5 years ago today ….The “Deepwater Horizon” Oil Rig Exploded!!

~~April 20, 2015~~ 

5 years ago today, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, spewing 210 million gallons of crude oil.

Gulf residents and wildlife continue to reel from the impacts of BP’s negligence. Coastal residents are struggling to maintain their livelihoods and culture, while they wrestle with health problems from exposure to oil and toxic chemicals. Gulf communities still fight for climate justice.

Please SHARE this image so that we never forget. A disaster of this magnitude doesn’t have to happen to us here, or to anyone, anywhere, ever again.

Want to get more involved?

Follow Gulf South Rising to learn what you can do: bit.ly/1b4i7z0

~~GRAPHIC/INFO SOURCE~~ 

https://www.facebook.com/greenpeaceusa?fref=photo

~~GALLERY~~ 

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~~RELATED~~ 

Remember the BP Oil Spill? The Gulf is back to normal … yeah, right!!

http://www.onearth.org/earthwire/cat-island-bp-oil-spill-birds?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=socialmedia

http://www.gulfsouthrising.org/#!about1/c60u

~~A look at the Gulf oil spill after the cameras had gone~~

~~Published on Nov 19, 2014~~

More than four years ago, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, gushing oil into the Gulf Coast for almost three months before it was capped. Despite settlements and clean-up efforts, some communities have never fully recovered. Filmmaker Margaret Brown joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss her documentary, “The Great Invisible,” which examines the fallout.

~~The Great Invisible~~

Official Trailer

~~Published on Mar 6, 2014~~

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. It killed 11 workers and caused the worst oil spill in American history.

The explosion still haunts the lives of those most intimately affected, though the story has long ago faded from the front page. At once a fascinating corporate thriller, a heartbreaking human drama and a peek inside the walls of the secretive oil industry, The Great Invisible is the first documentary feature to go beyond the media coverage to examine the crisis in depth through the eyes of oil executives, survivors and Gulf Coast residents who experienced it first-hand and then were left to pick up the pieces while the world moved on.

#5YearsAgoToday #DeepwaterHorizonExploded #BP #GulfOfMexico #210MillionGallons #CrudeOil #GulfResidents #Wildlife #ImpactsBPsNegligence #CoastalResidents #MaintainLivelihoods #Culture #HealthProblems #ExposureOil #ToxicChemicals #Communities #ClimateJustice #TheGreatInvisible #Documentary #FilmmakerMargaretBrown #WorstOilSpill #AmericanHistory #CatIsland #SusanCosier

#WeAllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #hrexachwordpress

EYE OPENER NOW YOU SEE IT

Thanks to the BP oil disaster, this Louisiana barrier island is washing away.
BY SUSAN COSIER

At this time five years ago, Cat Island, off the coast of Louisiana, was getting ready for breeding season. In spring, rare and endangered birds, like brown pelicans, come from all over to nest on this 5.5-acre spit in the sea, the Gulf region’s fourth-largest rookery.

After hatching, chicks would imprint on the place and later return to lay their own eggs in its eight-foot mangroves. Then on April 20, 2010, disaster struck. The Deepwater Horizon blowout began to spew oil into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days straight.

“As it appears in …. full read/full credit”

http://www.onearth.org/earthwire/cat-island-bp-oil-spill-birds?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=socialmedia

~~The Gulf Oil Spill Disintegrated This Island~~

~~Published on Apr 15, 2015~~

Cat Island was once one of the four largest bird-nesting grounds in Louisiana. But the Deepwater Horizon oil spill killed the mangroves growing there, destroying the root system that held the island’s sediment in place. Since 2010, the 5.5 acre island has been washing away into the Gulf of Mexico, and migratory birds find their home disappearing before their eyes.

We ALL are ONE!!

April 20, 2014 …… Cannabis Culture!

~~April 20, 2014~~

CANNABIS CULTURE – 4/20, the official holiday of the global cannabis culture, is here again. On April 20, huge clouds of marijuana smoke will fill the air at rallies in cities across the planet.

~~First a little history~~

The idea of 4:20 as a time to smoke pot goes back to the 1970’s, when a group of high-school students from San Rafael California began using it as a time and code word for marijuana smoking. Grateful Dead-heads quickly scooped it up and passed it around, until it became common parlance in the 1990’s.

In 1995, a group of marijuana activists from Vancouver working for Prince of Pot Marc Emery had the brilliant idea that 420 could mean not just a pot smoking time (twice every day) but also an entire day of cannabis celebration, if written “4/20”.

The April 20 marijuana rally was born at Victory Square park in Vancouver and over the last 20 years, the concept has been adopted by cannabis activists around the world. Cities like Vancouver and Denver now host huge rallies with tens of thousands of peaceful marijuana smokers celebrating the plant they love.

