BP Oil Disaster: Interdependence Day and Funder Response

Perhaps this year, we need to think of celebrating “Interdependence Day” in addition to our traditional July 4 holiday. And in doing so, we need to consider how collaboration can help lessen the horrific impact of the BP oil disaster on marine life and the Gulf community.

The setbacks in capturing the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico make us all feel helpless to act. For philanthropy, there are complex questions of roles and niches associated with this catastrophe. It is damaging an already beleaguered region, in which many invested after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

This week, Hurricane Alex added insult to injury by bringing more oil to the shore. We cannot sit by and do nothing. This calamity requires us to collaborate across multiple funding networks, including the Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA) and the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity (CGBD).

EGA’s oil disaster matrix and upcoming retreat are two opportunities to explore innovative ways funders can work together on strategies related to energy, marine conservation, toxics, environmental justice, and many other cross-cutting issues.

EGA has created a constantly developing BP oil disaster matrix on its website, which presents an opportunity to learn about collaboration, projects, and grantees that foundations recommend.

The fall retreat will be held in California, October 5 to 8. Acclaimed oceanographer Sylvia Earle will kick off the event. Her extensive experience as former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) makes her a trusted expert in this time of confusion. Earle testified to the House of Representatives that “the Gulf of Mexico is not, as some believe, an industrial wasteland, valuable primarily as a source of petrochemicals and a few species of ocean wildlife that humans exploit food, commodities, and recreational fishing. These are assets worth protecting as if our lives depend on them, because in no small measure, they do.”

At the retreat, EGA will release new data that map funders’ responses to the BP disaster as of September. We will explore how conceptual and geographic mapping can help move funders forward. Additionally, the influence of corporations on our politics and strategies will be part an important discussion at the retreat with award-winning journalist and bestselling author Naomi Klein and others.

We know the implications of this disaster will be with us for years to come. EGA’s oil disaster matrix and retreat can help funders collaborate on solutions. This disaster may turn into the moment in time where real change is possible for green energy and climate change.

Rachel Leon is executive director of the Environmental Grantmakers Association