CHAPTER 1 PROTECTING ANIMALS NT Olivia Bouler in 2012 OLIVIA BOULER SAVING BIRDS THROUGH ART Olivia Bouler was an eleven year old artist and bird lover when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank off the coast of Louisiana in April 2010 Within months the sinking ship spilled nearly 5 million gallons 18 9 million liters of oil into the Gulf of Mexico It was the world s largest ever marine oil spill Olivia watched as people from across the United States joined a rescue and cleanup effort The goal was to contain the spreading oil and protect wildlife from its harmful effects But Olivia was focused on one particular impact of the oil its effect on birds Olivia learned that birds can't avoid oil as it spreads in water They need to dive into the water to find fish to eat But when they get oil on their feathers birds can lose their ability to fly They also swallow oil as they dive and eat And that s poisonous for
Although she lived more than 1 000 miles 1 609 kilometers away in Long Island New York Olivia had spent summers with family in Louisiana She loved the many birds living near the Gulf of Mexico And she knew she wanted to do something to help save them Olivia had always admired the naturalist and artist James Audubon who painted and described the birds of A brown pelican covered in oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 North America in his book Birds of America And she knew the nonprofit National Audubon Society named after Audubon worked to protect birds and other wildlife from environmental damage After the Deepwater spill the Audubon Society started raising money to help clean up the Gulf and protect the birds there Olivia decided to help the Audubon Society in whatever way she could But as a kid what could she offer She didn't have a lot of money She did have a skill though drawing She wrote the Audubon Society a letter and offered to make original drawings of birds for each person who donated money to help birds Eleven years old and willing to help she wrote The Audubon Society took her up on her offer Olivia drew and donated five hundred drawings AOL helped out by donating 25 000 hosting her drawings on its website and distributing thousands of
Olivia's drawings helped raise more than 200 000 for Gulf recovery efforts The Audubon Society named her the 2011 Artist Inspiring Conservation Recognition for Olivia's efforts didn't stop there She went to Washington DC to visit members of Congress Her local House representative Steve Israel named her a Hometown Hero She was even honored by the White House who named her a Champion of Change She became the only kid among fourteen people honored as Service and Social Innovators Olivia's Birds by Olivia Bouler Olivia was also named a Disney Friend for Change and a Dale Earnhardt Legend of Leadership In addition she won the 2010 ASPCA Tommy P Monahan Kid of the Year Award named in honor of a Staten Island boy who died in 2007 while trying to Saving the Gulf save his pet from a house fire Following in the footsteps of her hero James Audubon Olivia published her own book about birds Olivia's Birds Saving the Gulf was published on the O Olivia's book published in 2011 one year anniversary of the Deepwater spill It features her original drawings along with photos of many different birds She donated proceeds from the book to further help Gulf cleanup efforts As she gets older Olivia continues her activism to help birds She has traveled throughout the world to share her love of birds and help spread awareness about the dangers faced by birds and other
ELLA VAN CLEAVE REDUCING DOLPHIN HUNTING Ella Van Cleave is proud to be a teenage activist but she says nobody was as surprised as she was to find herself wearing that label When I was a bit younger I would hear the word activist and immediately my mind would wander to these images of highly opinionated people taking their beliefs to the streets with signs and megaphones and I couldn't help but iust sit there and think What are these people doing Flash forward to the summer Ella was twelve A friend introduced her to a movie about one of her favorite topics dolphins Only When Ella learned how poorly some dolphins the movie wasn't about how near Japan were treated she wanted to help them adorable or fascinating dolphins are It was about the yearly slaughter of thousands of dolphins in the Japanese community of Taiji Ella later said that movie the Oscar winning documentary The Cover was the thing that opened the floodgates of activism for her The Cove highlights a practice known as dolphin drive hunting in which dolphins are herded into a cove near Taiji Once captured in the cove some of the dolphins are sold to aquariums and marine parks around the world The rest of the dolphins several thousand each year according to the film are slaughtered with spears and knives Their meat is sold to food
