Oil Spills Into T-Shirts

Posted on September 7, 2010
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By Lauren Keane-Farrell

Fed up with the situation in the gulf, a man from Kansas printed it on a t-shirt. Steve Brooker is using oil from the Gulf to print t-shirts and create necklaces. Even better, some of the proceeds from the sales go towards wildlife groups.
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The ink used to print the t-shirts message is made from a combination of reclaimed oil from the Gulf and ink. The necklaces come with a vial of oil. The prices start at $20 with $5 going towards one of three wildlife groups chosen by the buyer: Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, National Wildlife Federation or the National Audubon Society.

Brooker says about the necklaces, “These keepsake necklaces remind everyone you’ve taken one small step to help clean up the Gulf. All long journeys begin one step at a time.”

The amounts of oil used to create these shirts and necklaces is small, but according to the website they are supposed to be symbolic and show that by purchasing you can do your part to clean up the Gulf.

Check out I Helped Clean Up The Gulf Oil Spill for more information and to make purchases!

Ballad of the Black Gold

Posted on September 7, 2010
Filed Under Green Celebs, oil spill | Leave a Comment

By Brandon Rose

Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek equal one of the most creative and dynamic hip hop MC/Producer duos in the industry, Reflection Eternal. They recently released a video of the track “Ballad of the Black Gold” from their latest album “Revolutions per Minute.” It is incredibly relevant to the BP oil spill in the Gulf.

The intelligent music creators wrote the song after a trip to Nigeria:

“Just seeing how our dependency on oil really cripples a whole country like that where you have people with Polio in Nigeria, you know. … I think the cure is something like $.15 for a Polio shot and people don’t have it out there because they’re just so poor and our dependency on oil contributes to that. … I wasn’t trying to be really topical but I did want to relate to what people were dealing with. And it’s my challenge as an MC to talk about topical sort of heady things but in a way that’s completely engrossing and entertaining.”

It’s good to see celebrities promoting an important message like this one. There are a lot of fans that look up to their favorite music artists and when they see a video like this one, it can really reach a lot of people. The lyrics are relevant and moving as well. Check them out by clicking on the link below.

Ballad of the Black Gold lyrics: Click Here

Here is some commentary about the video:

Sea Turtles Harmed in Clean up of the Gulf

Posted on September 7, 2010
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By Alison Shapiro

Reports are surfacing of endangered sea turtles such as the Kemps Ridley turtle being burned alive during BP’s burning of spilled oil in the gulf. If this is true, BP will be environmentally guilty on two counts: the gulf coast oil spill and the killing of endangered species during clean up of the oil spill. A ship captain named Mike Ellis claims that he has seen sea turtles being burned alive during the burning of oil in the gulf and that BP has blocked workers from rescuing the turtles. Ellis begins discussing the sea turtles being burned in clean up efforts around the 1:30 mark:

Turtles get caught up in the oil because they mistake oil puddles for sargassum seaweed that floats near the surface, like the oil does. The seaweed is the turtles’ natural hiding spot from predators. This unfortunately causes turtles to congregate at or just below the oil puddles and be more susceptible to burning. The Gulf of Mexico has five endangered turtle species at risk of being burned and killed in the area. Unless BP is more careful and workers are allowed full access to retrieve turtles before oil is burned, these turtles will become even more endangered and we will have another environmental issue on our hands.

My Gulf Action in today’s New York Times

Posted on July 13, 2010
Filed Under Carbon Footprints, Energy Effienciency Tips, my gulf action, oil spill | Leave a Comment

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Did you pick up a print copy of the New York Times today? On page A17 you’ll find an ad for My Gulf Action, SmartPower’s latest campaign, which you can join for free at www.MyGulfAction.com.

What is My Gulf Action? We know many Americans are frustrated and angry about the Gulf oil spill and are yearning for ways to take positive action. My Gulf Action helps anyone do just that. Create a free account (powered by Climate Culture, which also supported SmartPower’s award-winning America’s Greenest Campus campaign) and get access to hundreds of ways to track — and reduce — your personal energy use.

Pledge to become more energy efficient and we’ll show you how much fossil fuel you’re saving. Then we’ll aggregate your fossil fuel reductions with others, adding them to a real-time counter on the homepage that shows how much of the oil leaking into the Gulf is being offset by the My Gulf Action community.

