Did you see those poor birds my sister Theresa asked They are so covered in oil they can’t swim fly or dive I could tell she was upset We all were Each night my family and I gathered around the television to watch the latest update on the huge oil spill happening in the Gulf of Mexico We had been shocked by the horrible explosion at sea and the loss of so many lives Then we were appalled at the hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil that just kept pouring into the water day after day Clearly people were working hard to fix the horrible leak but it was taking so long too long for so much of the ocean’s plants and animals More than 200 million gallons of crude oil was leaked into the Gulf of Mexico 5
Every single day that water is getting more and more polluted and seabirds fish and turtles are getting injured or killed added my mother All of us had seen the photos of the creatures that had been washed ashore after the spill It was terrible There has to be something we can do I said heading to my room There goes Online Investigator Hernandez said Dad chuckling I had earned that nickname months ago because I loved to research and find solutions to problems So far my online searching had helped us figure out how to repair the leaking pipe in the kitchen where to find the gluten-free flour my mom liked for cooking and how to design a Web site for my sister’s babysitting business Think About It Miguel and his family live in Iowa How does living there change what Miguel suggests the family can do to help Pick out one piece of evidence that supports your answer 6
In the months after the spill more than 8,000 birds turtles and other animals were found dead from exposure to oil 7
