Hair to the Rescue

Efforts to contain the leak from the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico have so far failed. Over 200,000 gallons of crude oil are being spilled into the Gulf each day. And winds are pushing the oil closer to the Mississippi Delta.

Rather than sit idly by while they await the spill’s landfall, Gulf residents are gathering at “Boom B Qs” where they are making sausage shaped booms of human hair and nylon stockings, designed to soak up the oil before it hits land. The residents are supplying the manual labor. San Francisco-based nonprofit Matter of Trust is collecting the materials and providing the initial training. This photo of such a gathering comes from their site: www.matteroftrust.org2

Matter of Trust is the group who mobilized and organized surfers to collect sludge using mats of human hair after the 2008 oil spill in San Francisco Bay. In response to this current emergency, the group is orchestrating an “International Natural Fiber Recycling Movement.” They are collecting hair, fur, and nylons for shipment to the Gulf — “Everyone is welcome!” At the Matter of Trust site you will find clear instructions for shipping materials. They are also looking for monetary donations to cover the cost of the netting in which the booms must be encased.

The response has been huge. After the initial flood of donations caused chaos in the postal system, Matter of Trust has been assigned their own zip codes. On May 7 Petco announced that its nearly 1,000 grooming centers have joined the movement, with hopes of collecting a ton of hair per day. Hanesbrands, Inc. has donated 37,500 pairs of pantyhose to Matter of Trust, and an additional 12,500 pairs to a second group with the same mission, The Sunshine and Shores Foundation in Florida.

This novel use for human hair was pioneered in 1989 by hair stylist Phil McCrory. He was shampooing a client’s hair while watching coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup. McCrory had his eureka moment when he realized, after seeing the oil-soaked fur of an Alaskan otter, “We shampoo because hair collects oil.” McCory decided to try this experiment at home. He stuffed a pair of his wife’s pantyhose with five pounds of hair clippings, and tied it into a ring. He then poured a gallon of used motor oil into a filled kiddie pool and lowered his invention into the water. After he removed the pantyhose two minutes later, the water in the pool was crystal clear.

What a stroke of genius — using such a readily available waste product for bioremediation!

McCrory called his product OttiMat™. His invention (at right) is currently being fabricated in China from purchased hair and a small amount of polypropylene. Durable as well as effective, the mats can be rung out and used again and again. McCrory continues to lend his expertise to Matter of Trust, who hopes to partner with OttiMat™ to make the product in the US.

After the San Francisco oil spill, Matter of Trust worked with mycologists (those who study fungi) to find a way to decontaminate the oil-soaked mats.  Mycelia, the filamentous hyphae or “roots,” of the oyster mushroom (Pleurotus streatus) were introduced to a limited number of mats. The mycelia grew extremely well on this surface, effectively breaking down the petrochemical sludge. The fruiting mushrooms were themselves toxin-free.

For those of you interested in reading more about the exciting field of mycoremediaton, the process of using fungi to restore an environment contaminated by pollutants to its previous state, I suggest this wonderful book: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, by fungi guru Paul Stamets.

It will be interesting to see whether mycoremediation will be employed to detoxify these newest booms. Sometime soon maybe Gulf shrimp will be replaced by Gulf mushrooms in a market near you.

Google Crisis Response: The BP Oil Spill

On Tuesday Google unveiled a site they created in response to the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. It contains mapping tools that allow the site user to get a clear picture of the progress of the spill and its impact on the area from a variety of perspectives, as well as links to the latest news on the disaster and ways to help. 

Those with videos of the spill can upload them to YouTube without leaving the site, and they are automatically fed back to the page for viewing, which means there are a huge number of visuals available without a need to search.

Whether you are looking for a quick update on the spill, an in-depth story, or a KML file to download and view in Google Earth, everything can be found here: http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/oilspill/

Similar pages were created by Google in response to the earthquakes in Haiti and China.

Critical Mass

Pure joy! That’s what I feel when I am zipping down Grove Street to Orange on my Raleigh Super Course (vintage 1972) on a perfect Saturday morning. The wide street is devoid of traffic, so unlike the scene at the same time on a usual workday.

