Dauphin Island Festival to Oil Spill

I spent this last weekend at one of my favorite shows of the year...The Dauphin Island Art Show. It's a mini-getaway weekend for me. I get to spend some time on a beautiful island with my friend Lisa in her home on the Island. This Festival with it's gorgeous island weather was overshadowed by the coming oil slick that threatens their Coastline as well as our own here in Biloxi. It weighed on the minds of everyone who lives there and those who frequent the Island.

The Gulf of Mexico waters sustain so much for us here. We have tourism, fishing, seafood and definitely not least all, the wildlife we are a habitat for. The total damages won't even be known for a long time to come.

I have been watching with horror the events of the past 10 days. I can't believe we can't even shut this thing down and as it grows, the damage it will do to everything in it's path. It breaks my heart to even contemplate the loss.

On the bright side, residents of all the Coastal States are stepping up to volunteer to help with the clean-up, including me. I have signed up at oilspillvolunteers.com as well as Audubon Pascagoula River Center. I am hoping my background will make a valuable volunteer, but I will do whatever is asked of me to help.

I hope this opens eyes to the fact that we need to find a better energy source. The oil companies have us by the throat because we let them. We all need to be more proactive with pushing a better way, be it wind turbines, natural gas or solar energy. I don't believe that the tragedy in the Gulf should have been a "risk" worth taking.

I will be offering a percentage of my sales to a recovery effort yet to be determined. I will keep you informed in the next day or so when I decide how to proceed.