By Bethany Colson, Managing Editor of LuxEcoLiving.com
We are in a hairy situation indeed!!!
Tens of millions of gallons of oil have gushed into the Gulf of Mexico since the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew out on April 20, 2010, killing 11 people. After over 57 days, there seems to be no respite in site: The uncapped oil well is still gushing oil relentlessly. While capping the source may be a primary objective, the deluge of oil has already begun to wash ashore- some reports say as much as 8 miles inland. With a suffocating ecosystem and hurricane season around the corner, clean-up is a matter of national security. Let’s not pull out our hair… Let’s pull out all the stops!
At the center of the BP oil spill disaster is the economical, environmental and health impacts that this spill will have, not only on the Gulf states and their residents, but the country at large for generations to come.
We’ve all seen them… There is no shortage of images illustrating the pain of oil-caked coastal birds, turtles and fish gasping for breath. These pictures only begin to speak to the larger context of our ecosystem’s health and its delicate balance. Oil combined with chemical dispersants (namely Corexit which has been banned in the USA and the UK) have exacerbated the oil spill’s damage by creating a toxic chemical soup- one that is even more difficult to clean up and that poses even more catastrophic health and environmental damage.
But if we can find our way through this oil plume haze, we will realize that we aren’t totally without options. Today, I had the privilege of speaking to Lisa Craig Gautier, Founder of Matter Of Trust, who has an eco-friendly, environmentally sustainable solution for oil spill clean-up: Hair. Additionally, her twelve year old system is already in place to gather hair, fur, fleece and feathers from around the world. From them, she and her volunteers create efficient, absorbent and buoyant hair booms and mats that can be deployed in a manner that safely cleans up oil without further damaging the ecosystem.
In Part One of my interview with Lisa, she introduces Matter of Trust, the method of hair boom production, their efficiency, the difference between natural and synthetic booms in terms of both use and disposal and the effects of dispersants in the clean up efforts.
Part I, Segment 1- Lisa Introduces Matter Of Trust
Part I, Segment 2- Lisa Explains What Hair Booms Are and How They Are Made
Part I, Segment 3- Lisa Unpack the Efficiency, Production Cycle and Disposal of Hair Booms. She Also Explains The Effects of Dispersants
Please click here to see the referenced GreenPeace video from Segment 3.
WATCH Part II of my interview with Matter Of Trust Founder, Lisa Gautier here.
Watch more videos of a side by side comparison with hair and synthetic booms. The results are astounding!
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