Field Report: Gulf Restoration Network

A year ago today I fell in love with a barrier island. At Grand Isle State Park I worked as the park’s Naturalist. Grand Isle was mysterious yet innocent, exotic but strangely familiar. I never knew I could love a place more dearly than New Orleans, I am not sure exactly how it happened. It may have started with the Winter trips to the surrounding barrier islands where I studied gulls, terns and plovers. Shorebirds that had traveled thousands of miles to nest in colonies on these desolate patches of land. I was able to explore islands few people have ever heard of and still may never have the chance, these fragile and rare ecosystems are at the brink of disappearing into the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. But there isn’t anything quite like the vibrant reds, yellows and blues of the migratory song birds that flew outside my camp’s window in Early Spring. Tanagers, warblers and buntings sang to me about the tropics as I sipped on my morning coffee from my porch. On windy Summer nights I ran the length of the front beach, first towards the sunset to the west end and returned gazing up through the dark night sky on the East side. How could anyone not fall in love with this place? For six blissful months nothing much happened on Grand Isle. The tides came and went twice a day, unlucky Moon jellies beached themselves every morning and the lone Kingfisher spent most of his afternoons fishing in the salt marshes. Nothing changed but the wildlife. The winter nesters and springtime migrators had gone and I was left with our resident water fowl. Brown pelicans and Great Blue egrets greeted me each morning as I rode my bike past the park’s gates and along the salt lagoons. I spent most of my time identifying species and cataloging plants, I spent most of my time with just me and the island. I had no idea soon I would be jerked away from my hermit crab shell. In late April 2010, I arrived at work with people talking about an explosion. An offshore oil rig spill exploded 50 miles away from our coast. Everyone was talking about it but no one had any idea from that day on that life changed on Grand Island and would never be the same for many years to come. Soon all of my educational programing at the park would be shut down due to the massive amounts of oil that would devastate our beaches and salt marshes for months, now years. I would see what the Media didn’t show and cry about the lives that BP ruined. But most of all I got angry at the Government that yet again failed to protect me and the new place that I called home. After weeks of mopping I decided to do something. I tried to get my hands in on the cleanup efforts but I couldn’t get past the red tape. So I created the Hermit Crab Survival Project, a volunteer opportunity for the hundreds of people who came to the park wanting to help. I created this project in response to the hundreds of people who came to Grand Isle from all over the World in search of a way they could help, and also in response to the thousands of hermit crabs who were suffocating underneath the thick layers of crude oil that would be washing ashore for months to come. Like the Hermit Crabs many volunteers felt stuck and overwhelmed with the largest environmental disaster of our Nation’s History and with the little opportunities for common people to help. Many people who came and volunteered were shocked at the environmental impacts but inspired by having a chance to help. But everyone left with a nagging uncertainty of the looming consequences that would take decades to come to light. After the Media reported that ‘the oil was gone’ our volunteers slowly stopped coming and calling despite the oil that continued to wash ashore as well as the dead wildlife that came with it. A few months later the island was quiet, but you could here a low but growing rumbling. It was coming from a community that was broken, from fisherman who lost their lively hoods, from residents wishing for restoration, and from an island that once bustled with wildlife that now boomed with heavy machinery. The infamous tarballs still tumble ashore but the capricious reporters have long but driven back up the bayou leaving an island that still had a story. Soon after I came back to New Orleans I starting teaching about the BP Drilling Disaster in local schools. I was very excited when I found a position with the Gulf Restoration Network and was able to continue my quest for corporate accountability and environmental protection. The GRN is one of those few organizations that remind you everyday that you are working for a purpose and not a paycheck. I want to bring my children and grandchildren to Grand Isle, to catch a glimpse of the tropical songbirds, to swim with the moon jellies and build castles in the clean sand. Grand Isle has inspired me and I will always be there to tell her story.

- Leanne Sarco, AmeriCorps VISTA. For more information on volunteer opportunities, please visit the Gulf Restoration Network’s website.

