Race Car Driver Heads for Gulf Coast to Volunteer with Oil Spill Clean Up 
 

May 1, 2010
 
Hello everyone,
 
I am headed to New Orleans in the morning to volunteer to help clean up the oil spill. Likely I will end up working with the wildlife since I have a background in wildlife rescue from college.
 
This spill is on track to become the largest man made environmental disaster in history. The oil is gushing out at 200,000 gallons per day, nearly 10 times what they had originally estimated and it’s seems to be increasing in flow. It is a mile below the surface and they don’t know how to stop it, it could be leaking for months.
 
It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. Pelicans, shrimp, alligators and dolphins in the coastal gulf are giving birth or preparing to. There are four species of endangered sea turtles in the area that will likely never recover now. Shrimp are in grave danger which is devastating not only for the shrimp, but also to all the larger species of fish like red snapper and yellowfin tuna which feed on the shrimp. And while some fish may have the ability to flee from the oil, it is a much more difficult proposition for dolphins who have to surface to breath air and will be inhaling the toxic fumes. This is truly a colossal tragedy of epic proportions.
 
I will be there with Larry Schweiger (President and CEO) and Jeremy Symons (Senior Vice President, Conservation and Education) from the National Wildlife Federation. Right now my plane ticket flies me home next Friday morning (May 7) because I have to come home to go to Dallas for a speech I have scheduled at the International Stadium Managers Conference. I don’t know what my cell service or internet connection will be like. The area I am going – Venice, Louisiana – is on the coast and about 100 miles from New Orleans. I will try to post updates to my facebook and twitter if I have a connection. I will be documenting this trip with video and photographs that I will post on Carbon Free Girl from the gulf coast if I can and if not, when I get home.
 
Wish us luck. If anyone wants to join me as a volunteer, please contact the Deep Water Horizon response team at 1-866-448-5816. We need all the help we can get.
 
Keep it green… and blue… (and free of oil)