Posts Tagged ‘citizengulf’

Don’t Believe the BP Hype!

Posted on: August 19th, 2010 by Geoff Livingston 2 Comments

How The Hell Are We Supposed Feed Our Kids Now

Let’s be frank, lots of people are helping with #citizengulf and it’s awesome. There are so many people spreading the word, I can’t even begin to thank them. But this is not Haiti, in large part because of BP’s responsibility for causing the oil spill, and its moral and legal obligation to clean up the mess.

Many people express this to me, “Why should I help? It’s BP’s fault!”

But as we have seen over and over again, BP continues to promise fully responsible actions, only to have its actions completely contradict its PR and messaging. Consider the most recent lies that have been exposed this week:

1) The oil is not gone from the Gulf waters. In fact, University of Georgia scientists have done a study showing that 70-79% of the oil remains in the water. Now we see the role dispersants have played in this Dantean nightmare.

2) Phytoplankton, the base element of the fishing food chain, have been poisoned by this oil. This means the entire Gulf food supply has been affected and will have crude oil poisoning to contend with.

This continued public lying (and the co-signing of this behavior by the Obama Administration) should tell all of us one thing: BP will abandon its responsibility to clean up the Gulf at the first opportunity. The Gulf cannot count on BP or the federal government to resolve this situation.

Any of us would be furious if our homes and livelihoods were treated in such a fashion. In fact, many of us who do not live in the Gulf are angered by the public hucksterism we are being offered by BP and the Obama Administration. But what can we do about it? Plenty, and as my trip to the Gulf convinced me, this hurricane ravaged region definitely needs our help.

The citizengulf program was designed to provide easy, mindful actions to affect change, specifically, by using education to provide fishing families new opportunities for a brighter, more sustainable future. I hope you’ll join us on August 25 as we take a day of action together by attending an event, donating or voting.

Beyond the citizengulf program, there are more mindful actions: Write your elected officials and tell them to stand up to big oil and large corporations ruining our country, live a better sustainable life, and restore ethics to the communications profession. Want more? The AARP offers six ways you can make a difference for the Gulf.

No , it’s not Haiti. But it’s happening in our own back yard at the hands of corrupt oil company with the federal government cosigning it. Whatever you do, friends, I encourage you not to sit this one out. In my mind, it’s a civic duty. Take mindful action and say no to BP.

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10 Reasons to Attend a #CitizenGulf Event

Posted on: August 15th, 2010 by Geoff Livingston

Oil Boom Workers
Oil boom workers

The CitizenGulf meet-ups are less than two weeks away, and you’re probably wondering whether to attend. Here are 10 good reasons to join your local Social Media Club for a Gulf Coast Benefit on August 25.

1) It’s the last party of the summer! Come on out and join your online friends for a good time that does good, too!

2) You like New Orleans, and want to relive a little of that Bourbon Street fun.

3) Help fishing families affected by the oil spill like Kerry’s and this little girl.

4) Attend in memory of Hurricane Katrina, and all the lives it took five years ago on August 28.

5) Don’t believe in BP? Neither do we. Show up and make a statement to the oil company that its PR messages to help the Gulf and its citizens recover are not enough.

6) Similarly, make a statement to the Obama Administration that more needs to be done.

7) The Gulf had just started to get back on its feet after Katrina and Rita. Now the oil spill happens. Let’s finish the Gulf recovery.

8) Your $10 cover fee (and any additional donations) goes directly to the Citizen Effect citizengulf program, funding Catholic charities of New Orleans After School Assembly Program for the 2010-2011 school year.

9) You believe educating children is the way to build stronger communities.

10) Your cover charge is tax deductible because Citizen Effect is a 501c3.

So what are you waiting for? Come on out and have a good time while doing some good, too!

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#citizengulf Events Open Amidst Another Oil Spill Controversy

Posted on: August 2nd, 2010 by Geoff Livingston 1 Comment

Today we opened the first #citizengulf city events for registration on the Citizen Gulf site. Citizen Effect‘s national day of citizen action seeks to help fishing families in need by providing an education for their children, in the hopes that they may be able to pursue new careers in the wake of the oil spill’s long term impact.

And as we launch, a raging controversy brews about the latest spin from BP and Obama – claims that the oil spill’s impact is disappearing. Fishing families and other members of the Gulf economy still struggle to survive. As the above video from a Grand Isle City Hall meeting last week, shows even with BP’s financial aid, the oil spill survivors are suffering and cannot pay their bills.

Meanwhile, though fishing waters may be opening again, oil and dispersant traces have been found in blue shell crab larvae, entering the food chain. Further, as satellite imagery of the Gulf waters show there’s a malignant brown stain to the oil spill water still. Many believe this is from a combined tarry mixture of over-deployed dispersants and oil, sunk below the surface.

The fishing families of Louisiana and the Gulf beyond still need our help. It’s clear that BP and Obama will shirk this responsibility at the first opportunity. Meanwhile fishing families are left to pursue their profession of generations in diminished, or worse, permanently tainted waters.

Andy Gibson’s story is the classic example (on Friends of the Fishermen’s charity site). A fourth generation fisherman who found his waters closed to shrimping and the market for his goods bottomed out, Gibson simply went further out to the fertile fishing grounds of western Louisiana and Texas, untouched by the oil spill. Gibson is “determined he will figure out a way to make it through.”

Many fishing families will continue to choose this life style in the face of adversity. But their children can have an option. Working with Catholic Charities of New Orleans — an organization working directly with fishing families everyday in eight parishes — we can provide an opportunity for kids to have a better education and the choice for a different career path.

Join the #citizengulf effort today to make a difference. Host or attend an event on august 25, donate or vote in the Pepsi Refresh contest.

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