Help the Gulf Coast: Five ways to volunteer

The headlines from the Gulf Coast are hardly inspirational, and for most of us, they’re also far away. Short of taking your largest straw out to sea and sucking up the oil yourself -- which you couldn’t do anyway, since you’re stuck in an office all week -- you don’t know how to help. As it turns out, no matter how lazy (or ambitious) you are, there are plenty of ways to volunteer in response to this crisis. Here are five quick ideas for a range of do-gooders, from the slothful to the zealous.