Making hair booms in Mobile. Photo courtesy of Amanda Bacon
Thanks, everyone, who helped with finding out more about those hair booms or mats folks are donating clippings for to help protect the Gulf Coast. BP says its responders aren't using the hair booms because they don't work as well as commercially made booms and they tend to leave a mess.
I'll drop what I've learned after the jump. Because really, you might as well stick with this Facebook response to BP's decision from Mimi Alidor:
Don't you understand that people need to feel like they can take part in this? That they feel the need to do something? Little children cutting their hair and saving it. People far and wide. Don't you know how to run a PR campaign that is for the good of the people? SO WHAT if it only soaks up some of the oil, but if one little child can save one baby bird, then they feel like they've made a difference. It is all they have.
And if it's about "business" and you don't want to pay for it, then you lose your right to drill in our Gulf, and we take back our $3.8 Trillion dollar's worth of oil in this reservoir and you can kiss our collective ************* ***.
BP may not be using the hair booms, but volunteers along the Gulf Coast are going to keep making them. Amanda Bacon of Mobile has been hosting Boom B Q's, and she took delivery on 10,000 pounds of alpaca hair just this week. With some help from the charity Matter of Trust, Bacon's got booms piling up at a local restaurant and in donated space in a warehouse.
"Our hope is that we can deploy them, but we don't have permission yet," Bacon says. "We can't get anybody to use them and we can't tell people to deploy them." If nothing else, Bacon says, she and other private homeowners with waterfront property can lay the hair booms out themselves if the oil slick threatens. "The attitude has gone from 'We want to help' to 'We're going to help.' "
Despite assurances from the Deepwater Horizon Response team, it's not clear whether there's enough of commercially available boom favored by official responders to go around.
Matter of Trust, which launched this project, says it has grown more in the last few weeks than in all of its previous 12 years. Lisa Gautier says she'd like to see the creation of an "international fiber recycling system" that could create green jobs around marine harbors and goose America's textile industry again.
For now, the booms keep piling up, filled with donated hair from salons and pet groomers around the world and stashed wherever volunteers can put them. Gautier says the hair booms work great, and If the oil spill approaches unprotected areas, demand for them will grow. "We have confidence that Southern states are going to say, 'Why aren't you using this boom?' "
Leave a Comment:
Ok, so how does one participate by donating hair (human or animal) to this effort? Where & how do we send it? (I've heard stories of it being stuffed into pantyhose..?) I have a large dog who sheds enough to stuff a mattress, and I'm sure my hairdresser & pet groomer & other friends would be glad to participate if only we knew how.
Go to MatterOfTrust.org and sign up. Then they send you an email with the address where to send the hair. When I signed up yesterday, I read that they need both hair and nylons but I don't think they want the donater to stuff the nylon with hair before sending.
I'm sending hair to them this weekend and hope that everyone reading Rachel's blogs will go to the site, sign up, and send hair as well.
this was always a waste of time. not enough MASS.
hay will do the same thing plus has the MASS we're going to need.
is that child labor or is that kid fighting for his future?
That kid is VOLUNTEERING, Crash, something many people are willing to do. Hay will not do the same thing with oil as hair will. Not scientifically possible. With all the hair that has been donated, I'm sure that this will not have been a waste of time - this oil geyser will be blasting oil into the ocean for weeks to come; sadly, I don't think anyone will admit how horrendous this will ultimately be.
That little guy in the picture is so beautiful. And, so intent on what he's doing. The picture makes his arm look like it's going through the table, but, obviously, the table is equipped to stuff hair into hose? Hummm!
You're right, mindyc, hay will not pick up oil like hair will. Mother Nature didn't equip it with that value. Hair is a natural holder of oil. Just look at a teenager's hair in the evening. Dish detergent is the best shampoo to get out the oil, but filling the Gulf with dish detergent might create a whole new set of problems.
Hay is food for animals. You can pile hay on oil spills on the floor, but it won't pick up the oil, it just covers it. After it's walked on and crushed, you can sweep up the hay and get the oil, but it's not actually incorporated into the hay, it's just been homogenized by the mass into dust-like, sweepable particles. So, unless we have a lot of people capable of walking on water, using hay would be useless. The fish might like it, though.
