People of Faith Agree: Gulf States Deserve BP Fines

It’s a critical time for the future of the Gulf with conversations taking place all over Capitol Hill on efforts to protect and restore coastal ecosystems and communities and enhance offshore drilling safety. That’s why, next Monday, July 25, Gulf groups and people of diverse faith nationwide will join together in calling on the Senate to pass the RESTORE Act (S. 861) and create a  Regional Citizens Advisory Council for the Gulf. You can help – make the call on July 25.

The RESTORE Act is needed now to ensure that Clean Water Act penalties resulting from the spill are invested in restoring Gulf ecosystems and communities. A recent op-ed from evangelical Christian leaders explains why this is an issue of justice for the Gulf. As the Rev. Mitch Hescox, president of the Evangelical Environmental Network (an After the Spill campaign partner), and Dr. Randy Brinson, president of the Alabama Christian Coalition, explain, “We need to support Gulf Coast residents and clean up the economic and environmental disaster. There can be no room for theoretical debates as whole communities are at stake.”

They go on to say, “We must ensure — now and in the future — that legal fines resulting from any ecological disaster provide for those impacted, and are not simply held in trust or deposited into the treasury.” We could not agree more – read the  op-ed today and get ready to take action as part of next week’s call-in blitz for the Gulf!

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.

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…)

Don’t be crude: End our oil addiction

by Dan Misleh, executive director, Catholic Coalition on Climate Change

The following is excerpted from a piece originally posted on U.S. Catholic: A Conversation with American Catholics

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.

It’s time to get the petroleum monkey off our backs.

Hello, my name is Dan, and I’m addicted to oil.

I recently looked around me to catalog all the things made from oil…The plastics list is endless.

…As we near the first anniversary of the Gulf Coast oil spill, I hope we can all acknowledge our addiction and—for the sake of the planet and the unpleasant fact that we will eventually run out of fossil fuels—seek help to get clean and sober. (more…)

Methodists Celebrate Earth Sunday

by Samuel Ahn, Economic & Environmental Justice, General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church
(learn more on the UMC-GBCS Earth Day Resource Page)

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.

April presents a unique opportunity for all who have a deep concern for God’s Creation. It is especially poignant for those in the Christian tradition. For Christians, the period of Holy Week this year brings not only the celebration of the resurrection of Christ, but also an opportunity for Christians to celebrate the Festival of God’s Creation/Earth Day Sunday. As a matter of fact, Earth Day Sunday, typically celebrated the first Sunday after Earth Day, falls on Easter Sunday, April 24.

Easter Sunday is also the first Sunday after the first anniversary of the Gulf Coast oil disaster. The long, painful drama of summer 2010 began with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, the death of 11 persons, and the subsequent sinking of the entire rig on April 22, 2010.

This juxtaposition of a celebration of resurrection against a remembrance of death and destruction presents an opportunity for congregations. It is important to recognize the importance of Easter and what it means for our Christian faith. But, we cannot ignore the implications of our actions on the lives of our brothers and sisters, as well as on God’s good Creation. (more…)

Remembering the 11 Lives Lost

by Rev. Dr. Cory Sparks, Chair, Commission on Stewardship of the Environment of the Louisiana Interchurch Conference.

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.

On April 20, the Sierra Club held an interfaith memorial service on the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster. Dozens of New Orleans residents met for a sunrise service in the Washington Artillery Park, between Jackson Square and the Mississippi River. Rev. Sparks’ prepared remarks remember the 11 men killed:

Dozens die every year in the oilfield. Their deaths don’t get much coverage, maybe a paragraph or two in the back pages of the paper – stories about a helicopter crash, an explosion, or some other little noticed horror. The deaths on the Deepwater Horizon drew far more attention because of their sheer number. But they quickly became the prologue to a greater drama as the life of the Gulf and the livelihoods of thousands were thrown into question. (more…)

The Way We Treat Ourselves: Reflections on the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

by Christine Elliott, Franciscan Action Network

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.

During Holy Week, we experience the climax of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. This year, we remember the anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Wednesday of Holy Week and Earth Day on Good Friday.

Last week, FAN volunteer Br. Jeff Wilson, TOR and members Sr. Marie Lucey, OSF (Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia) and Susan Burns (in formation with the Secular Franciscan Order) joined FAN staff member Christy Elliott to meet and learn from Cherri Foytlin and Drew Landry, who walked from Louisiana to Washington, DC as part of a “Road to Washington” journey to raise awareness about the ongoing effects of the oil spill, including health problems. Drew explained that the trip had been a “spiritual journey” for the group and compared someone chained to a tree or gas pump to someone arrested outside an abortion clinic, citing the “same passion for life” which motivates efforts to protect. Expressing a desire to bring those committed to life together, Drew asked, “How do we make human life, or any life, more important than profit?”

(more…)

Remembrance of the Gulf Oil Spill

by the Advocacy Ministries of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
originally posted on Voices for Change

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.

This week, as we pause to remember Christ’s death on the cross and the redemption and hope of the risen Christ on Easter Sunday, we also mark another anniversary.

On April 20, 2010 an oil explosion killed 11 people in the Gulf of Mexico and erupted into one of the worst man-made disasters our nation has ever faced.  By the time British Petroleum (BP) managed to cap the oil well located below the Deepwater Horizon rig, more than four million barrels of oil had gushed into the Gulf of Mexico.

(more…)

Truly a Blessed People

by Tyler Edgar, National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Program

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.

John 20:24-27 reads:

Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said,“Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

This week’s Lenten scripture speaks to the power of faith and the importance of Easter and Christ’s resurrection. With this week also the one year anniversary of the Gulf Oil Spill, I can’t help but think about this scripture passage in the context of the Gulf Coast, its communities, its culture, and its path to recovery. In John 20:29 Jesus asks “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

(more…)