Gulf Oil Spill ~ How You Can Help!
If you are like me, you have found the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill to be a nauseating tragedy. In order to help with the wildlife and habitat recovery efforts, organizations and individuals have readied themselves for the fight to protect the water, land and wildlife that sits in the path of the oil sheen. Visualize and understand the devastation at If This Was My Home!
I am asking YOU to take action! Here are some ways you can help and other resources for staying on top of the story. Thanks to everyone who helped me gather this important information.
The oil slick as seen from space by NASA's Terra satellite on May 17, 2010
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Gulf Relief Foundation
Music has always been a huge part in any major relief effort. This tragedy is not excluded. The Gulf Aid: Concert for the Coast was held on May 15, 2010 but they are still collecting donations.
For Donations:
A 501 C3 Non-Profit Corporation
P.O. Box 61035
New Orleans, LA 70161
For Correspondence:
P.O. Box 6917
Metairie, LA 70009
PH 504-841-2380
Email info@gulfaid.org
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Volunteer Match
VolunteerMatch is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening communities by making it easier for good people and good causes to connect.
VolunteerMatch Support:
Email: support@volunteermatch.org
Phone: (415) 241-6872
Fax: (415) 520-9650
Main Office:
Phone: (415) 241-6868
Fax: (415) 241-6869
Mailing Address:
VolunteerMatch
717 California St., Second Floor
San Francisco, CA 94108
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Nature Conservancy
is a US charitable environmental organization working to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. If you’re not on the scene but still want to help, you can make a donation to Nature Conservancy.
Physical Address
Worldwide Office
The Nature Conservancy
4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100
Arlington, VA 22203-1606
Worldwide Office: +1 (703) 841-5300
Other Nature Conservancy Offices
Nature Conservancy on Facebook
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Fuck BP
While I was watching Hangout Festival on IClips, Ben Harper made a special speech about this petition site! I apologize for the foul name, but I am sure you feel the same way the creators of Fuck BP do. It is a petition to make BP clean up thier mess! Yes, it is harsh title but I am pretty sure we are all feeling angry enough to use that word over and over again.
Please sign the petition located on this Website: http://www.fuckbp.net/
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Voice of the Wetlands
With a donation button and an up-to-date news feed, this site is focused on driving awareness and developing educational outlets/programs about the loss of the wetlands in southern Louisiana. VOW was started by musician Tab Benoit who was born and raised in Houma, LA – one of the communities born of the wetlands. Tab along with Rueben Williams and a coalition of local artists and business leaders recognized the urgency to save their homes and the culture of southern Louisiana, thus creating Voice of the Wetlands.
Website: http://www.voiceofthewetlands.org/
If you are able to volunteer,
please call (866) 448-5816 or (281) 366-5511
Please help today and for the future.
Voice of the Wetlands on Myspace
Voice of the Wetlands on Facebook
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Matter Of Trust
One program that has been extremely successful in soaking up oil spills, saving wildlife and ecosystems, uses mats made of human and animal hair. Here is the website for information: www.Matteroftrust.org
Matter of Trust is a non-profit organization that invites salons, pet groomers and the abundantly coiffed to send leftover hair trimmings for use in highly absorbent hair mats and booms. According to their website, “Hair is very efficient at collecting oil out of the air, off surfaces like your skin and out of the water, even petroleum oil.” The group boasts twelve locations across region that are ready to receive human and pet hair, and hundreds of volunteers participating in “Boom B Q” parties stuffing the donated locks into recycled nylons to form booms that can be strung along beaches and marshes. Related link: Organization combing country for spare hair to fight oil slick
As interesting as the process is, the focus must be for us to mobilize by immediately making our hairdressers and dog groomers aware of this program. Call today and ask them to put the hair they sweep up in a clean garbage bag. Then, tonight register through the website (it’s FREE), and Monday pounds lifesaving hair can be on its way to the plant. You can help by getting a haircut! Thank you for considering this action. A call and a hair cut to save the Gulf Coast. What an idea!
MAILING ADDRESS
Main office – Small office (not a warehouse) for letters and post only
Matter of Trust, Inc.
99 St. Germain Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94114 USA
Please DO NOT SEND HAIR, fur, waste wool etc. to this address.
Email: team@matteroftrust.org.Main:…….415 242-6041
.Press: > ..415 235-2403
Funding:>.415 235-2403
Mailing address for oil spill hair mat program donations:
(Hair, fur, waste wool, fleece, natural fiber donors, please first see Instructions. We are emailing all donors addresses for warehouse spaces along the Gulf Coast and all participants will get our Gulf Spill Response alert email.)
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Deepwater Horizon Response Unified Command
Deepwater Horizon Response Unified Command is urging the public to report any breaks in the nearly 1.2 million feet of boom that have been placed throughout the Gulf of Mexico. To report an incident, call 1-866-448-5816.
