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It's just unbelievable.
By Tuesday, the oil spill in the Gulf will have been gushing out for 50 days straight. It might already be five times larger than the Exxon Valdez, and now BP says that the spill probably won't be stopped until August.1
Meanwhile, our political leaders in Washington aren't even talking about the real solution—getting off oil once and for all, and fully powering our economy with clean energy. It's clear we need a major public outcry to make this horrible tragedy a turning point.
So on Tuesday—day 50 since the spill—we're organizing emergency Oil Spill Vigils to demand an end to our dependence on oil, call for stepped-up efforts to end the spill, and stand in solidarity with all those affected in the Gulf.
Can you host an emergency Oil Spill Vigil next Tuesday? Click here to get started:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/create.html?action_id=213&id=20923-10220574-QkOVkGx&t=5Hosting a vigil is easy. We'll gather together, read stories from Gulf residents affected by the spill, and observe a moment of silence. All you need to do is find a nearby public location for people to gather, invite friends, and tell the local media about it. We'll help you recruit people and give you all the guidance you need.
By standing together at events coast-to-coast, we can make sure lawmakers understand that the American people are demanding bold action to prevent disasters like this from happening again.
But we have to act now. The people in the Gulf of Mexico are facing the destruction of an entire way of life. Fishermen say they've lost 75% or more of their business, and it's getting worse. Federal officials have closed over one-third of the Gulf of Mexico to fishing. And the oil is poised to reach the beaches of Florida soon.2
As Charlotte Randolph, president of one of the coastal parishes affected by the spill, said, "You see it in people's eyes. You see it. We need to stop the flow. Tourism is dead. Fishing is dead. We're dying a slow death."3
Until we end our dependence on oil, disasters like the BP spill will keep happening. We can't get off oil in a day, but the energy experts say that if we had gotten started 20 years ago after Exxon Valdez we could be most of the way there already.4 But because Big Oil still calls the shots in Washington, such bold action isn't even being discussed. We need to turn this moment of crisis into a rallying cry to finally get America off oil.
We need as many Oil Spill Vigils as possible around the country so that tens of thousands of MoveOn members have the chance to speak out right in their neighborhoods. Can you host a vigil in your area? Click here:
Thanks for all that you do.
–Steven, Wes, Lenore, Kat, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "BP oil spill worse than Exxon Valdez, according to government estimates," Christian Science Monitor, May 27, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88572&id=20923-10220574-QkOVkGx&t=7
"BP officials on Gulf oil spill: We can't stop leak until August at the earliest," New York Daily News, May 30, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88575&id=20923-10220574-QkOVkGx&t=8
2. "BP puts containment dome on gushing oil geyser," The Washington Post, June 4, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88577&id=20923-10220574-QkOVkGx&t=9
"Almost one-third of Gulf fishing grounds closed," Associated Press, June 2, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88578&id=20923-10220574-QkOVkGx&t=10
"Oysters: From The Gulf To The Table, " NPR, June 3, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88576&id=20923-10220574-QkOVkGx&t=11
3. Ibid.
4. "Winning the Oil Endgame," Rocky Mountain Institute, September, 2007
http://www.oilendgame.com/
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