UU Ministry for Earth joins its voice to the many Unitarian Universalists, environmental groups, aid organizations and others who are horrified and concerned about the disaster unfolding in the Gulf from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  We encourage our members and congregations to commit to actions that will provide assistance to those who are and will be injured by the spill and to efforts to lessen the environmental consequences of the disaster. 

We also encourage engaging in advocacy to demand policies that provide stronger protections and that hold the polluters accountable.  In partnership with other UU organizations, we encourage you to follow the information from the Washington Office for Advocacy (WOA) and UU Service Committee (UUSC).  Join UUSC telling BP to take full responsibility for the oil drilling disaster and not to exploit local workers.  UUSC has compiled talking points and a link to send a statement to BP CEO Tony Hayward.  To support legislation that reduces oil dependency and prohibits expansion of dangerous practices such as off-shore drilling and mountaintop mining, Green For All has provided talking points and a link to send a message to President Obama and our senators.

Photo: VENICE, La. - Workers at a decontamination site in Venice, La., bundle oil containment boom after it was replaced by clean boom and cleaned, May 4, 2010. The boom is to be transferred to a staging area where it will be put back into service using one of the many boats fighting to mitigate the effects of the uncontrolled discharge of oil that was a result of the Deepwater Horizon incident. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley. (

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en)

Look for updated accurate informtion on the disaster at the official site of the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command, which includes the fourteen government agencies involved. ESRI, the GPS software company, provides an interesting web-based tool for tracking the spill. NASA's Earth Observatory website includes satellite images of the progress of the oil slick.

The following list of suggested actions is adapted from the Washington Office for Advocacy’s Inspired Faith, Effective Action blog entry, contributed by Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger, minister of the First UU Church of New Orleans. Here are some concrete ideas for things that can be done, right now, right away, to have a positive effect on the spill clean-up.

• Collections of hair clippings from barbers and salons and fur clippings from pet groomers has been proposed to assist in helping with containment booms to soak up the oil. Matter of Trust is coordinating donations of old hosiery, pantyhose, stockings, clipped hair, and fur from pet groomers. You may sign up for alerts as to when and where they have warehouse space.  You can also call your hair solon and dog groomer and request that they save all hair and fur for this important cause. Watch the media to keep apprised as to whether this remains a viable solution.
• If you are financially able, you can contribute to help the people who are hurt most. The Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund has been set up by the Greater New Orleans Foundation, www.gnof.org, to collect money to benefit local communities (Additionally, Oxfam America is collecting donations.)
• If you are able and willing to, you can volunteer to help,being sensitive to the fact that volunteers should not replace paid jobs for people on the Gulf Coast. In-person volunteers can register with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, or through the Sierra Club. Recovery from this, as from Katrina, will be a marathon, not a sprint. We will need a lot of help for quite some time to come.
• If you live or visit near the Louisiana-Mississippi coast, and need to report damaged wild life or shoreline: for oiled wildlife call 866-557-1401; for damaged coastal areas call 800-440-0858.
• Write and call your elected officials at the federal level. Demand clear procedures for emergencies in the Gulf. Demand accountability for when inevitable accidents happen. Demand immediate federal aid for the coast line, the wild life, and the human communities affected by such disasters.
• Finally, we can all pray/meditate/send good thoughts when gathered in our faith communities. We can support and comfort each other in our rage and grief over this new disaster. We can use the work of our hands and the power of our minds to make this better and prevent its recurrence. 

If you know of sermons or congregational statements or actions regarding the oil spill, please send them to UU Ministry for Earth (mailto:office@uuministryforearth) and we will post them.

In addition to the oil spill off the Gulf Coast, twenty-nine coal miners lost their lives in an explosion in a West Virginian mine. We encourage our members and congregations to continue to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, to reduce the risk of such future disasters and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, by reducing consumption.