While lawyers begin to haggle over who is responsible for this disaster, here is what you can do to help:

• The BP Community Support Team has set up a hotline for those who would like to help: 866-448-5816;
• The National Wildlife Federation is working with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, and is encouraging anyone in the southern Louisiana area looking to help to reach out through its website;
• The International Bird Rescue and Research Center has sent a team of specialists to the region to help with any oiled wildlife. If you spot oiled wildlife, call the Wildlife Reporting Hotline at 866-557-1401. Please note that oiled birds (or any other oiled wildlife) should not be captured, but reported to the hotline;
• The National Audubon Society is recruiting volunteers to be trained to respond to the oil spill. They are also encouraging members of the public to contact the Interior Department and encourage them to halt the expansion of offshore oil drilling in the eastern United States;
• Alabama residents are asked to contact the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program at 251-431-6409;
• Or contact the Mobile Baykeeper at 251- 433-4229 to volunteer anywhere along the Gulf Coast;
• Save Our Seabirds is a Florida bird rescue group that is looking for volunteers as its response team prepares to help oiled wildlife. To help, call 941-388-3010;
• OilSpillVolunteers.com is also needing volunteers to assist with the cleanup.

(Please note: Until called by any of these organizations, it is important for would-be volunteers to avoid affected areas and interference with initial response efforts, as encouraged by the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program.)