Straw, also, works better than hay. (I was raised on a farm.)
I love the picture of the boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Carole, please contact Matteroftrust.org
carole, visit www.matteroftrust.org...you need to register through them, and excess access, and affiliated organization, will email you a list of addresses to mail hair donations...i'm getting all my friends and coworkers to get a haircut and donate, and their pets too!
Use hay against the OIL Spill in the Gulf, http://youtu.be/k5SxX2EntEo was posted on twitter, 8 May 2010...GoOgle it, @BP_America and @GOHSEP were twittered...Both Were E-mailed...only GOHSEP replied with a PDF Form and a long Distance Phone Number and the PDF Form FAILed. Laugh it up folks, this SHI* ain't Funny, smiling and posing with your dang Hair Ball Idea ...
Back on May the First, Ian MacDonald, professor of oceanography at FSU who specializes in tracking ocean oil seeps from satellite imagery, said there may already be more than 9 million gallons of oil floating in the Gulf. He based his finding on a data from NOAA. NOAA said based upon the data 8 to 9 million Gallons had already been spilled...14 days ago... Now there going in circles around a 70,000 barrels a day guesstimate ...no ONE, not even the Multi-Billion Dollar (BP) a year in profit company will send down a flow meter and check.
Do any or you Hail Brains even Know the Size of the Pipe to use in-order to determine the Oil flow rate, if we ever get a flow meter down there ?
Don't feal bad all the So Called News Reporters at the Post, NY Times, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC or The Huffington Post reported it, don't think they even asked or know.
2 Facts, A Barrel of Oil=42US Gallons Deepwater Horizon sank on April 22, 2010
and Ixtoc 1 , leaked Oil from June 3, 1979 till March 23, 1980, 9 Months 20 Days in only 160 feet of water. The largest "Accidental" Oil Leak in History. The Top end estimate is 3,518,000 barrels...3518000 X 42= 147,756,000 US Gallons. Lets Hope someone pours cement on those leaks before we get to that level.
But in the interim, don't try to match BP's PR stunts with your Hair Ball Stunts and If they can get Barges out there to allow the Shrimpers to Off Load Oil Soaked Hay then let the Catch of the Day be Hay.
UBUIBIOK, and Hay, You Have a Better Day.
Use the hair, use the hay, use the commercial booms... anything is better than whatever demon chemical they're dumping into our ocean.
The hair gives people a personal connection to helping with the cleanup, the hay is common-sense and helps America's farmers. They're not mutually exclusive.
Unfortunately, BP is using neither of these more "organic" options, opting to go for more CHEMICALS instead.
Considering how many times these people have been left flapping in the wind by big corporations and the previous administration, I think it is prudent for them to prepare for the worst by themselves!
Cleaning up oil spills is a big business in itself, and closely connected to the people who spill it. I'm sure they don't want to be tangled up with freaked out "civilians". But wait until this stuff gets into the marshes and bayous. This won't be like Alaska and California with their rocks and sandy beaches. Bad, but easier to clean.
I would, if I could be there, start putting the hair booms in front of the marshes. The hair booms work really well since the surface area of all those little hairs in one foot of these "booms" is the equivalent of a square meter of absorbent fabric AND can stick to oil when wet. Finally it has no chemical residue to leave behind.
Who says they can't be deployed? They're public waterways, right?
"Don't you understand that people need to feel like they can take part in this?"
Well, sort of, but not if it takes attention from BP's responsibility to pay for this mess and arrange professional clean-up efforts. After Katrina, a lot of well-meaning people collected clothes donations and drove to N.O. with trucks full of unusable stuff. People felt as if they were doing something by donating clothes, but the feeling did not accomplish zilch. If we KNEW 100 percent the hair booms be used, NOW, and would make a difference, fine. Otherwise, channel your energy into letter-writing Washington and keeping the heat on BP and Big Oil.
There are billions of people on this earth and hundreds of thousands of hairdressers. Imagine if everyone around the world wanted to help, this is one way that we can. It can't hurt! And it might help!
