The Cajun "paradise" lost in southern Louisiana.

The entire Gulf Coast wetlands ecosystem is a delicate and profound balance of tides, winds, and ocean temperatures. It's almost cosmic. Tides push and pull vast and deep columns of water through narrow passes into lakes and bays and back out to the open ocean. This is a marine cardiovascular system on a continental scale, one supporting waters that roil with life. Winds move shallow layers of salt water toward the shore and push back with undercurrents of brackish and freshwater from lakes like Pontchartrain, Borgne, and Salvador. The coastal prairies and cypress swamps breath. Water temperatures and salt concentrations from the edge of the continental shelf and as close as the shallows of Chandeleur Sound and Barataria Bay trigger complex movements of sea life, telling them when to spawn and where to feed. Larger seasonal shifts provide signals to migratory birds, ushering them to land upon horizon-to-horizon beds of grass where they feed from the bounty all around.

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Still Looking for a clear path:

Day and a half later I have a call back from from the government/BP hotline, total lip service. They called back to correct the spelling of my name. No questions about my availability, location, ability to travel.   I asked if they were putting people in the field yet, they dodged the first time, said yes the second, and then were unable to say where.  This is the number, get on the list anyway: Oil Report Line/Volunteer Line – (866)-448-5816

I think we are all biting at the bit trying to figure out a way to help, and one of the sad truths for our wetlands is they aren't like a beach were you can run out and try and help. Protecting the wetlands takes time, planning, dedication, and legislation.

So, how to help remains the question of the day. The organizations in Alabama and Mississippi seem to be doing the best work so far. They are cleaning beaches, blocking inflow points for critical areas, they seem to be providing outlets for volunteers readily. For Louisiana wetlands I expect volunteer opportunities to open up in the next couple days as the horror unfolds, but until then the Bayous and Wetlands Hold us at bay from our hearts dream of helping to protect them from oil, just as they hold the storms back from our cities. A barrier hard passed. Here are some resources:

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Between the glowing press reports on Burl Cain's work, there are hints that gaining access to prison programming — education programs, for example — may be conditional on whether a prisoner is willing to embrace evangelical Christianity.

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The Southern Republican Leadership Conference, featuring Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Louisiana's own Governor Bobby Jindal, came to New Orleans this weekend and was met by at least 300 protesters in the street.

The local focus of the protest: stop cutting education and social services, like health care, first when balancing Louisiana's budget.

[PHOTO: UNO Professors Rachel Luft and Steve Striffler in Lafayette Square on Friday]

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The Welcoming Committee seeks to build a decentralized coalition to present a response to the Republican presence in our city of New Orleans from Apri1 8-11.

We believe in our collective struggle and the possibility of a world beyond oppression, domination, war and empire. Following are our points of unity. We invite all individuals and groups committed to these ideas to participate in the Welcoming Committee!

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