I’ve got a trunk full of hair and I need to mail it to the Gulf NOW! What Austin is doing to help clean up the BP oil spill.
As oil moves through the gulf, people are becoming frantic. If you’ve seen footage of this monstrous spill, you may feel overwhelmed about the challenges that lay ahead.
For awhile, I was feeling pretty discouraged and helpless. Then I heard a report on NPR about how human hair can help clean up the mess. After a little research, I found a way we can do something to help.
My hair stylist, Ana Castro, and the wonderful people at Waterstone Aesthetics on Guadalupe were kind enough to hear me out when I requested that they collect hair to clean up the oil spill in the gulf. To my surprise, they didn’t even ask questions. They just saw it as an opportunity to do something good–and they have. And after about a week and a half of collecting hair, I now have a trunk full of hair that I need to send off to the gulf immediately.
Yeah, so this is the bag of hair rolling around in my trunk!
So why hair? Simple. Hair collects oil. It’s why we use shampoo. It absorbs oils much faster than conventional booms that have been used to clean up spills in the past. Because the booms are organic, they can also be bioremediated, composted and turned into fertilizer. This eliminates the toxic and polluting effects of dumping or burning conventional booms.
Watch how hair booms stack up against conventional booms:
I’ve heard a lot of people say that hair booms are a waste of time in a spill this big. I’ve heard people belittle the efforts made by volunteers and non-profits like Matter of Trust.
Look at all that hair, just waiting to soak up oil!
The way I see it, the enormity of this dilemma is all the more reason that we should be uniting to tackle it. We can each do something, however small to help:
- Donate what you can: The following NPO’s are working to remedy the situation and are worthy of your contributions:
- Lay off the oil products.
- Support the gulf by purchasing gulf seafood. About 1/3 of the gulf still remains open for commercial fishing and are unaffected by the spill.
- Have a Boom Party! Collect hair from your stylist or barber and nylons from your pals and get to making booms to collect the oil. Boom Bebe!
Check out this video from Matter of Trust on what they do with the hair:
In a recent visit to New Orleans, I was concerned to hear several restaurant owners comment that soon they would be forced to stop serving seafood altogether. I heard a street musician singing “I Smell the Oil’s a-coming”, as if it was a boogie man to be feared. Perhaps it is. At least there’s a way we can try to stop the damage.
How do you feel about the oil spill?
Do you think BP is doing enough to contain the contamination?
What are some other things Austinites can do?
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