The American People Save Gulf Coast Sea Turtles

American People Save Gulf Coast Sea Turtles

Power to the people!

Environmental groups have scored a major victory for the American people and have helped to save the endangered sea turtle population of the Gulf Coast for future generations.

Due to a lawsuit filed by various environmental groups, BP has been forced to stop burning sea turtles alive.  BP had previously been using controlled burning to clean up the oil spill in the gulf coast, and in the process deliberately burned trapped, living sea turtles.

This example should be a motivator for all of us.  The “small people” -as BP refers to the American public – have come together and forced a corporate behemoth to do the right thing.  Our politicians refused to act, but the American people did.  All of our donations to environmental groups are what allowed this lawsuit to take place.  Score one for the people.

But there is more to do.  In a previous post I mentioned the Grangers, a group of American farmers that stood up to big railroad money in the late 19th Century.  They pooled their resources and forced big business and big politics to answer to the people.  Their first step was to fund a series of lawsuits that forced the railroads to stop their abusive practices.  The American people have started that court battle.

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Then there is step two for the BP oil spill:  Make our politicians represent the people, not BP.  We have an election this November.  We need to vote the rascals out.  No amount of letters, e-mails, or rhetoric will get that message across.  The Grangers knew this, and they voted out the incumbent politicians that supported the railroads.  The result?  Laws were passed that regulated railroad abuses.

We can do the same.  Vote them out in November.  In my opinion no one is clean.  To my knowledge not a single politician has done anything more than lip-service to address the BP oil spill in the Gulf.  They have gone on TV, they have held hearings, they have formed commissions, and they have threatened legal action.  And what has happened in the Gulf Coast while they have fiddled in Washington?  Millions of gallons of oil have killed wildlife in the Gulf Coast and their friend BP has been burning other wildlife alive.

Who stopped BP from burning living sea turtles?  Groups of “small people” who were funded by “small” money.  That’s America.  That’s the same America that wrote the Constitution.  The Constitution that guarantees the freedom of speech that the Coast Guard and BP have removed from the Gulf Coast.  The Constitution that was written once we kicked Britain off of our shores.  Let’s do it again.  Let’s show BP and their purchased politicians that we mean business.  We the (not-so-small) people.

BP, Coast Guard Will Save Turtles From Oil Burns – BusinessWeek.