 

 

 

 

 

Field Report: Mondo Bizarro

During the month of May, Mondo Bizarro has been traveling nation wide teaching several workshops on physical theatre and showing snippets our performance the Loup Garou. The Loup will be showing a piece of its ritualistic story in Baltimore, MD. For a festival called ROOTS FEST 2011: Many Communities, One Voice is a music, arts and community festival and much more. It seeks to heal, empower and unite Baltimore through the celebration of arts and culture. The free, outdoor festival will be over the “Highway to Nowhere,” Route 40, at Franklin and N. Gilmor, with five stages of music, art, dancing, food and fun.

We’ve been busy preparing a fund raising event for a partnership with the theatre ensemble NEW NOISE and their original new performance that’s going to be called “Pchile Goyin” – set to be on stage in the Fall.

Race Peace has been planning on an exciting all day workshop/training for the LDSC Americorps Delta Group here in New Orleans.

Our plan is to develop an entire day of exercises and performances which will inspire dialogue about race issues amongst the people in the room, and how to deal with issues that may come up as Americoprs members and the community we work with in an open, safe and communicative way.

The Race Peace will also be holding a workshop in New Orleans later on this summer, with two Baptist churches that where historically segregated, but recently integrated. We are very much looking forward to doing this work with this community, once we are able to lock down a date that works for all of us.

Mondo Bizarro and the Gulf Restoration Network have partnered up to create a project called the I-Witness Gulf, which will be an expansion of the work the GRN did last year during the Oil Spill of going into communities that have been affected by the catastrophe that happened during the summer. I-Witness Gulf is a project that aims to look deeper into these issues, by interviewing some of the guardians of some of this land, and some of the workers and community members deeply affected by the last year’s BP Oil Spill.

This week we began filming two very powerful people that have been involved and been affected by the Oil Spill. We went down to the Lower 9^th Ward and filmed John Taylor and John Colfero.

Editing on this project will probably start some time in July.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Melisa Cardona, Tulane AmeriCorps VISTA. For more information, please visit their website by clicking on this link Mondo Bizarro

 

 

 

 

Field Report: Gulf Restoration Network

For the 5th summer in a row, GRN is engaging the public through an outreach-focused canvass campaign. Canvassing is an important way to build our membership, but it means more than simply signing up concerned Gulf Coast residents. Every home and every conversation is an opportunity to have a dialogue about the health of the Gulf of Mexico, our region’s most precious natural resource.

GRN’s canvassers work hard for the Coast in the mid-summer heat because they are dedicated getting the public involved with GRN’s campaigns on a personal level. Members who interact with canvassers have the chance to exchange ideas and share their passion for the region’s waters and wetlands. A united, informed, and involved public is the Gulf’s best ally as we work to protect our coastline and rivers.

At the canvass offices, we are filled with energy and optimism because each day introduces us to more citizens who care deeply about the GRN’s campaigns. Walking every evening in Gulf Coast humidity requires determination, but the result is an extraordinary grassroots movement that fosters awareness and concern for the issues facing the Gulf region.

Each community introduces canvassers to remarkable people and experiences. I have canvassed politicians, tugboat operators, engineers, teachers, commercial fishermen, and retired folks, all of whom have expressed great interest in the work of the GRN. Each neighborhood has a unique way of interacting with canvassers, and we appreciate the support of the public.

When you answer the door to a GRN canvasser, be sure to ask how you can help protect the Coast- and feel free to offer your canvasser a glass of water.

- Leanne Sarco, AmeriCorps VISTA. For more information on volunteer opportunities, please visit the Gulf Restoration Network’s website.

Field Report: Gulf Restoration Network

I have just worked for the Gulf Restoration Network, a whooping 8 weeks, yet I cannot beleive how much I have learned about this incredible organization already. The Gulf Restoration Network is a 17 year old environmental advocacy non-profit organization. They use all their resources and extremely dedicated and hard working staff to educate and empower Gulf Citizens to protect and speak for their ecosystems and are tirelessly pushing industries and government to restore the natural resources of the Gulf Region for future generations.

