Gulf Restoration Network - Blogging for a Healthy Gulf of Mexico

SOUND A CALL TO THE CANDIDATES: DEBATE IN NEW ORLEANS FOR OUR COAST AND COMMUNITIES

2008-07-16T11:17:00.002-05:00

Outrageous cartoons, foreign policy differences, oil drilling flip-flops, the fight for the White House is really underway. With Louisiana's Governor Bobby Jindal in the running for the McCain veepstakes the Republican contender seems to spend a lot of time in Louisiana, but it is

SUMMER ALONG THE NATURE COAST

2008-07-09T15:48:00.007-05:00

Summer along the Nature Coast of Florida is defined by movement and change. Manatees leave the spring fed rivers that provide them warmth in the winter and wander up and down the coast. Swallowtail Kites are here for the summer nesting and they swoop and soar over the landscape. If we get the rains we need the black water rivers swell and rise, and flow strongly out into the coastal marshes

DEAD ZONE INACTION

2008-06-30T11:24:00.009-05:00

Scientists now believe this year’s Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico may be the largest on record due to the high water levels of the Mississippi River. Yet, the Dead Zone Task Force continues to avoid taking firm steps to pressure upriver states to reduce their fertilizer runoff – the leading cause of the Dead Zone. The Dead Zone forms as high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous pollution pour

GRN GOES TO BONNAROO!

2008-06-24T14:44:00.011-05:00

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee featured not only one of the most eclectic line-ups you were likely to find this summer (Sigur Ros! Kanye West! Metallica!), but it was also home to a veritable wonderland of non-profits and green resources aimed at heightening the global consciousness of concert goers. Among those groups was the GRN. With Stephanie Powell as

DEFEND OUR COAST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

2008-06-10T09:23:00.002-05:00

Check out the latest video from the GRN video team. This documentary short gives an update to Washing Away, the documentary shown at last year's Katrinaversary parties, on the issue of wetland loss in coastal Louisiana and the need to halt this coastal crisis. Features Kerry St. Pe of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, the late Shea Penland of the University of New Orleans, and

KNOCK KNOCK...WHO'S THERE? A HEALTHIER GULF!

2008-06-09T10:53:00.003-05:00

This Summer, the Gulf Restoration Network crew has been expanding -- kind of like the Dead Zone, except focused on a HEALTHIER Gulf of Mexico. We've set up an outreach office in the University area of New Orleans, and hired dozens of college students from LSU, Tulane and other campuses to fan out through the Baton Rouge, New Orleans and North Shore area, and alert the general public to the

ENVIRONMENTAL LOBBY DAY AT LOUISIANA’S CAPITOL

2008-05-27T15:29:00.001-05:00

It was the most successful environmental lobby day in Louisiana history! Over fifty citizen activists were in attendance for the release of the Environmental Briefing Book (www.labriefingbook.org) which each activist was to deliver to their Legislator. The book was prepared by “a coalition of groups and individuals who are passionate about providing good air to breathe, protecting our rights

SOMETHING STINKS IN HATTIESBURG

2008-05-27T10:43:00.004-05:00

A disgusting odor has been permeating the city of Hattiesburg, MS lately. For awhile, the city public works department claimed it didn't know the cause, but most everyone who smelled it knew that it smelled a lot like sewage. It turns out that the city's sewage lagoons are to blame. There is more to the story, though. The lagoons, which are a very basic type of sewage treatment most commonly

SHELL: HEAR THE MUSIC

2008-05-20T16:41:00.006-05:00

New Orleans native, and creator of the most famous Play-Doh figure this side of Gumby, Walter Williams is a documentary filmmaker, frequent GRN collaborator, and perhaps best known for Mr. Bill of classic Saturday Night Live fame. Walter and GRN worked together on our "Hear The Music" campaign targeting Shell at Jazzfest. Here's Walter's post from the fest: The final Sunday of the last

AVEDA SALONS UNITE FOR A HEALTHY GULF

2008-05-08T13:48:00.004-05:00

Throughout the month of April, Aveda salons across the Southeast have been busy raising money for the GRN. The funds raised will support our work to protect clean water. Please visit your local Aveda salon and thank them for their hard work and commitment to a healthy Gulf. These are just a few photos from the hundreds of events that were held across the region: Joe Murphy of the GRN joins

HEADING TO JAZZFEST TODAY? LOOK UP!

2008-05-04T08:17:00.002-05:00

Heading to Jazz Fest today? If you're there or in the neighborhood, keep an eye on the sky and check out our message to Shell, the sponsor of the event. We're going to have a plane flying a banner over the festivities, reading: Shell, hear the music. Fix the coast you broke! As you well know, Louisiana loses a football field worth of vital coastal wetlands every 45 minutes. Did you

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: DOGWOOD ALLIANCE

2008-04-28T15:24:00.005-05:00

The Dogwood Alliance, an amazing organization that works to hold corporations accountable for the impact of their industrial forestry practices on the forests and communities of the South, is launching a new campaign. Read more in the following blog post from Dogwood's Organizing Director, Eva Hernandez. DOGWOOD KICKS OFF NEW CAMPAIGN AND WEBSITE Check out the new campaign website:

ADVENTURES IN VICKSBURG: DUMPING THE PUMPS

2008-04-24T10:22:00.007-05:00

On Thursday, April 17 we loaded fourteen of us into a van and a car and drove up to Vicksburg for a hearing on the Yazoo Pumps project. Vicksburg is a 3.5 hour drive from New Orleans, so we were prepared for a long day, though I don’t think any of us expected it to be as long as it was. The public hearing started at 7pm at the Vicksburg Convention Center. As our group sat down, one of our

MISSISSIPPI RESIDENTS TAKE STAND AGAINST SALT DOMES PROJECT

2008-04-13T13:19:00.005-05:00

I just got back from a public hearing on the Richton Salt Domes project on April 10, and the turnout was incredible. Somewhere between 250 and 300 Mississippi coast residents turned out to speak out against this destructive pork project. There were landowners, fishermen, industrialists, scientists, environmentalists, and many more people who wouldn’t fit into any category, but are concerned

ARE WE BEING FOSSIL FOOLED?

