Yesterday morning, Cherri Foytlin, Drew Landry, and the team from Project Gulf Impact walked across the Potomac River, finishing Cherri’s 1,234 mile trek to our nation’s Capitol. At about the same time, Louisiana fishermen Byron Encalade and Mike Roberts and activists Tracy Kuhns and Bryan Parras were denied entry into BP’s annual shareholder meeting, after flying to the UK to make sure BP’s investors and leaders were aware of the company’s remaining responsibilities to the Gulf.Right now, a crew of young activists from the Gulf are pulling into Washington DC to attend Power Shift 2011 along with 10,000 other folks passionate about averting the worst-case scenerios of global warming by creating a clean-energy economy. Our friend Derrick Evans is pulling the Tar Ball express their way, to remind those activists of the powerful lessons of the BP drilling disaster, and to tell the nation that BP’s oil is still in our marsh, and still affecting our coast and communities, both with the creatively emblazoned FEMA trailer (rolling down the highway right now telling 1-95 the “Gulf still Be Peed on”), and by joining me, Cherri, Drew, and Black Tide author Antonia Juhaz on one of a number of Gulf panels at Power Shift.So… What are you going to do?You don’t have to go to these lengths to get involved, and to play an important role in reminding the nation that a year after the BP deepwater drilling disaster, Congress hasn’t passed a single bill to learn its lessons, to make the Gulf safe, or sustainable in the wake of 15 Exxon Valdez’s being dumped into our nation’s energy sacrifice zone (topped off by 2 million gallons of dispersant).You’ve got to do something though, don’t you?Across the Gulf, there are an impressive number of thoughtful events organized for the memorial, check out a list here. If you’re not close to any of these events, you can search out your local earth day event and Gulf-coastify it! Join the Healthy Gulf Krewe and we’ll set you up with factsheets and petitions to share with environmentally-minded folks in your community.Don’t want to leave the desktop? Here’s three simple things you should do for the Gulf – Heck, you can even do a couple of them right now.1) On April 20th, Change your Facebook and Twitter image to the PeliCAN design and link to http://BPdrillingdisaster.org. Design courtesy of Threadless, design by Ross Zietz and Frederick Wepener.At that site, people will be able to add the image to their profiles, as well as add their voice to the call for Gulf recovery. Sample text: 1 year ago the worst oil disaster in U.S. history began. BP’s oil is still here! Help restore the Gulf at http://bpdrillingdisaster.org 2) Between now and April 20th “Like” Gulf Restoration Network on FB/Follow us on Twitter and tell your friends and followers you did. Sample text: As the 1 year memorial of the BP disaster approaches, @HealthyGulf continues to fight for the Gulf (or http://facebook.com/healthygulf)3) Watch and share our new episode of Gulf Tides: Monitoring the BP drilling disaster, available at http://youtube.com/healthygulf1. A new video will be available April 18th, featuring the environmental impacts of the BP disaster and authentic voices from the Gulf coast. The series is narrated by Tim Robbins. Sample text: Watch what’s happening in the Gulf a year after BP’s drilling disaster began http://youtube.com/healthygulf1 So do these 3 things. Or 5 things. Or 10 things. But do something. The Gulf needs your help. Our communities need your help. Our coast needs your help. The status quo is our enemy right now, and unfortunately, it’s incredibly hard to overcome.Aaron Viles is GRN’s Deputy Director. Follow him on twitter here.Photo of oil on Louisiana’s coast, taken April 8, 2011. (creative commons license: GRN)
