Excerpted from an Environmental Defense Fund Action Alert:
Here are 10 things you can do to help.
The unfolding oil tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico raises a host of urgent environmental questions.
We have asked some of our senior scientists to offer their perspectives on potential environemental threats of the oil blowout and what can be done to address them – now and in the future.
In this first installment, we asked Stacy Small, a Ph.D. biologist on staff at EDF, to help us understand the potential impacts on wildlife and natural habitats.
Read our Wildlife Impacts Q&A with Stacy.
Our Emergency Response
In this rapidly evolving crisis, we're going to need a lot of help to ramp up our coastal conservation and fisheries work to restore the Gulf Coast to full environmental health.
Please Donate Now: Support our coordinated Gulf Oil Disaster emergency response with a generous donation.
With your support, we are:
*Coordinating response and recovery efforts among the many local communities and partners with whom we have developed long-standing relationships.
*Working with our local partners and with federal officials to ensure that all possible steps are taken to ensure the safety of the 35,000 miles of oil pipelines and 4,000 oil rigs currently in the Gulf.
*Providing scientific expertise to federal and local agencies to determine how best to deploy restoration resources once the spill is under control.
*Advocating at the federal and local levels for the funding necessary to properly clean up the ecological disaster and to promote restoration efforts.
It's true that the financial responsibility of the clean up rests legally and morally with the oil industry. However, there is still a very real and important role that EDF experts will play in the weeks and months to come.
Our thoughts and hopes are with the hard-working and beleaguered folks who make the Gulf Coast their home.