2008-04-11T13:52:00.002-05:00

On April 1st Tulane’s Environmental Action League joined thousands of people around the world in a day of protest against the fossil fuel industry. Fossil Fools Day, organized by the Energy Action Coalition and a number of other international environmental groups, boasted protests, acts of civil disobedience, green job rallies, and a ton of media hits. In comparison to the people that

SUCCESSFUL CYPRESS ACTION AT THE LOWE'S CORPORATE HEAQDQUARTERS

2008-04-10T12:20:00.003-05:00

A quick update from Charlotte, NC for everyone. Yesterday, about 20 activists and I demonstrated outside the Lowe's Corporate Headquarters with banners and fliers calling on Lowe's to live up to their corporate environmental policies by no longer selling unsustainable cypress mulch. We wanted to make sure Lowe's employees knew about the destruction their company is causing and feel the pressure

LOOK! UP IN THE AIR! IT'S GRN & SOUTHWINGS OVER THE NATURE COAST!

2008-03-28T12:00:00.004-05:00

Ok….I admit it. I’m the world’s most reluctant flyer. I’m a man of the earth and the rivers. I leave the sky to the birds. I usually find a reason to drive across the great state I call home, and across the Gulf region for meetings and gatherings. My GRN compatriots are well aware of my reluctance to enter the big metal tubes that shoot across the sky that fly from one uncomfortable airport

TEXAS PROTECTS POGIES PERHAPS?

2008-03-26T11:54:00.007-05:00

Unless you're a frequent reader of this blog, or read about pogies in this recent coverage or editorial on the issue in the Galveston Daily News, you've probably never heard of menhaden, but this small, oily fish is one of the most critical components of the Gulf's marine foodweb. Some call them shad, or pogies, and if you're a fisherman you've probably called them bait. Whatever the name,

WORKING TO MAKE THE CORPS MORE ACCOUNTABLE

2008-03-11T12:43:00.007-05:00

Since its creation in 1775, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has constructed 11,000 miles of navigation channels, built 8,500 miles of levees and floodwalls, raised 500 dams, and deepened more than 140 ports and harbors. As is the case for most Americans, my very life depends on the abilities of the Corps. In a recent editorial in The New York Times, Alex Prud’homme wrote about how over a year

SAVING OUR CYPRESS, ONE PERSON AT A TIME

2008-03-11T09:41:00.002-05:00

We had an awesome weekend of outreach and advocacy on the Save Our Cypress Campaign, February 28-March 2, at the New Orleans Home and Garden Show. The Gulf Restoration Network is still working hard to stop Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, and Home Depot from selling this precious natural resource. You might ask yourself, why is an environmental advocacy organization that works to protect the coast going to a

TEXAS GARDENERS CHOOSE SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVES TO CYPRESS MULCH

2008-03-04T14:34:00.003-06:00

Ahh, pine straw in the flower beds. I knew I certainly wouldn’t find cypress mulch at Vivian Todd’s house, but it’s still nice to see sustainable alternatives to cypress mulch actually in use. Mrs. Todd is the incoming-president of the Magnolia Garden Club in Beaumont, TX, and she has been an outspoken opponent of unsustainable cypress mulch since she first started learning about it through the

FLORIDA GROUPS CALL ON LOWE'S, HOME DEPOT, AND WAL-MART TO STOP SELLING CYPRESS MULCH

2008-03-04T14:23:00.004-06:00

Over 40 organizations in Florida have already signed on to the greater Save Our Cypress Coalition. Now we are making sure that Lowe's, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart hear specifically from organizations in one of the states most effected by cypress mulch production. The pictures and the open letter to the retailers tell the story. If you'd like add your organization's good name to this letter, please

ECOSYSTEMS, MANAGEMENT AND OUR MARINE WILDERNESS

2008-03-01T13:10:00.006-06:00

Since the Magnuson-Stevens fisheries management act was reauthorized in 1996 as the Sustainable Fisheries Act, there's been a mandate for 'ecosystem management' of the fish in the oceans of the United States (this was reaffirmed with last year's reauthorization of the MSA). I think it's fair to say, whether you look at the North Pacific, the North Atlantic, or our own Gulf of Mexico - most fish

WHAT WOULD PLANET EARTH’S SUICIDE NOTE SAY?

2008-02-29T10:41:00.004-06:00

“I am sorry Universe but I just can’t take these Humans a moment longer.” Sad, but the book The Suicidal Planet makes one ponder such things. Though it sells itself as a book about preventing global catastrophe, the major focus is on the science, consequences, and lack of commitment to fixing the problem. Written by Mayer Hillman, Tina Fawcett, and Sudhir Chella Rajan, the Suicidal Planet is

STUDENTS UNITED FOR A HEALTHY GULF: MARDI GRAS MADNESS

2008-02-14T13:05:00.005-06:00

Friday 5:00pm, the parades are lining up and the city becomes un-navigable. Of course, this is the time for our local and regional interns and student activists to coalesce at Tulane University to begin a weekend of grassroots organizing training. The local interns, Laney White, Mallory Domingue, and Megan Milliken, make it there along with a big crowd of interested students and our Tulane