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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (568819)	5/29/2010 1:32:00 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578942

Bird Lover, 11, Painting to Save the Gulf SUSANNA BAIRD, AOL (MAY 27) Dear Audubon Society: As you all are aware of, the oil spill in the Gulf is devistating (sic). My mom has already donated a lot of money to help, but I have an idea that may also help. I am a decent drawer, and I was wondering if I could sell some bird paintings and give the profits to your organization. My mom is in touch with an art gallery where I live. She is going to sell them there. I also am hoping to go to Cornell in the future. I want to become an ornithologist. I know a few species of birds. I also acknowledge that this is breeding time for plovers, terns, etc. I will do all in my strength to earn money. All I need is your okay. Here is a picture of a northern cardinal as a sample. Thank you for your time. Olivia Bouler, 11 years old and willing to help So began Olivia’s "Save the Gulf" campaign. The fifth grader from Islip, N.Y., loves birds and the gulf region, where her grandparents live. She told AOL News she was "really upset" when she learned about the oil spill and the attendant threat to birds. "I really needed to do something," Olivia said. Inspiration arrived quickly. "I’m no James Audubon, but I can draw," she said. And so Olivia sat down and wrote her letter to the Audubon Society, including a painting. It responded. In addition to purchasing one of Olivia’s drawings for their New York headquarters, the organization contacted her to discuss fund-raising tactics. The society and Olivia’s family -- architect dad James, English teacher and writer mom Nadine, and little brother Jackson -- created a program whereby Olivia sends an original painting to anyone who donates to any of several organizations helping wildlife in the gulf. Donors e-mail Nadine, and Olivia takes pen to paper, creating a unique work of art for each donor. Pencil, rather. All of Olivia’s bird works begin with an ebony pencil and thick watercolor paper. Olivia then brushes watercolor over the top. Donors can request specific birds; otherwise, Olivia chooses birds she knows are suffering in the Gulf of Mexico right now. The entire creative process takes about a half-hour. Initially, this wasn’t a lot of time, but now that she’s up to 50 requests, she and her family are brainstorming more time-efficient options such a poster prints of her paintings. Olivia is traveling to the gulf region today, a trip planned before the spill. She understands how dire the situation has become and is prepared for what she might see. She needs to be. Audubon staffers are finding ever-greater numbers of birds covered with oil and worry about future effects on the birds and gulf coast marine life in general. "Even if BP managed to plug the leak today, many species in Audubon Important Bird Areas will still be in trouble because of the huge amount of oil already coming onshore and already present in the ocean water where they derive their food," Delta Willis, senior communications director for the National Audubon Society, told AOL News. "The timing is terrible; brown pelicans are nesting, plus they were only delisted as an endangered species last November." As a result of what society staffers are seeing, and what they fear for the future, they’ve urged Congress to authorize emergency funding to address the crisis. Olivia, who has been passionate about birds since she was 6, believes witnessing the birds’ plight firsthand will motivate her to work even harder. "I want to see how bad it is. I am completely determined," she told AOL. "I don’t care what I see. It will encourage me to go even further with this." To help with gulf recovery efforts, donate to the National Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, the Weeks Bay Foundation, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program or the National Wildlife Federation, where you can make a donation via text message. After making your donation, contact Olivia’s mom, Nadine, at nadinebouler@hotmail.com, and Olivia will send a drawing. For more information, visit "Save the Gulf: Olivia’s Bird Illustrations" on Facebook aolnews.com