Emil Ekvardt from Great.com interviewed Healthy Gulf as part of their ‘Great.com Talks With…’ podcast. This series is an antidote to negative news stories that aims to shed light on organizations and experts whose work is making a positive impact on the world.
The Waters We Love Will Waste Away
The Gulf of Mexico is home to more than 750 estuaries and bays, containing a vibrant variety of coral reefs as well as dolphins, whales, sea turtles, manatees and at least 49 different species of sharks. Devastatingly, though, all of these habitats are at risk due to the effects of large-scale pollution and dredging. Scott Eustis from Healthy Gulf describes their mission to protect the Gulf’s marine species, waters, and natural beauty.
Not Just Wildlife: The Effects on the Local Population
Even more problematic, are the acts of ‘environmental racism’ which target African-American towns for the building of petrochemical facilities; which destroy the land and pollute drinking water. Eustis explains how these facilities drastically affect local businesses and existing infrastructure, as well as emitting the equivalent of 13 megatons of carbon dioxide per facility, per year. Healthy Gulf works in collaboration with local communities, to monitor, report, organise and take action to protect water and wetlands for people and wildlife.
Listen to the whole interview to find out how you can take action to protect the natural beauty of the Gulf of Mexico yourself. You can also sign the petition to stop Formosa Plastics from building a petrochemical plant in Louisiana, read more about the millions of unplugged oil and gas wells in the US, and check out Scott Eustis’ recent presentation about how Healthy Gulf works to tackle climate change. It is dependent on everyone to protect waters and wildlife, so that our planet can prosper.
Great.com is an innovative charity project working to solve the climate crisis. They believe that climate change is the most pressing issue facing mankind today and ending it will take swift action and creative problem solving. Great.com’s founder, Erik Bergman, has a background in online casino marketing and started Great.com with the goal to move money from the online casino industry to climate research.