In addition, the group is soliciting the public’s ideas for “stopping the flow of oil into the Gulf, containing or recovering it, or cleaning it up.” Click here to submit your suggestion, or alternatively, call 281-366-5511.
To contact the Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center: 985.902.5231
Related link: BP’s suggestion box is spilling over
Deepwater Horizon Response Unified Command on Facebook
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International Bird Rescue Research Center
The International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) lets you support the 16 members of their Oil Spill Response Team, as well as other non-profit organizations working in the region, by “donating, becoming a member or adopting a bird.”
International Bird Rescue Research Center on Facebook
International Bird Rescue Research Center on Twitter
International Bird Rescue Research Center on Youtube
IBRRC’s blog: Documenting their work with injured birds
FAQ: How the IBRRC treats oiled birds
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Louisiana Bucket Brigade
The Louisiana Bucket Brigade’s Oil Spill Crisis Map lets Gulf Coast residents report “sightings of fishermen out or work, endangered wildlife, oil on shore, oil sheens, health impacts and other problems.” Information can be submitted in a variety of ways.
Reports can be made and viewed at http://oilspill.labucketbrigade.org.
Mobile phone users can text or call in reports to (504) 27 27 OIL.
Reports can also be sent to bpspillmap@gmail.com and through Twitter with the hashtag #BPspillmap.
Eyewitness reports for the map require a description, and location information such as address, city and state, zip-code or coordinates. Citizen reporters can remain anonymous or disclose their contact information. Photos and video can be uploaded via the web.
Click here for more on the organization’s efforts
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National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation, in partnership with its colleagues in the Gulf states, is recruiting volunteers for an “extensive volunteer wildlife surveillance network.”
National Wildlife Federation on Facebook
National Wildlife Federation on Twitter
Click here for more information on joining the effort.
Also accepting pledges via your mobile device. Text “WILDLIFE” to 20222 to donate $10 to the organization’s “on-the-ground volunteer and restoration efforts.”
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WWL-AM
WWL-AM, a news-talk radio station, is on nothing other than the oil spill story. You can listen live here: WWL.com.
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Times-Picayune
From the Times-Picayune Staff, more Gulf oil spill phone numbers and websites:
To submit alternative response technology, services or products: 281.366.5511
To submit your vessel as a vessel of opportunity skimming system: 281.366.5511
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EPA
Oil Spill Recovery Page: http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/
For information about validated environmental air and water sampling results, visit the EPA’s website.
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The Coalition to Restore Costal Lousiana
The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana is looking for volunteers to “fill a variety of needs.” Pre-veterinary students, veterinary technicians, and anyone with HAZWOPER training (Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Standard) are “strongly encouraged” to register.
Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana
6160 Perkins Road
Suite# 225
Baton Rouge, La 70808
Telephone: 225.767.4181 office
Toll-Free: 888LACOAST (888.522.6278)
Fax: 225.768.8193 fax
Email: coalition@crcl.org
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Mobile Baykeeper
Mobile Baykeeper is raising money in response to the oil spill in order to protect “the beauty, health, and heritage of the Mobile Bay Watershed.”
Mobile Baykeeper
300 Dauphin Street, Suite 200
Mobile, AL 36602
E-mail info@mobilebaykeeper.org
Phone: (251) 433-4BAY (4229) or Toll Free 1-888-433-4460
Fax: (251) 432-8197
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Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board
The Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board is connecting BP with fisherman looking to aid in the cleanup effort.
If interested call: 281-366-5511
2021 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 300
New Orleans, La 70122
PHONE: 504-286-8736
FAX: 504-286-8738
E-mail: HorizonSupport@OEGLLC.com.
Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board On Facebook
Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board On Twitter
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National Audobon Society
The National Audubon Society is recruiting volunteers in the fight to save “ecologically sensitive areas.” Visit their website to fill out a volunteer registration form. Here are thier Current Advocacy Campaigns.
MAIN OFFICE:
National Audubon Society
225 Varick Street
7th floor
NY, NY 10014
Phone: (212) 979-3000
STATE OFFICES AND CHAPTERS: Centers Locator
National Audobon Society on Facebook
National Audobon Society on Twitter
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Other Websites
Seabird Sanctuary has 300 volunteers on “stand-by” to assist with the Gulf Oil Spill if it impacts Florida.
The Greater New Orleans Foundation has set up a fund to help some communities that will be affected by the oil spill.
To report injured or oiled wildlife, call 1-866-557-1401. To report spill-related damage, call 1-800,440-0858, and to inquire about volunteering, or to report oil on the shore, call 1-866-448-5816.
OilSpillVolunteers.com also provides the opportunity sign up and assist with the cleanup.
Musical Musings of a Tiny Rager 
Thank you so much for including Mobile Baykeeper. We are doing volunteer organizing as well as fundraising and our website is jam packed with details — saveourgulf.mobilebaykeeper.org — is the specific site for the BP Oil Disaster.
Again, thank you so much for sharing. If you need anything or have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us — 251-433-4229.
kc