Oil and Anguish: Alaska, Nigeria, and the Gulf Coast

Within a week of the Exxon Oil spill in 1989, currents and winds pushed the slick 90 miles from the site of the tanker, out of Prince William Sound into the Gulf of Alaska. It eventually reached nearly 600 miles away from the wreck contaminating 1,500 miles of shoreline – about the length of California's coast and was described as the "largest oil spill to date in U.S. waters." In June of 1989 I was dispatched to Cordova, Alaska in my new role as an advisor to a donor. Eleven million gallons of oil had spewed ...

Gulf Coast Crisis: A Call for Action from the Philanthropic Community

A shrimp boat drags booms to gather oil in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, Louisiana, on May 5. Photo Credit: AP

The foundation community – and the public at large – can do little to prevent the devastation of the Gulf of Mexico, its coastline and its communities as a result of BP's Deepwater Horizon blowout. Tremendous damage has been done, and more will be done over the next days, weeks, and months.  We stand in sympathy and outrage as human life, marine life and ecosystems are destroyed and...