One of the first things we learn, is to tell the truth. A marine conservation professor with the University of Alaska, from 1980-2010, Rick was responsible for the university’s conservation and sustainability extension effort. He advised the emergency response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, helped found the Regional Citizens Advisory Councils and the Prince William Sound Science Center, and helped formulate federal and state oil spill legislation. Subsequently, he worked globally on oil/environment issues, advising the United Nations, governments, NGOs, and industry. He drafted the U.N. manual on environmental damage assessment for marine oil spills; and was an adviser during the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico spill in 2010. Today he consults internationally on conservation and sustainability issues through Oasis Earth, focused on Arctic conservation, energy and climate change, marine conservation, establishment of Citizens Advisory Councils for oversight of resource industry, and extractive industry responsibility.