My Gulf Action is where our clean energy revolution begins! Join today.

Members of Congress release citizens’ pleas to President Obama: Stop new offshore drilling!

Posted on July 12, 2010
Filed Under Green Celebs, News, Uncategorized, oil spill | Leave a Comment

By Brandon Rose

Environment America joined with members of Congress in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, June 29, to release more than 400,000 comments from citizens all around the U.S. asking President Obama to protect our oceans and coasts from the expansion of offshore drilling. The comments were submitted on the president’s next five-year Drilling Plan from 2012 to 2017, a day before the close of the comment period.

interOceana, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Greenpeace, MoveOn, League of Conservation Voters and Ocean Champions collected the boxes of citizens’ comments that sat behind the respected speakers. The comments came from emails, door-to-door canvassing in coastal areas, and post cards. Representative Pallone, D-NJ, Representative Castor, D-FL, Representative Garamendi, D-CA, all spoke about the need for our country to stop our oil addiction, new offshore drilling, and move to less risky renewable energy.

Anna Aurillo, Director of the Washington Office of Environment America, said:

This past weekend we saw Hands Across the Sand events held on Saturday at more than 900 beaches around the country and the world – the largest ever public demonstration against offshore drilling. Today, more than 400,000 citizens are sending a loud and clear message to the President that his plan to expand offshore drilling to new coasts is a bad idea. Instead of more drills and spills, we want more windmills and to end our dependence on oil.

Under provisions in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), the president of the U.S. may administratively withdraw entire planning areas from consideration for easing the nation’s drilling plan. Former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton have used this power to protect areas of the U.S. coast from drilling.

We need to learn from our mistakes, now! There needs to be oil reform, just like there was reform on Wall Street. BP has been prioritizing profits over safety. Therefore, the government needs to step in and reform before another environmental disaster occurs.

Congressman Garamendi said:

“Do we need any more of a lesson than what we now see in the Gulf of Mexico? Yet in the halls of this Congress, there are many representatives that have not learned,” Congressman Garamendi said. “The Republican Party is still saying ‘drill, baby, drill’ when we know it’s really ’spill, baby, spill.’ Today 400,000 Americans are sending the powerful message that there are better alternatives.”

“It’s time for us to move away from a dependence on oil. As long as we continue to seek that oil fix, we’ll continue the addiction,” Garamendi added. “What if instead of massive oil subsidies and the inevitable cost of spill cleanup, we instead invested in renewable energy and conservation? Where would we be? We’re making choices here, and those choices determine whether we’ll have an ability to break our addiction to oil.”

Rep. Castor explained that this disaster is costing Florida more than $10 billion dollars because of its economic dependence on tourism, clean beaches, and fishing. This is especially tough on Florida since America’s economic recession. BP’s Tony Hayward tells the public that this disaster is 1 in a million. However, there have been 126 blowouts in Mexico since 1971. If BP spent $20 Billion on research in renewable energy like wind turbines and solar energy instead of cleaning up the oil they spilled in the Gulf, we would be getting our energy safer without having to drill deep into our oceans. These operations are proven to be risky and we need to make sure that this BP oil spill is the last great example of why our country needs to move to renewable energy.

For further reading: Congressman Garamendi’s Site

Please share your comments below.

BP’s New Oil Cap to be Placed over Spill Site Monday

Posted on July 12, 2010
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By Alison Shapiro

oil-spill2BP is now announcing that a cap will be placed on the oil spill site by Monday. This cap is separate from the cap that BP is still working on which will fill in the broken wellhead with mud and cement in order to permanently stop the leak. Tests will be done in order to ensure that the cap has stopped all oil spewing out of the main leak site and to make sure that oil is not coming from any other leak site.

The cap will be replacing an old cap that BP already placed over the spill, and will not be a permanent fix because the cap will not stop all oil from leaking out. As reported earlier, BP estimates that the permanent relief well could be put into place by the end of July, while others estimate the relief well being put into place by mid-August. As of last Monday, the temporary cap, known as ‘Top Hat 10,’ was 300 feet away from the leak connecting point. A delay that occurred with the vessel called the Helix Producer, which is supposed to collect oil coming from the spill to be sold and used, has caused the operation to begin a day later than was planned and BP execs as well as Americans are waiting for this spill to finally come to an end.