~~Origins~~

A group of teenagers in San Rafael, California, calling themselves the Waldos began using the term in connection with a plan to search for an abandoned cannabis crop that they had learned about in autumn 1971. Although their typical “hang-out spot was a wall outside the school,” the Waldos designated the Louis Pasteur statue on the grounds of San Rafael High School as their meeting place, and 4:20 p.m. as their meeting time.

The Waldos referred to this initial plan with the phrase “4:20 Louis”, but after multiple attempts to find the crop failed, the phrase evolved in form and use — shortened simply to “4:20”, the teens increasingly relied on the code word to refer to pot-smoking in general. High Times, particularly the editor Steven Hager, was responsible for bringing the Waldos’ story to a national audience. Hager called for 4:20 p.m. to be the socially accepted time of day to consume cannabis and attributed the early spread of the phrase to Grateful Dead followers, who were also linked to the city of San Rafael.

~~April 20 observances~~

 

420 event in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, April 20, 2013

Students and others gather for a “420 Day” event in Porter Meadow at the University of California, Santa Cruz, campus on April 20, 2007.

April 20 has become a counterculture holiday in North America, where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis. Some events have a political nature to them, advocating for the legalization of cannabis. North American observances have been held in San Francisco‘s Golden Gate Park near the Haight-Ashbury district, the University of Colorado‘s Boulder campus, Ottawa, Ontario, at Parliament Hill and Major’s Hill Park, Montréal, Québec at Mount Royal monument, Edmonton, Alberta at the Alberta Legislature Building, as well as Vancouver, British Columbia at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The growing size of the unofficial event at UC Santa Cruz caused the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs to send an e-mail to parents in 2009 stating: “The growth in scale of this activity has become a concern for both the university and surrounding community”.

~~Pot-smokers share ‘highest’ holiday with Easter on 4/20~~

Throughout the past few weeks social media has been spreading the absorbing fact that Easter 2014 lands on the Marijuana holiday 420. Although the Christian holiday is a recognition and celebration of the holy story of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, popular culture also recognizes the holiday as filled with tasty chocolates and Easter eggs filled with treats.

Its easy to say the least the jokes and memes are heavily rolling through social media networks, conveying that “nobody will be able to find Easter eggs this year.” Americans generally are familiar with the story of Jesus Christ and the holy holiday of Easter, but in respects to the two holidays landing on the same day, it seems appropriate to take a look at the history of  the marijuana holiday 420.

Nonetheless the holiday is very influential in popular culture, enough so that Quentin Tarantino made all the clocks in Pulp Fiction set to 4:20.

There are many myths and rumors inscribed in the marijuana holiday 420, the origin of the holiday still remains largely a mystery. However there are several explanations and origin stories from all kinds of people, that seem relatively plausible. There is only a few things we know for sure, that the 420 holiday stands for the date April 20th, and that marijuana users feel compelled to celebrate marijuana consumption on this day.

Marijuana users celebrate by smoking, eating and consuming the cannabis in vast quantities. Since the legalization in the states Colorado and Washington, marijuana sales are expected to skyrocket this 420 holiday, along with the sale of Doritos and Beef Jerky.

Some marijuana historians believe the reason why the holidays origin has been lost is because the very nature and side effects of the plant. One more scientific explanation is that marijuana contains 420 active ingredients or chemicals, while others say that 420 is tea-time in Holland. It has even been connected to Hitler’s birthday and the legendary musician Bob Marley. Others have suggested that it has something to do with Earth day which is on April 20th. Jokingly they say the marijuana users were two days late in celebrating.

Arguably the most accepted story line is that 420 is some sort of police code that was used in Point Reyes, California for officers tracking weed and weed smokers. However main-stream reports the holiday’s origin from a 1990′s flyer campaign by the Grateful Dead that circulated heavily in northern California. As Easter 2014 lands on the marijuana holiday 420, it can be said that this media hype was all crafted by a bands flyers in Oakland.

Sometime in 1990, Hightimes made a copy of the flyer, spreading to marijuana users from Oakland to New York. By 1995 the Cannabis Action Network staged their first annual 420 Ball in San Francisco at the Maritime Hall, a special even that begins and ends at 4:20. By 1998 Hightimes launches 420.com, promoting 420 into the digital world.

Although Easter 2014 lands on the 420 marijuana holiday, there should not be any animosity between the two holidays. It is even argued by some theologians the Bible speaks of marijuana in Genesis 1:29, and makes for an important focal point of the Rastafarian religion. This Easter should make for an interesting one to say the least.

~Opinion by Zane Foley~

~~SOURCE~~

Easter 2014 Lands on 420 Marijuana Holiday

~~4/20: The Hazy History of a Marijuana Holiday~~

~~Published on Apr 20, 2013~~

The history of how 4/20 became an unofficial holiday for smokers might prove surprising.