I may not bike as often as I did years ago, but I still love to ride. I no longer commute to work, and with e-mail and pdfs, rarely go to meetings. As for pleasure, I just don’t feel as safe riding as I once did. Where I live, the increase in traffic and the decrease in patience and common courtesy among the drivers are my biggest fears. Yes, there are some bike lanes, but not downtown.  I am glad the New Haven section of the Farmington Canal Trail now connects with Hamden’s, but stretches of this newest link can be a little sketchy depending on the day and time. As a recreational cyclist, the easiest way for me to guarantee a pleasant ride is to wait for the quiet of the weekend or a Spring or Summer evening. I wish I could just hop on my bike anytime and ride without worry.

And what about those cyclists who NEED to get places during the week — those whose bike is their sole means of transport? Cyclists are not allowed to ride on the sidewalk. On the street they are held to the same rules as drivers of motor vehicles, and are entitled to the same rights of safety and access. But many drivers don’t afford cyclists this respect and courtesy; the street can be a scary place for those on two wheels.

In support of bicycle riders everywhere I am a year-round supporter and sometimes participant in the monthly world-wide phenomenon known as Critical Mass.

What is Critical Mass? It is a monthly bike ride, happening in roughly 300 cities worldwide. The first ride was in San Francisco in 1992 with 48 people; San Francisco Critical Mass riders today can number in the thousands. The ride’s original purpose was to to make cyclists visible, and to make the street less threatening by providing safety in numbers for people riding home from work.

In some cities the rides can be confrontational. There have been altercations and arrests in San Francisco and New York City. But New Haven’s ride is billed as a “kinder, gentler Crit Mass” by  Matt Feiner, owner of the Devil’s Gear Bike Shop. As in most of the cities with Critical Mass, the New Haven riders gather at 5:30 pm on the last Friday of the month for an around 6 departure, in our city near the flagpole on the Green. Notice that I say around 6. Like Quaker Meetings, Critical Mass does not have a leader. No one purports to know the route of any given ride. But sometime around 6 pm, cyclists begin to honk their horns and ring their bells, and someone will shout out something like: “You wanna go for a ride?”

There is a carnival-like atmosphere to the gathering. Each city has a different flavor. The bike pictured above was heading to Critical Mass in Chicago several years ago. San Francisco had a number of naked cyclists on Friday. I think it is safe to say that will never happen here. But you might see Matt and his friends on their high wheelers, or people in costumes on Halloween. And there was a memorable ride during which some newlyweds were pedaled around town in a pedicab. Expect the unexpected, that's all I can say.

As far as I know, there have been no arrests at New Haven’s Crit Mass. Although there is no “leader,” there are those riders who keep the group in line, urging everyone to move into one lane, on the right. And others to step up to “cork,” or hold up traffic after the light turns so the group can keep together. Our group is never so big that drivers are inconvenienced for too long, and I have never witnessed any trouble.

Last Friday was a perfect day for a ride. After making the usual big downtown loop, slowing the traffic and interacting with onlookers, we headed off to Fair Haven. Near the playing fields by the wind turbine at Phoenix Press we picked up a couple of new riders with boom boxes and tricked-up bikes who accompanied us on our tour of the riverfront.

I am a planner. Most everything about this ride is so unlike the usual me. Start time is unpredictable; the one time I was late Critical Mass left without me. I’m not a big fan of mystery tours. And Critical Mass challenges my comfort zone.

But it gets me talking to people I might not otherwise meet, and lets me ride places I would not ride alone. Most importantly I feel part of the movement to make motorists bicycle-aware.

Charles Higgins of San Francisco wrote these words in 2000: “The event is at once a rebellion and a celebration. It is a manifestation of deep consternation over transportation, the environment, materialism and free market-driven urban planning. And it brings people together in the open air for a festive rolling adventure. It is at once a loud scream and a soft whisper. Though it raises the blood pressure of some rush-hour commuters, Critical Mass offers a change, if only for a few moments, in the domination of the streets. In place of tons of steel and glass is a rolling community of people who can talk to each other and experience safety in numbers.”

Now that the days are long and the snow is gone, “You wanna go for a ride?” There should be plenty of interesting companions gathering at the flagpole on the New Haven Green, at approximately 5:30 pm on the last Friday of May. Just be ready to roll with the flow and to ring your bell.