BP is burning endangered sea turtles alive.

BP is burning endangered sea turtles alive.

Dear Amy: Sometimes petitions work. Lobbying uses a variety of tools. Petitions are just one of them. I called my Congressman about this; but he said it is in the hands of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife. Those people are under Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. I have signed another petition to have him removed.

Lobbying unfortunately takes time, money & effort. I have volunteered for many of the wildlife groups that are active in the rescue. An easy thing you can do is sign the petitions that are active. It is good for the environmental groups to have numbers of people.

Also, join one or more of the environmental groups, if you do not already belong. The Sierra Club has social activities as well as lobbying. NRDC handles environmental issues in the courts. Oceana does beach clean-ups throughout the United States. SeaTurtle, Inc. has people to locate & mark sea turtle nests. Nature Conservancy has many fun projects that you can do in your own State - like planting trees. Audubon Society has annual bird countings. They are all deeply saddened by what has happened in the Gulf of Mexico and are working tirelessly.

Many of these groups have trained lobbyists that work in Washington, DC. They also need volunteers that can write emails to their Congressmen.

So, I would say at the minimum, sign a couple of petitions. There is certainly a lot more work to be done. Despite all the harm that BP has done in corrupting our government, there are still public servants that do amazing work for very little pay. I have been to every single continent besides Antarctica. The USA is still a democracy. I have seen the "small people" accomplish wonders.

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