GRN works on many different campaigns throughout the Gulf Region. From our Save the Cypress Campaign here, that urges Walmart, Lowe’s and Home-Depot to stop selling Cypress mulch to our Gulf wide campaign to urge Public action in all states to ask our Representatives to follow the Oil Spill Commission Reports recommendations. Here is a quick overview on some of the campaigns the Gulf Restoration Network is devoted to.  I am very proud to work with such a dedicated team and feel a part of an organization I can honestly say cares and has a reputation to prove it. Here is a few of GRN’s campaigns and why they are so important. Learn more at healthygulf.org!

Gulf Fish Forever

Gulf Fish Forever The Gulf of Mexico provides jobs, food, and recreation to millions of people. As a marine habitat, it is a national treasure that we should all want to preserve. Commercial fishing is a key economic driver around the Gulf. Recreational fishing is an important element in every part of the economy; from tourism to boat sales, fuel, and tackle. But we have a problem – it is called overfishing. Both commercial and recreational fishermen are now so efficient that we catch fish faster than nature can replace them. Without robust fish populations, every one of us will suffer – not just the fish.

Global Warming

The Gulf of Mexico is ground zero for the impacts of climate change. Rising sea-levels, more powerful hurricanes, and invasive species are all serious threats to the natural resources of the Gulf, our homes, and our communities. Coastal erosion and the myriad of problems the Gulf of Mexico is faced with are inextricably connected to climate change. The GRN has taken a stand against inaction on this issue, perhaps the most important environmental issue of our time.

Healthy Waters

The Gulf Restoration Network works to protect and restore waters throughout the Gulf of Mexico that are critical to recreation, fisheries, wildlife habitat, and drinking water.

Despite much progress made under the Clean Water Act, many waters flowing into the Gulf remain polluted with fertilizers, pesticides, sewage, and other contaminants. Every summer, nitrogen pollution from the Mississippi River forms a “dead zone,” an area where aquatic life cannot survive, off the coast of Louisiana and Texas that is roughly the size of the state of Massachusetts. In addition, high levels of bacteria from municipal sewage treatment plants and urban runoff force the closure of beaches throughout the Gulf. The GRN is working to end these water pollution problems through a multi-faceted approach that includes public education, empowerment of citizen groups, technical review of government policies, and legal action when necessary.

Natural Defenses

The Hurricane Season of 2005 has shown how vulnerable Gulf coastal communities are to the devastating impacts of ever-stronger storms. We have seen how the continued destruction of our natural barriers, such as coastal wetlands and barrier islands, takes away nature’s ability to reduce the strength and impact of hurricanes.

Our barrier islands, coastal wetlands and marshes must be protected and enhanced.

As impacted areas rebuild, decision-makers and planners must protect and enhance the natural barriers that help protect our communities. It is estimated that for every 3-4 miles of healthy coastal wetlands a storm surge must travel over, the surge is diminished by one foot. Coastal cypress swamps are thought to be even more effective in minimizing storm surge. Additionally, levees fronted by wetlands and coastal forests are thought to have held up far better than those fronted by open-water.

Save our Cypress

The Gulf’s endangered cypress swamps are being clear-cut to feed an unsustainable and unnecessary mulch industry. Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart have been leading the destruction of the Gulf’s best natural storm protection by selling cypress mulch all over the country.

In 2008, the campaign saved tens of thousands of acres of cypress swamps when Lowe’s and Home Depot stopped selling cypress mulch from coastal Louisana, and Wal-Mart no longer sells cypress mulch from anywhere in Louisiana. The retailers now have an ideal opportunity to live up to their policies of sustainability by expanding that protection and helping to restore balance to the entire Gulf coast. The Save Our Cypress Coalition continues to call on Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s to immediately stop selling cypress mulch in favor of sustainable alternatives.

Species at Risk

Throughout the Gulf of Mexico region, plants, animals, birds, fish and mammals are at risk. Over four hundred plant and animal species found in Gulf states are considered either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (134 in Alabama, 112 in Florida, 31 in Louisiana, 42 in Mississippi, and 94 in Texas). These include the Kemps Ridley and green sea turtles, the brown pelican, the Louisiana black bear, sperm whales and the Florida panther. Sadly, the loss of coastal marshes and swamps, over-fishing, and coastal and industrial development threaten the continued health, and even survival, of these species.