Photo: Flickr

BP says Gulf Spill can be stopped before August

Posted on July 9, 2010
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By Alison Shapiro

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BP managing director Bob Dudley is saying that a relief well could be put into place by the end of July. The well would be used to shoot mud and cement through the leak site in order to stop the oil from continuing to gush into the Gulf.

Government estimates for this solution were for mid-August, so BP’s estimate seems to be a bit optimistic. Dudley’s estimates don’t seem very realistic: He claims that the oil flow could be stopped by late July in a “perfect world,” disregarding weather changes, wave height, and any other uncontrollable factors. The uncertainty that is surrounding the Gulf Coast situation is probably the reason that BP is attempting to churn out the right answers — even if they may be overestimating their capabilities.

We will have to see in the coming weeks what happens with the relief well, but hopefully the “relief” for this oil spill is coming soon and BP’s estimates aren’t too far-reaching.

Photo: Flickr

Hurricane Alex worsens oil spill

Posted on July 8, 2010
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By Brandon Rose

oil-soaked-wave

The BP oil spill is nearing the 140 million gallon mark based on the federal government’s estimates. This will set a new record for the largest oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The 1970-1980 Ixtoc I spill off Mexico’s coast, which leaked 139 million gallons into the seas, has held the record so far. The growing total is vital to track, because BP will likely be fined per gallon spilled, Larry McKinney, director of Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi’s Gulf of Mexico research institute, told the AP.

To make things worse, Hurricane Alex is slowing the containment efforts by creating high winds and rough seas. Many of the collection boats have been called off due to safety. The storm has already shifted parts of the slick closer to sensitive area in Florida and Louisiana, and could also push the oil deeper into fragile coastal wetlands.

A clean up worker Otis Butler said:

“We’ve been steady busy until today,” Otis Butler said. “Now we’re mostly standing around and looking around. We just find things to do when we can today. But once this is over, I bet we’ll be twice as busy.”

President Obama was scheduled to meet with senior U.S. officials on Thursday to review the spill situation and oil containment plans, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

For the latest news on the Oil Spill: CNN This Just In

Hands Across the Sand

Posted on July 6, 2010
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By Lauren Keane-Farrell

beach

Can thousands of people across the world stand united against offshore drilling? On Saturday, June 26, they did just that.

Hands Across the Sand was a worldwide event that brought people together by having them hold hands at 12 p.m. for 15 minutes. Most of the events took places on beaches, to solidify the message of protecting our beaches from offshore drilling disasters. However, people that live far away from beaches found other places to meet. Facebook groups played a large part in bringing everyone together.

750 gatherings were planned, some as far away as Australia, to show solidarity against our dependence on oil and bringing attention to the urgency of convincing politicians to adopt policies that pursue clean and renewable energy.

Magnolia Springs into Action

Posted on June 10, 2010
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By Erin Molon

While many of us are stunned at the devastation of the oil spill, unsure of how to respond, residents of a small town in Alabama are taking matters into their own hands.

According to Fox News, Magnolia Springs has decided to rent 9 barges (for the bill of $6,000 a day) to block of their local bay. These barges protect against waves that might disrupt several lines of boom that surround the area. After one line of boom was set up near their area and was ruined within days of its placement, this is an investment that their community sees as a necessity.

Although the town was willing to go ahead with or without government permission, the community has received the go-ahead to try their method of protection and have received $200,000 in grant money to help fund the initiative. Local firemen and community members are behind setting up this barrier and are doing so to protect the community and lifestyle that they love.

The video below shows an up close look at the Magnolia Springs community, the wildlife, and the wall they hope will protect it all:

It’s times like these that make me proud to be an American. We are a people that are willing to take matters into our own hands, instead of waiting around for someone else to fix it. This tragedy shows the fallibility of both large corporations and the government and should be a wake-up call to many who rely on either. While both may have resources, we the people are who provide them with our consumerism and tax dollars, and we are the ones who have a voice to make a change in their courses.

Small-town heroes like those in Magnolia Springs should be an inspiration to all that we can get involved and take action! From buying Dawn soap — which is being used to clean birds — to using less oil and investing in clean energy, there IS something you can do.

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