[Left: Front view of quilt. Below: Back view of quilt.]
The story behind the quilt
On March 31, 2026, a group of seven government officials unanimously voted to remove protections from species in the Gulf of Mexico listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The panel included the heads of six federal agencies including the Department of Interior, EPA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Colloquially known as “The God Squad,” this panel can decide if the federal government is able to move forward with a project even if it will threaten an endangered species. This committee has been convened only three times since the process was established in 1978. With two weeks' notice, The God Squad came together seeking to grant a far larger exemption than the committee has ever considered and cited a never-before-used section of the Endangered Species Act. The statute says in direct language that “the Committee shall grant an exemption for any agency action if the Secretary of Defense finds that such exemption is necessary for reasons of national security.” After a 15-minute meeting, oil and gas developers in the Gulf of Mexico were granted an exemption from the Endangered Species Act (note that the U.S. produces more oil than any other country, and the Gulf of Mexico only accounts for about 15 percent of the nation’s oil production, according to Grist).
Although oil and gas extraction can now continue without the Endangered Species Act restricting activities, there is a question of exactly which species and how many are impacted by this exemption. The media is focusing most of its coverage on the endangered Right's whale, a rare species with only a possible 50 or fewer individuals that remain. Yet NOAA's Threatened and Endangered Species List for the Gulf of Mexico lists 20 species that are threatened or endangered.
Penn State Brandywine students enrolled in the course When Data Meets Design (SC 103N, Spring semester 2026) collaboratively made a quilt calling attention to all of the species on the ESA list for the Gulf of Mexico. Each student selected a species, drew a sketch, and listed its common name along with its status. On the back side of each square is a listing of the existing threats to each species, prior to the removal of the ESA framework. We hope this quilt will generate an increased awareness and conversations around what lives in the Gulf of Mexico and what could be impacted moving forward without protections.
Using green squares to represent land, these squares were arranged to frame out the Gulf of Mexico, starting with the state of Florida on the right. The green squares curve around the top of the quilt for the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, then continue down on the left side for Texas and around to Mexico, with the Yucatán Peninsula at the bottom. The dark blue border around the white squares were used to represent the endangered species, while the lighter blue border was reserved for the threatened species.
Each student selected a species to focus on and drew one or two squares. This arrangement in the quilt allowed for 19 white squares, which required us to place two species on one square to include all 20 threatened and endangered species. The species were also placed in the relative location in the Gulf of Mexico where they exist (along the Florida, closer to Mexico, etc.).
Meet the Gulf of Mexico species listed under the Endangered Species Act
Credits:
Created with an image by Tomasz Zajda - "Deep Blue Sea Surface"