Hommage à la Louisiane .... Revisited

Film released by National Wildlife Federation on Jun 30, 2010

NWF asked a diverse group of locals in Venice, La what they love about their home state. We then asked them what they feared most about the BP Oil Spill. This was their answers. Music by The Lost Bayou Ramblers.

Update posts will reveal that many of these fears have come true.

There's a hole in the Ocean and in our hearts

There's a hole in the Ocean

 Gulf Coast Oil Spill Disaster - Official Music Video - A Hole in the Ocean

This song was written to keep the focus on the BP oil spill disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico. This is already the largest environmental disaster in United States History. Dedicated to the 11 men who lost their lives on April 20th, 2010.






1st Verse:

The wave crests on fire

And storm clouds below

The oozing dark monster



Creeps silently slow

The heartache of many

The future unclear

We stand on the shoreline

Surrounded by fear





Chorus:



There's a hole in the ocean

That's breaking my heart

When will it end

Why did it start?



Can we ever return

To our blue watered bay

There's a hole in the ocean

That stands in our way





2nd Verse:



For the diving birds diving

And the fish 'neath the waves

There is so much to do

There is so much to save



With bitter tears stinging

For the ones who were lost

Is there really a way

To assess what this cost?


Bridge:

Eleven souls sailing

That April day

It happened so quickly

'Twas no time to pray


(You Can) Purchase the MP3 of "A Hole In The Ocean" and help capture the cause: http://aholeintheocean.com -ALL proceeds are going to the Audubon Society's Oil Spill Response Team. There's NO fixed amount! Whatever you can afford! Please show your love for the people in the Gulf region!

Myspace : http://myspace.com/joemontomusics
"Hole in the Ocean" written by Joe Monto & Steve Bartlett
http://www.aholeintheocean.com/
Youtube channel:
http://youtube.com/montomaniac
http://youtube.com/Stemolandmar
Facebook us!

http://facebook.com/joe.monto
http://facebook.com/steve.bartlett

Louisiana's Culture of Fishermen Ponder Future

A Son of the Bayou, Torn Over the Shrimping Life

Jennifer Zdon for The New York Times



Aron Greco took his new fishing boat for a test run in November. Only a few thousand Louisianians now make their living fishing, but Aaron had been drawn to it since childhood.

By AMY HARMON  New York Times

DELACROIX ISLAND, La. — “Hold up, Aaron,” Buddy Greco instructed his son as they bent over a sheet of fiberglass on the docked fishing boat. “You still cuttin’ it wrong.”
His tone on that hot afternoon last June was not unkind. But Aaron, 19, was tired of listening to his father, tired of fixing up the boat for a shrimp season that might never open, tired of wondering whether the future he had set his sights on was dissolving in front of him.
Read Full Story

Bird's Eye View of Barataria Bay Wetlands

Aerial View of Barataria Bay Area

GULF COAST - Drew Wheelan, ABA Conservation Coordinator, tags along with the Lower Mississippi River and Achafalaya Basin Keepers for a fly over of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Barataria Bay region of coastal Louisiana. South Wings Aviation provided the flight that gave Drew the opportunity to document a "bird's eye view" of the marsh islands that many species of wildlife call home.



Video recorded on day seventy-four of "The Disaster in the Gulf", just after Hurricane Alex passed through the region. The flight goes over several colonies of birds, including Pelicans, Gulls, Herons and Terns that are being hit hard by the oil and mother nature.

PLEASE NOTE: There was a heavy haze that day but Drew's determination carried him through. Thanks Drew for your dedication to help protect our precious wetlands.

Posted on YOUTUBE by AmericanBirding

Louisiana Fisherman: "They are using us like laboratory rats."

GRAND ISLE NATIVE REVEALS
BP'S COREXIT SECRETS!!

Grand Isle - Dean Blanchard owns and operates Dean Blanchard Seafood, inc in Grand Isle, La. Dean is very concerned for the health of all gulf coast residents. He talks about BPs continued use of Corexit 9500 even though there is no evidence that it is safe.

Dean reveals in this video a few of the underhanded methods BP is using to cover up their half hearted attempt to clean up the spill. His frustration is clear and his hope for a future in the business he loves died when the Corexit laced blacktide rolled in.

A Project Gulf Impact Film


Posted on YOUTUBE by ProjectGulfImpact

Shot and Edited: Gavin Garrison and Heather Rally
Interviewer: Matt Smith

Louisiana Workforce Commission: Fishermen Job Loss Statistics Unclear

Unemployment Among Fishermen 

Difficult to Measure

	Rodney Pellegrin works in Dulac, La. to attach two sections of  shrimp nets.  Pellegrin said he’s frustrated by how  the fishing waters are opened and  closed so often.

By Kathrine Schmidt 
HOUMA — Following the auto industry implosion of 2008, Detroit’s unemployment rate stands at nearly 30 percent.

But when it comes to sizing up the lost wages and jobs from BP’s catastrophic oil spill to boat captains, deckhands and charter captains in Louisiana, numbers showing the impact on Houma-Thibodaux are much harder to come by.

That’s because many are self-employed and work seasonally, meaning their jobs and income are not tracked by state labor statistics. The state’s Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board doesn’t keep track of that information either, and the Louisiana Workforce Commission did not respond to a request about how they planned to track the job losses. ReadComplete Story            

         

Holiday Weekend No Holiday for Island Community

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Lisa Owens of Raceland and her son Brad look off the pier Friday at Grand Isle State Park. Lisa has been visiting Grand Isle often since she was a child. “It's sad,” she said, referring to oil hitting the beach. “I just worry about the poor animals.”

John DeSantis
Senior Staff Writer
July 3, 2010

GRAND ISLE — There will be fireworks and parties, like every Fourth of July, on this island where the essence of existence is having a good time no matter what trials may come.

But Grand Isle's legendary joie de vivre, like the marsh plants along its storm-tossed passes, are soaked heavy with the oil from the ongoing Deepwater Horizon disaster.

While residents try to keep up appearances, the makeup is wearing a bit thin.

During the last holiday weekend, Memorial Day, the excitement of a presidential visit was enough of a sideshow to eclipse the specter of oil fouling cherished beaches. A dogged determination to have fun dictated that even if the annual trout-fishing rodeo was canceled, there would be dancing and drinking despite it all. The beach may be closed, but creative signs and dioramas of protest took the edge off. READ COMPLETE STORYY

Emma Chighizola has owned Blue Water Souvenirs for 24 years and says business has never been this slow during the summer, even after Hurricane Katrina.
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Dolphins in a dying Gulf - Greenpeace USA

Greenpeace's team on the Gulf Coast has been taking independent scientists, media teams, and local grassroots organizations out into Barataria Bay, one of the areas hardest hit by the oil disaster, to help assess the full scope of this tragedy and the true cost of our reliance on fossil fuels.

Every day we have been out on the water here, we have been joined by dozens of dolphins, sometimes playing in the distance and sometimes swimming right alongside the Greenpeace boats.
Read Complete Story of - Dolphins in a dying Gulf - Greenpeace USA Blog