It’s a bit outside what I normally do here, but the events in the Gulf this past month seem to be going from bad to worse to downright awful.  In fact, it’s been tough for Jon and I not to loose hope in humanity’s future (too dramatic?) the Gulf’s ability to recover. The oceans are so important to human health, and the Gulf in particular is so important to the US for so many reasons.

As someone who owns a car, uses electricity produced by Pepco, uses plastic even though I do my best to minimize it, I’m sure that at least a little of my horror is confronting the profound costs of these items.  Of course, I’m also forced to confront that there are oil spills and coal mine explosions all over the world and in the US they barely register because they don’t impact our ocean or our mountains.

So, herewith, a list of things I’m reading to learn more about the spill and its impact, organizations I’m donating too, and small steps I’m trying to take to keep the oceans clean not as completely messed up:

For information on the spill

• PBS’ Newshour has a great special section on their site that has links to the widget you see above, stories, documents, etc.
• To get a sense of the scale of the oil spill, I highly recommend this tool that lets you “move” the spill to your area.
• Grist’s oil spill roundup
• The DailyKos’ blogger FishGrease’s information and take on the spill response (note: the language is NSFW but the information is interesting)
• SeaWeb also has a roundup of news stories on the spill
• The Twitter feed for BPGlobalPR because G-d knows that humor is important when you’re about to loose faith
• The Huffington Post has a lot of coverage

To clean up your act

• 10 ways to reduce your energy consumption from the Natural Resources Defense Council
• Make stuff yourself.  Here is a list of 100 things you can make yourself- without the packaging!
• Learn more about sustainable, low impact sea food
• Take a look up at the tips from Cause Cast (although, they focus a great deal on beach cleanup and if you’re landlocked…)
• How to Go Green guides from Treehugger and Discovery

Donating what I can to these folks

• The 5 Gyres project because you know how I feel about the trash island(s).
• The Gulf Restoration Network, an organization endorsed by SeaWeb, whose mission is, “to unite and empower people to protect and restore the natural resources of the Gulf Region for future generations.”
• The Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant program is running a number of programs to address the legal, economic, and ecological impact of the spill

If you have other resources, suggestions, or organizations leave a note in the comments!