Need a laugh? Some Excellent Political Satire on the US Oil Spill

Brilliant



- by Clarke & Dawe (more videos at this link)

John Clarke & Bryan Dawe are two of the funnier, sharpest, wittiest guys around.

The Games, my favorite mockumentary, which was written by John Clarke and stars both men, is now on DVD.

Enjoy,

Sia

Hat tip to US Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill News website for the link to this video

Saving Oiled Wildlife in the Gulf: Groups on The Ground

Here is an interesting video from the International Bird Rescue Research Center called Oiled Bird Gets A Bath.



Wildlife rescue folks are working in tough conditions out there and it's just going to get worse. Please give them your support.

Recommended Reading:

How You Can Help Birds After the Spill

Oceans 9/11 by Julie Packard, Executive Director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Go well, stay well,

Sia

Related Articles:

Details on the baby sea turtle rescue (with photos)

Links:

Tri State Bird Rescue and Research has been rescuing and treating oiled, injured, and orphaned wildlife since 1976. Specializing in oil spill response, Tri-State staff is on call 24-hours-a-day to address the wildlife impact of these environmental threats. They also provide training to other emergency response professionals.

Website

International Bird Rescue Research Center The International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) has been helping birds around the world since 1971. Its mission is to mitigate human impact on aquatic birds and other wildlife. This is achieved through rehabilitation, emergency response, education, research, planning and training.

With an oil spill response team of more than 25 wildlife experts, IBRRC has managed the oiled bird rehabilitation efforts in over 200 oil spills in 11 states, including the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Our international work has taken us to seven different countries and two U.S. territories.

Website

Facebook page

IBRRC photo stream on Flickr

Oiled Care Network The OWCN is the world's only oiled wildlife response organization boasting more than 25 different members comprised of world-class aquaria, universities, scientific organizations and rehabilitation groups. Established in 1994 by the Department of Fish and Game’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) as a result of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, it is currently administered by the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center in the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Blog

Facebook page


Photo: Courtesy of International Bird Research & Rescue gulf oil spill photo page on flickr.

Lorraine Margeson: Gulf Coast Activist

This someone you should know: Lorraine Margeson, Tampa Bay's best known environment activist; a woman working on the forefront of the gulf oil spill. Her story is compelling because she is not wailing or wringing her hands, she is not standing around feeling depressed or helpless about all this nor is she ranting on net about how bad it all is without doing a thing herself. Instead, she does what I think any one of us can do; she does the good that's in front of her:

She and her husband built a three-story house with a bird-watching deck on the roof. They replaced plants from foreign lands with native vegetation. They joined Audubon, they joined Sierra, they became friends of whatever park needed them. On her block, she persuaded neighbors to stop killing rattlesnakes.

She and her husband have a computer hardware business. They would rather watch birds. They count robins. They see hummingbirds and cedar waxwings and the occasional rose-breasted grosbeak. They drive over to Fort De Soto to look at the warblers in the mulberry tree. Then they head for the beach, where Lorraine picks up trash and snarls at "idiots" who get too close to the endangered least terns that nest on the sand. She watches black skimmers. She never tires of watching the pelicans.

And now there's oil in her gulf. And it may end up here, on Lorraine's beach, where it might hurt Lorraine's birds.

So that's why she's on the phone today. That's why she is on the computer. She is networking with other people, leading their next move.

You can read the rest of her story here at Tampabay.com

Brava!

Sia

More oil spill & environmental news can be found at BirdGarden

Updates: Wildlife Rescue at the Gulf Oil Spill

Folks, I've been working behind the scenes for the last two weeks, doing my small bit to get volunteers, tech and supplies out to various bird and wildlife rescue groups out in the gulf and getting networking and other info out there. As tragic as this is, it is also a teachable moment and could well change how we think about offshore drilling, clean energy and climate change. Fingers crossed.

Blogging takes a backseat for now, but you can go to my newsfeed at BirdGarden for updates on the efforts to help the wild birds, marine life and people caught up in this disaster. I'll keep updating info on who needs what. Meanwhile: Here is a list of 10 Things You Can Do To Help



Many of you know that I'm involved with wildlife and companion animal rescue. I'm on standby via Audubon as are 11,000 other volunteers. I will fly out to the gulf if called and if our elder's health allows for my absence. The volunteers at International Bird Rescue Research Center are on the scene, rescuing birds as we speak, along with other great groups. I'm following all of these and posting updates, photos and videos as they come in.

600 species are affected by this, including 445 species of fish, 134 birds, 45 mammals, and 32 reptiles and amphibians. Many, like the brown pelican and the loggerhead turtle, are endangered already.

I think that Rachael Maddow said it for a lot of us the other night when she described how the BP oil spill is "an environmental, economic and human catastrophy".

Go well, stay well,

Sia

P.S. For you Pet Lovers: The Nashville Humane Society desperately needs funds and supplies to help dogs, cats and other animals caught in the Tennessee floods.

It's kitten season and every shelter in the U.S. needs foster homes, food, and basic supplies like paper towels and kitten food. Please help where and how you can.

Related Articles:

Scientific American: Extinction Countdown: Oil Spill Threatens Endangered Species at a Critical Time.