Florida’s Nature Coast

Florida has seen tremendous changes in the last century. In many places, the Florida that existed just 50 years ago is long gone. Lost to the bulldozer, the chainsaw, and the cement mixer, much of what was wild Florida is now but dim memories. The music of nature that once filled the air with the calls of red wolves, whooping cranes and ivory billed woodpeckers is too often silent now, replaced by the sounds of urban Florida. Yet, for all that is lost, there is great hope for the places that remain wild and free. Florida’s Nature Coast is such a place.

The Nature Coast is too important to let these challenges and threats go unanswered. GRN is working hard to protect and preserve the region by building a strong and vibrant coalition of groups who can stand up and fight back for this place.

Wetlands

The GRN works to protect wetlands from reckless development, destructive logging practices, and harmful U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects and policies.  The Gulf of Mexico has lost approximately 50% of its historic wetlands, and those remaining are under increasing threat.

Wetlands loss often leads to declining water quality, a loss of habitat for wildlife and commercial fisheries species, and increased vulnerability to hurricanes and floods for coastal communities. By fighting destructive Army Corps of Engineers projects, reviewing permit applications to destroy wetlands, advocating for coastal restoration, and providing technical assistance to citizen groups, the GRN is working hard to protect Gulf wetlands.

- Leanne Sarco, AmeriCorps VISTA. For more information on volunteer opportunities, please visit the Gulf Restoration Network’s website.

Field Report: Mondo Bizarro

M.U.G.A.B.E.E. on the bayou. Photo by Melisa Cardona

It’s spring time, and the flowers are blooming, temperatures rising and projects are booming. This spring we’re geared up for several Race Peace Workshops in Universities and High schools around the city. The I-Witness Central City project is launching a cousin project, in partnership with the GRN for a new series of videos we’ll be directing and shooting called I-Witness Coast. This spring, we will take two of the 10 stories the GRN shot around the coast about different communities that are being directly impacted by the BP Oil spill, and we will go deeper to find out more about those stories.

Mondo Bizarro has also been busy shooting a Music Video with M.U.G.A.B.E.E. for a song they did called “Lawd Have Mercy”. It’s main topic is about the BP oil spill and the inaccurate news coverage that was delivered by major news channels across the country. We plan on having this video finished and completely edited by the oil spill’s anniversary – April 20^th, 2011.

The Loup Garou will also be on tour late spring – early summer, we are still working out the details for that.

In the mean time, we ask you to take a second and highly consider going to this festival in June: ROOTS FEST! Several Arts organizations will be present to show their work and spread the word about non-profits around the country, trying to work towards social justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROOTS FEST Video”

another I-Witness Central City Story: John O’Neal

- Melisa Cardona, Tulane AmeriCorps VISTA. For more information, please visit their website by clicking on this link Mondo Bizarro.

Field Report: Gulf Restoration Network

Service learning at the Gulf Restoration Network saw significant achievements in fall 2010, and the spring 2011 program is set to build on this success in the next five months. In fall 2010, more than 40 students served over 600 combined hours performing critical environmental outreach to the public and building awareness of how people in the Gulf of Mexico region can restore and protect the habitats critical to coastal communities. Students organized movie screening events showcasing the GRN’s Gulf Tides YouTube series on the continuing impacts of BP’s Drilling Disaster as well as helping construct the wetlands display at the VOODOO Music Experience.

For spring 2011, forty students are signed up to work with the GRN to satisfy their public service graduation requirement at Tulane. Students will continue environmental outreach, building the movement for a Healthy Gulf, and they will also participate in the one-year memorial of the BP Oil Drilling Disaster on April 20, 2011.

