Day 95 of the Gulf oil catastrophe. Mercy me, this has been a busy week! The oil leak has been stopped EXCEPT for five “non consequential” oil and gas “drips” some distance from the well head. Also stopped is the drilling of two relief wells due to expected high waves and winds from Tropical Storm Bonnie. BP and government officials say this could possibly delay by two weeks the effort to permanently plug the Macando well.
Almost 40 years ago Marvin Gaye created Mercy Mercy Me. Part of the lyrics lament, “Oh, mercy mercy me, Oh, things ain’t what they used to be. No no. Oil wasted on the oceans and upon our seas…” and it’s surely applicable to events today.
Jarvis DeBerry wrote a monologue in the Times Picayune quoting Gaye, “Animals that live nearby are dying” and points out that here and now those are brown pelicans, dolphins and Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles. He ends his monologue with another Gaye quote, “How much more abuse from man can you stand?” and says we pray not much more than this.
It’s been almost 5 years since Katrina and it seems like now when we’ve just about climbed to the top of the well after being thrown in and almost drowning, someone pours another bucket of water on us.
Women of the Storm, a successful non-partisan, grassroots organization formed in New Orleans and South Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to raise national awareness and government support, does not advocate a particular piece of legislation. Again, they have found a need and have addressed that need. They seek to demonstrate to national leaders the strong and deep support across America for the essential funding of Gulf Coast restoration. They have created a video titled Be The One and a petition. Many local and national personalities in the worlds of entertainment, sports and cuisine appear in the video. You can view the video and sign the petition at this web site. www.restorethegulf.com.
“I demand that a plan to restore America’s Gulf be fully funded and implemented for me and future generations.”
A press conference was held, appropriately enough, at P & J’s Oyster Company where they are no longer shucking oysters. Petitions, pins, plates of sea life cookies, and the Ragin’ Cajun himself, James Carville, were present. Ever thoughtful and prepared, The Women of the Storm also provided fans for attendees to deal with the hot summer day.
We at Casart Coverings are also doing what we can to help. We have designed a Gulf Coast Mural that can be customized in any combination of individual panels featuring sea creatures that live in the Gulf and birds that live on its shores. We will donate 10% of each sale to one of two non-profits that are working to help the wildlife and coastal clean-up. Purchasers will be able to designate their organizational preference.
We are just about ready to unveil this on our website, but there’s a lot of work involved. In the meantime, please let us know your thoughts regarding these individual panels by commenting below the post and voting on the poll to let us know which ones you like like best. They are numbered according to how they will appear on the website and for the blog polls below.
Please click on this link to view the sample Gulf Coast mural along with other accessory offerings and pattern designs. These images above can be flipped, rotated and combined in most any custom configuration. It’s up to your imagination and design choice. We’ll have five small to large scale mural sizes from which to choose, with or without words and or white or water background. The panels above, will also be available in different sizes and can be purchased individually and they can be companion pieces to work with some of our other designs. Stay tuned Monday to see how they can be used. We’re excited about this opportunity to help in this recovery effort.
– Lorre Lei
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