Big day yesterday in the Skoll universe. Jeff announced the creation of a new entity, the Skoll Urgent Threats Fund, which will focus on attacking urgent threats. He’s hired Larry Brilliant to lead the new organization, as well as serve as a senior adviser to help him leverage both his philanthropic and business activities to drive more impact around these threats. The new Fund’s focus will be on fighting climate change, water scarcity, pandemics, nuclear proliferation and Middle East conflict. Jeff believes that, if we don’t get out in front of these issues in a serious way in the next five to ten years, they could become exponentially worse, and truly threaten the quality - and even viability - of life on the planet.
This is another tool in a fairly unique toolset Jeff has created around social change. He’s got two philanthropic organizations now - the Skoll Foundation (which will continue to support social entrepreneurship) and the new Skoll Urgent Threats Fund - as well as two commercial entities, Participant Media, his film and media company that creates content designed to engage people on social issues, and Capricorn Investment Group, which takes a principled approach to investing. It’s an innovative approach that recognizes you need to work at multiple levels to drive change.
We at the Skoll Foundation expect to work closely with Larry. He knows us well, having been on the Skoll board since 2007, a role he’ll continue. Sally Osberg, the Foundation’s CEO, will also serve on the board of the new organization. Larry will be able to tap the Foundation’s programmatic expertise and resources as he builds his new structure.
It’s great to have someone of Larry’s stature becoming an even more integral part of the Skoll family.
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April 23rd, 2009 - 5:26 pm
This is wonderful news! Dr. Larry Brilliant is a hero in the field of Public Health.
Check out the organization that he founded called Seva: http://www.seva.org
Seva has given sight back to over 2 million blind people in Asia and Africa! They also have a great program called Gifts of Service. Check it out: http://www.seva.org/gifts
April 26th, 2009 - 8:17 pm
This is a terrific idea to set up a fund to attack urgent threats. I would like to suggest an additional threat that needs to be given a high priority; electromagnetic pulse. This is a grave threat that can cause massive destruction and it could happen in just 2 or 3 years. A massive solar storm or a nuclear detonation high above the US could emit a pulse that would couple with our electric grid and burn out all of our transformers and generators. Our civilization would be destroyed. It is of great concern that the public is so uninformed about this.
The EMP Commission, established by Congress in 2001, submitted their report in April, 2008. I urge you all to read it. You can find it at http://www.empcommission.org. It describes how destructive an electromagnetic pulse can be.
Even more unsettling is the report of a NASA-funded conference in July, 2008, that focused on the prospects of a massive EMP from a solar storm and what would happen if that were to occur.
You can download this report for free at the National Academies Press website at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12507
There were solar storms in 1859 and 1921 that would have destroyed our grid if it existed at those times. It is very vulnerable and there is about a 5% to 10% chance of a major solar storm during the next solar maximum in 2012. We are totally unprepared for this. There are things that need to be done and work needs to start now. There are people in the US Dept of Homeland Security and on Capitol Hill who have expressed to me that without more public support, needed steps will not be taken. Congress needs to authorize and allocate funds to mitigate this threat. Without public clamor, the legislation will not happen.
There are technologies that need work to protect the grid. We have nothing available now to protect transformers and generators against a severe EMP hit. There are some projects underway but more needs to be done. Also, utilities need to make their own precautions to handle a moderate pulse which is more likely. They will need money and time to do that.
The risk is far too great to ignore this. We are so vulnerable now to massive destruction.