The three AmeriCorps VISTAs that have served the GRN since 2007 have contributed significantly to building the service-learning program. The program is now a substantive component of the GRN’s wider grassroots organizing work, and what will likely be the final AmeriCorps VISTA serving with the GRN begins in late February. With Tulane’s Center for Public Service and the Gulf Restoration Network supporting her work toward program sustainability, this ultimate VISTA will institutionalize the service-learning program at the Gulf Restoration Network, ensuring the program continues after the conclusion of VISTA support.

-Nick Poggioli, AmeriCorps VISTA. For more information on volunteer opportunities, please visit the Gulf Restoration Network’s website.

Field Report: Gulf Restoration Network

The past month at the GRN has seen the beginning of the fall 2010 semester service-learning program at Tulane.  The goal for this semester’s program is to increase students’ awareness of critical environmental issues for the Gulf of Mexico, train students in grassroots organizing methods, and conduct public outreach to sign up 2,000 new supporters for the GRN’s BP Oil Drilling Disaster campaign. This semester, the GRN partnered with a political science course studying grassroots organizing, a philosophy course studying environmental ethics, and a first-year TIDES class introducing students to environmental issues.  The grassroots organizing and environmental organizing classes focus on weekly Campaign Meetings and environmental outreach.  Campaign Meetings give service-learners opportunities to learn about the GRN’s campaigns and gain skills in grassroots organizing methods like petition outreach and organizing call-in campaigns.  Outreach opportunities happen on the weekends at community festivals, farmers and arts markets, and special events.  Service-learners serve as GRN Advocates talking to people about the impacts of the BP Oil Drilling Disaster and give them the opportunity to become involved in the response by signing a petition demanding Congress enact meaningful oil and gas regulation reform.  We’re about half-way through the semester right now, and service-learning students in these two classes have already signed up more than 1,000 new supporters, as well as learning all about the GRN’s work, critical environmental issues, and the dire need to get the public engaged in protecting the natural resources of the Gulf of Mexico. The TIDES class has focused on organizing screenings of the GRN’s Defend Our Wetlands, Defend Ourselves Katrina Anniversary program.  Planning a screening is the first opportunity many of the first-year students in the class have had to organize an event, and I’ve worked with them during several class sessions on organizing and event-planning skills, as well as hearing about their work learning about environmental issues.  The students are holding their screenings right now, and already several screenings have gotten the message out not only to Tulane students but to people all across the country, as students held the events over fall break in their hometowns.  It’s been a lot of fun watching the students learn about the issues and develop their abilities to talk about environmental work in the Gulf! Recruitment for spring 2011 service-learning partnerships is about to begin, as well as thinking about the transition to the next Tulane Center for Public Service AmeriCorps VISTA who will be partnered with the GRN beginning in February!

-Nick Poggioli, AmeriCorps VISTA

To learn more about the Gulf Restoration Network, visit their website at: http://www.healthygulf.org/

 

Field Report: Mondo Bizarro

This month, Mondo Bizarro has been busy touring the Loup Garou around the country. We’ve been setting up an entire set for the show in upstate New York, Amherst MS, Arden NC, and soon heading to Knoxville and Kentucky to finish our east coast Tour. We’ve managed to hold workshops about our wetlands in partnership with the Gulf Coast Restoration Network in all of these cities including several talk backs about our current crisis in the Gulf Coast. We were able to raise a little over $5,000 for our tour through a resource called Kickstarter.com We are also getting close to our Race Peace project’s fall shows in KY and possibly Tennessee. The Race Peace is a performance and dialogue about Race and Racism in America and Beyond. Its a project in collaboration with M.U.G.A.B.E.E. (Men Under Guidance Acting Before Early Extinction). Finally, the work on I-Witncess Central City continues, with 8 more videos to edit and post up on our website. We are moving forward with excitement and momentum. -Melisa Cardona, AmeriCorps VISTA To learn more about Melisa’s work with Mondo Bizarro, visit their website.

