP oil spill disaster unfolding in the Gulf? Ten months later, the story is out of sight for the media, but the continuing economic and environmental impacts of the oil are not out of the minds of activists, elected officials or people of faith across the Gulf Coast and across the country.

For these residents and advocates, the message is clear: government action is still needed to restore the environment and economy of the Gulf and to prevent a future disaster on a coast near you. Alabama Senator Shelby testified recently on the continued impacts of the spill for his home state, speaking of the hits to the Alabama economy from lost fishing, recreation and tourism dollars and the on-going impacts likely to result from the spill. Senator Shelby called for allocated resources for restoration efforts and spoke of the need to “put in place mechanisms to assist them with rebuilding and restoration efforts as the Gulf continues to recover from this disaster.” (more…)