We ALL are ONE!! 

Google Doodle ….. March 24, 2014!

~~March 24, 2014~~

Google Honors Dorothy Irene Height On 102nd Birthday

~~by Barry Schwartz ~~

On Google.com in the US today, Google has a logo honoring the life and contributions of Dorothy Irene Height. She would be 102 today, born on March 24, 1912 in Richmond, Virginia and passing away only about four years ago on April 20, 2010 at the age of 98 in Washington, D.C.

Dorothy was a civil rights and women’s rights activist specifically fighting for African-American women, for the most part. She was president for forty-years of the National Council of Negro Women, and was awarded both the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. 

~~Source~~

http://www.seroundtable.com/dorothy-irene-height-google-doodle-18297.html

The logo portrays Dorothy Height’s friendly, confident and beautiful nature.

~~Early life~~

Dorothy Height was born in Richmond, Virginia. During childhood, she moved with her family to Rankin, Pennsylvania, a steel town in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, where she graduated from Rankin High School in 1929. Height received a scholarship from the Elks which helped her to attend college. Height was admitted to Barnard College in 1929, but upon arrival, she was denied entrance because the school had an unwritten policy of admitting only two black students per year. She pursued studies instead at New York University, earning a degree in 1932, and a master’s degree in educational psychology the following year. Height pursued further postgraduate work at Columbia University and the New York School of Social Work (the predecessor of the Columbia University School of Social Work).

~~Career~~

Height started working as a caseworker with the New York City Welfare Department and, at the age of twenty-five, she began a career as a civil rights activist when she joined the National Council of Negro Women. She fought for equal rights for both African Americans and women, and in 1944 she joined the national staff of the YMCA. She also served as National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority from 1946 to 1957. She remained active with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority throughout her life. While there she developed leadership training programs and interracial and ecumenical education programs.

Height was named president of the National Council of Negro Women, a position she held until 1997. During the height of the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, Height organized “Wednesdays in Mississippi,” which brought together black and white women from the North and South to create a dialogue of understanding.

American leaders regularly took her counsel, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Height also encouraged President Dwight D. Eisenhower to desegregate schools and President Lyndon B. Johnson to appoint African-American women to positions in government. In the mid-1960’s, Height wrote a column entitled “A Woman’s Word” for the weekly African-American newspaper, the New York Amsterdam News and her first column appeared in the March 20, 1965, issue on page 8.

Dorothy Height with Eleanor Roosevelt, 1960

Height served on a number of committees, including as a consultant on African affairs to the Secretary of State, the President’s Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped, and the President’s Committee on the Status of Women. In 1974, Height was named to the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, which published The Belmont Report, a response to the infamous “Tuskegee Syphilis Study” and an international ethical touchstone for researchers to this day.

~~Later life~~

In 1990, Height, along with 15 other African-American women and men, formed the African-American Women for Reproductive Freedom. Height was recognized by Barnard for her achievements as an honorary alumna during its commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 2004.

The musical stage play If This Hat Could Talk, based on her memoirs Open Wide The Freedom Gates, debuted in the middle of 2005. It showcases her unique perspective on the civil rights movement and details many of the behind-the-scenes figures and mentors who shaped her life, including Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Height was the chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the largest civil rights organization in the USA. She was an honored guest at the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009, and was seated on the stage.

She attended the National Black Family Reunion, celebrated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., every year until her death in 2010.

On March 25, 2010, Height was admitted to Howard University Hospital in Washington D.C. for unspecified reasons. Her spokeswoman issued a statement stating that at that time she was in a “very serious, but stable” condition but that they were remaining optimistic about her recovery. On April 20, 2010, Height died at the age of ninety-eight. Her funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral on April 29, 2010 was attended by President and Mrs. Obama plus many dignitaries and notable people. She was later interred at Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, Maryland.

The Dorothy I. Height Building, headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women, located on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.

~~SOURCE~~

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Height

~~Dorothy Irene Height 1912-2010 Rest In Peace~~

~~Uploaded on Apr 23, 2010~~

Alpha Kappa Alpha Heartbroken Over Loss of Dr. Dorothy Height
Sorority hails Height for her legacy of courage

Alpha Kappa Alpha is experiencing an overwhelming feeling of grief upon learning of the death of Dr. Dorothy Height.

Speaking on behalf of the organization’s 250,000 members worldwide, AKA’s international president, Barbara A. McKinzie, hailed Height for her service as president of the National Council of Negro Women, where she championed the rights of Black women and advanced their agenda for change. In viewing her life’s mission, McKinzie described Height as an authentic hero who devoted her entire life to promoting civil rights, human rights and women’s rights

Remembering this incredible pioneer and champion! 

We ALL are ONE!!