OpenAI's Greg Brockman gives millions to save eagles Jackie and Shadow's home
OpenAI president Greg Brockman and his wife Anna donated $5.5 million to preserve 63 acres of shoreline in California, preventing a luxury housing development near a bald eagle nesting site. The donation completed a $10 million fundraising goal supported by thousands of small donors.
Why it matters
The story illustrates the intersection of high-net-worth philanthropy and grassroots environmental conservation efforts.
IThe 63 acres of shoreline forest below Jackie and Shadow's nest was supposed to become 50 luxury homes and a marina. It won't, because Greg Brockman, OpenAI's co-founder and president, and his wife Anna wrote a $5.5 million cheque with days left on the clock.That donation closed a $10 million fundraising target that Friends of Big Bear Valley had been chasing since February, and it clears the way for the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust to buy Moon Camp outright. The parcel sits in Fawnskin, California, a short flight from the nest that FOBBV has livestreamed since 2015. It is the last undeveloped stretch of Big Bear Lake's shoreline, and conservationists have spent months arguing that a marina next door would end the nesting site as viewers know it.Anna Brockman said the pair had been watching the eagle cam like everyone else.
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