BP Oil Spill Damage to Louisiana Wetlands and Wildlife Featured in Glee YouTube Video

BP Oil Spill Damage to Louisiana Wetlands and Wildlife Featured in Glee YouTube Video

Video Link Enables Viewers to Urge Senators to Pursue Clean Energy Alternatives

WASHINGTON, June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A powerful new video featuring the popular song, "Over the rainbow," as Environmental Defense Fund coastal scientist Angelina Freeman examines the damage to Louisiana wetlands and wildlife from the BP oil disaster is now posted on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPjJPVdR4g). The video's narrative track is the performance of "Over the rainbow" that ended the first season finale of the Fox hit TV show Glee.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100202/EDFLOGO)
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100202/EDFLOGO)

Produced by Environmental Defense Fund, the video concludes with a link www.edf.org/cleanenergy that enables viewers to email their U.S. senators "to urge them to learn from this unprecedented disaster and to wisely lead us in a new direction away from fossil fuels toward cleaner energy alternatives." The video is timely because last night President Obama challenged the U.S. Senate to make passage of clean energy legislation a priority.

"This beautiful song and the tragic images from the Gulf Coast oil disaster remind us that we have a choice to leave a better world for our children," said Environmental Defense Fund Executive Director David Yarnold, who recently did an aerial and boat tour of coastal Louisiana when the video was shot and blogged about it today at http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2010/06/16/somewhere-over-the-gulf-coast-a-"gl ee"-and-bp-oil-disaster-mashup//. "I wanted anyone and everyone to see what our addiction to oil had done to the Gulf and to contrast that with the sense of hope and possibility that 'Over the rainbow' exudes."

"Over the rainbow" is number one on the "Songs of the Century" list compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. The American Film Institute ranked "Over the Rainbow" the greatest movie song of all time on the list of "American Film Institutes' 100 Years...100 Songs."

The lyrics to "Over the rainbow" are:

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I dreamed of
Once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true ooh ooooh
Someday I'll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me ee ee eeh
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
High above the chimney tops that's where you'll find me oh
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly

Birds fly over the rainbow
Why, then oh why can't I?

Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org.

Contact: Sean Crowley, 202-572-3331, scrowley@edf.org

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100202/EDFLOGO
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100202/EDFLOGO
Source: Environmental Defense Fund

CONTACT: Sean Crowley of EDF, +1-202-572-3331, scrowley@edf.org

Web Site: http://www.edf.org/

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