Can’t Volunteer? Can’t Donate? Here’s something YOU CAN do! ACT!

1. The National Wildlife Federation has a message you can send to President Obama to urge restoration of Louisiana’s Coastal Wetlands. They’re also asking for residents to upload photos to flickr and tag them SPILL_NW10.

2. Go to Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society to write our Congressional Representatives and Senators about banning all offshore drilling in any new areas and supporting renewable energy technologies and research.

3. Dishwashing detergent is used to clean oil off of birds and animals, and Dawn is pitching in to help. Purchase a bottle of Dawn and $1 will go towards the Marine Mammal Center and the International Bird Rescue Research Center. Please note that you must go online to activate this donation—it’s not automatic with your purchase.

4. Vessels of Opportunity
Two specialized opportunities to help are available for qualified professionals. BP has called upon fishermen and boaters in the Gulf area to participate in their “Vessels of Opportunity” program. Those with eligible vessels will be compensated for their use in cleanup efforts. For more information, call 281-366-5511 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              281-366-5511      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 281-366-5511 end_of_the_skype_highlighting. In addition, the EPA has called upon engineers and experts to submit alternative cleanup solutions via this form.

5. Join the movement “Hands Across the Sand” on June 26 in your city and leave only your footprints.

6. For up-to-date news on volunteer and relief efforts, several Twitter users have aggregated the best sources of oil spill tweets into lists. Follow Crisis Camp’s list, Crisis Mappers’ list, or the hashtag #oilspill. Two good individual accounts to follow are EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, and BP_America.

7. Save the Gulf: Olivia’s Bird Illustrations – Olivia Bouler: 11 years old and willing to help is how she described herself to the Audubon Society when she contacted them about the tragedy in the Gulf. Aspiring ornithologist, artist, and saxophone player, Olivia wept when she heard about the oil spill in the Gulf Coast, a place where she spent many vacations with her cousins and grandparents who live in Louisiana and Alabama. Knowing birds were going to suffer during migration and nesting season, she decided to take action. She contacted the Audubon society, hoping to sell illustrations to raise money for clean up costs. Ultimately, Olivia decided simply to give bird drawings to those who donated to wildlife recovery efforts. The response has been incredible, raising thousands and having over 4,000 people sign up for her Facebook fan page: Save the Gulf: Olivia’s Bird Illustrations. Her story has appeared in the Mobile Press Register, The Guardian (UK), BBC radio, AOL News, Newsday, Italian news, and Belgian news. She’s sent out 150 drawings already, and plans to keep going.
Her work is now featured as an AOL Artist, with AOL giving The Audubon Society $25,000 in honor of Olivia’s efforts.

8. Send a letter to John Young, Councilman, Jefferson Parish, 504-736-6615 and Billy Nungesser, President, Plaquemines Parish, on behalf of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1723/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4133

9.  Sea Turtle Restoration Project
Website
The Sea Turtle Restoration Project has launched 1-877-STRPGLF (787-7453) a new toll-free number for reporting oiled or injured as well as nesting or hatchling sea turtles in any state in the Gulf of Mexico. Calling this number directs you to local authorities who can provide rescue and rehabilitation of sea turtles in trouble. Click here to send a letter to federal officials in Washington D.C. and BP response officials to rescue ALL endangered sea turtles from “Burn Boxes”.

10. Project Tantalus
Visit the Website to learn how to submit water samples for testing.
Project Tantalus is a research project being run by Adam Braunschweig, who is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at New York University and Mark Olson, who will be starting as a Professor in the Department of Science and Technology at Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, and Amy Scott, who is a researcher at Argonne National Laboratory. Their interests include mobilizing social networks to respond to environmental disasters, tracking the movements of chemicals through the oceans, and developing new methods to detect pollutants in sea-water. Adam and Mark hope to use this project to track chemicals that may have been released by the Deepwater Horizon spill into the Gulf of Mexico and use online social media, like Facebook, for scientific research. This research is not affiliated with any companies or non-profit organizations.