Field Report: Mondo Bizarro

This month’s been a bit of a whirlwind for us here at Mondo. With the Loup Garou ready for its summer tour, and a couple of fundraising event for the tour and GRN, we’ve been keeping busy and trying to keep up the high hopes. Our last fund raiser on Sunday was called 1000 Gator Pops! and it raised us over $1,000, plus 8 GRN supporters. Its a time where we’ve just shut off the thinking too much caps and kept moving our work forward, because its what needs to move during these crucial times in Louisiana – now more than ever. The Loup Garou is scheduled to tour from Seribia in June, all the way up to NY in July, and a couple of other places on the south east. Our project back in the fall was directly addressing the oil issues in our land, so its imperative that we keep strong and moving this important message right this second…because in this same second, the oil’s still gushing at deadly rates on our gulf. -Melisa Cardona, AmeriCorps VISTA To learn more about Melisa’s work at Mondo Bizarro, visit their website.

Field Report: Gulf Restoration Network

Since late April I have primarily been working on supporting GRN’s 2010 summer canvass office. The canvass officially kicked off May 2 with a 60-hour workweek of Director’s Training, which I went through in order to better understand the processes of the canvass. Understanding how the canvass processes work is the first step toward possibly contributing to improving the canvass capacity for future years. While not directly related to my VISTA duty as a liason between Tulane and the GRN, there are small ways within the canvass in which I might be able to further my VISTA mission “to aid Tulane students, faculty, and staff as they assist community partners with capacity building as the city recovers”.

For anyone reading this to get a sense of what a VISTA does on a daily basis, perhaps it would be helpful if I described my current duties at GRN’s canvass office. My current duties include conducting the orientation session for new hires; conducting one of the info sessions for new applicants; databasing various data tracking information into spreadsheets; helping answer the canvass office phone; maintaining office systems by troubleshooting internet connection problems, making sure there are adequate photocopies of the various forms canvassers use, and filling out GRN’s portion of employment paperwork.

These duties take up nearly all of my time, but I am trying to keep an eye toward the fall internship applications we are getting at a steady rate from Tulane and other universities across the Gulf. At the moment there is no protocol for processing those intern applications. I hope to contribute to the establishment of such a protocol as part of my VISTA service. I am also keeping an eye out for new opportunities for Tulane internships that might serve a need at GRN not currently addressed through interns, service-learners, or volunteers from Tulane. Tulane’s deadline for fall internship applications is August 2, which is going to come up really quick with all of the canvass stuff going on. I hope to get a really solid group of Tulane interns this fall to help GRN defend the Gulf, especially since GRN’s staff has been absolutely swamped—if you’ll pardon such an awful pun—with the BP Oil Drilling Disaster response.

There has been one opportunity for me to serve as a liason so far in the canvass office, though it has not been between Tulane and GRN. We have established a meeting at GRN headquarters each week with the Administrative Canvass Team in order to make sure there are no bottlenecks or hangups in the donor process. A lot of paperwork has to move from canvassers through the canvass office and then downtown to GRN’s headquarters, and having this weekly meeting is a great way to make sure that everything continues operating smoothly.

In all of my canvass roles, I have tried to maintain a broad perspective on how they fit into my overall VISTA mission to aid Tulane students, faculty, and staff as they assist community partners with capacity building as the city recovers.  There are some Tulane students working for GRN as canvassers, and the money they raise will contribute to the financial capacity of the organization.  Right now, though, I am not accomplishing much toward my direct mission as a VISTA. I’m worried that some of the very impressive Tulane intern applicants may be lost to other organizations because my current service is focused so heavily on canvass support. The intern applicant process is one I am devoting some serious thought to and hope to leave improved when my VISTA year ends.

I’m now at the three month mark in my VISTA service, and at this one-quarter mark of my service, I am tired but encouraged.  The GRN is an impressive organization doing important work, and even if I’m not getting much done toward my mission right now, I am glad to have been given the opportunity to contribute to improving the GRN’s relationship with Tulane and to improving the GRN’s capacity to utilize Tulane interns, service learners, volunteers, and faculty through this VISTA position. -Nick Poggioli, AmeriCorps VISTA

To learn more about the Gulf Restoration Network, visit their website at: http://www.healthygulf.org/.