Next Tuesday marks 50 days since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, pouring millions of gallons of oil into a vital part of the coastal ecosystem.

To mark the day, we're working with partners on an Oil Spill day of action next Tuesday, and we're encouraging folks to take the day to host candelight vigils, call members of Congress and demand aggressive energy policy to break our addiction to oil, or to plan an even more massive event on June 26.

Why do all these activities? Because we know politicians are finally listening to us, and starting to call for aggressive changes to the way the United States uses energy. We're the biggest per capita emitters of Carbon Dioxide on the planet, and we've so far done an abyssmal job of changing that. We can't just hope that the Gulf disaster forces a change–we have to work for it.

So we hope you'll think about what you can do, with your friends and your neighbors, to make sure the pelicans on the beaches, the out of work fisherfolk, and those who live downstream from Louisiana's oil refineries, can hope for better.