The images we’ve been seeing as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster that happened on April 20, 2010, are heartbreaking. Animals covered in oil, shorelines destroyed, and Tony Hayward taking a vacation. If those weren’t enough to get you motivated, the X PRIZE Foundation has come up with a ‘oil spill cleanup X challenge,’ which will award $3 million in prize money to people who can come up with new and innovative ways to clean up BP’s mess.

“We’re going to launch a prize for cleanup, and we’re going to kick ass,” said X PRIZE Foundation’s Frances Beland at the TEDxOilSpill conference in Washington. His comment was met with thunderous applause, and for good reason. Who wouldn’t want a bunch of cash for helping to cleanup one of the worst environmental disasters ever? While that shouldn’t be the main motivator, it certainly doesn’t help. More than 35,000 ideas have been offered to BP free of charge, and they decided to go with Kevin Costner.

The X PRIZE Foundation is a non-profit organization that became famous for its X Prize of $10 million that it awarded for the development of private spacecraft, and now it’s known for coming up with unique challenges to help our world become a better place. As of right now there are no rules or guidelines to follow, but they will be coming down the line soon. Keep watching the X PRIZE Foundation website for more details, and you could get a cut of $3 million just for helping to cleanup the environment.