It reminds me of the Starfish Poem (by annonymous)
THE STARFISH POEM
Once upon a time there was a wise man
who used to go to the ocean
to do his writing.
He had a habit of walking
on the beach
before he began his work.
One day he was walking along
the shore.
As he looked down the beach,
he saw a human
figure moving like a dancer.
He smiled to himself to think
of someone who would
dance to the day.
So he began to walk faster
to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw
that it was a young man
and the young man wasn't dancing,
but instead he was reaching
down to the shore,
picking up something
and very gently throwing it
into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out,
"Good morning! What are you doing?"
The young man paused,
looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish in the ocean."
"I guess I should have asked,
why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out.
And if I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But, young man, don't you realize that
there are miles and miles of beach
and starfish all along it.
You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely.
Then bent down, picked up another starfish
and threw it into the sea,
past the breaking waves and said-
"It made a difference for that one."
FACT. . . Oil is, by nature, sticky ! Especially Crude Oil !
FACT . . .You can throw hay, feathers, grass clippings, human or animal hair, shredded plastic bags, wood chips, sawdust, Pecan/Peanut/Pistachio et al shells at the mess & the oil will attach itself to the surface of ANY material just like Responders’ clothes, the seaweed and beach sand and boat hulls and skimming equipment and alleged protective booms ! ! !
FACT. . . ALL of these undereducated and/or grossly misinformed proponents of ADsorbent Schlock have been around for decades embarrassing themselves and the Cleanup Industry at large by over promising!!! MOST if not ALL of these alleged “Products?” can not be deployed in the Real World as the slightest breeze let alone average winds & waves will blow their Schlock to kingdom come resulting in more clean up ! Hence there collective mantra “Splash for Cash” = Billable Hours ! ! ! = Profits ! ! !
FACT . . . They all leave behind sheans of oil because they all have free-phase liquid oil/chemicals on their surfaces!!!
FACT. . . Increase surface area = Increased vapour rates = increased fire & explosivity risks and lung damage through increased vapour release to all living air breathing beings!
Hence increased requirements for evacuation zones when dangerous ADsorbent
technologies are used !
FACT. . . ONLY VAPOUR BURNS . . . NO LIQUID can burn hence ALL ADsorbents in conjunction with flammable chemical produced vapours are by there very nature MORE DANGEROUS because they increase surface area and therefore vapour rates ! ! !
TRUTH . . . There IS ONLY ONE TRUE ABsorbent for ALL LIQUID HYDROCARBONS . . .
You Don't have to believe me . . . even though you can/should and eventually will have to . . . Believe the "WORLD CATALOGUE OF SPILL RESPONSE" {Google it}
See CHAPTER 3 "Sorbents" with the proper SCIENTIFIC DEFINITION of AD versus AB Sorbents . . . without proper and exact terminology how can you possibly pretend to discuss these issues???
The next paragraph quotes “IMBIBER BEADS” . . . ARE THE ONLY TRUE ABSORBENT FOR LIQUID HYDROCARBONS !!!
Imbiber Beads are even MADE IN AMERICA !
The American Standard of Technology Measurements aka “ASTM” Reference dictionary for all Government & University standard laboratories etc….ALSO QUOTES … IMBIBER BEADS . . . as the only TRUE Absorbent for liquid hydrocarbons.
IMBIBER BEADS “Capture and contain the hazardous liquid hydrocarbons in their molecular matrix”
The Beads swell 3-4 times their original size while capturing and containing up to twenty-seven times their own volume!!! Therefore, No Free Phase surface liquids = NO SHEAN
IMBIBER BEADS can be THERMALLY CRACKED & the OIL RECAPTURED for REUSE ! ! !
NOW . . . GO TO www.imbiberbeads.com EDUCATE YOURSELF . . . Share with others who NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH !
Funny, Tamron Hall's niece gave hair. Why isn't a little black girl on the maddow blog giving hair? No one asked her to give. She just gave. But alas, media bias still exist even on a liberal (left leaning) website.
Hey Rachel, tweet me when the next minority breaking the law comes across your desk. God only knows no one else breaks the law.
Now I am curious. Where do you guys get your stories from? Off the net? I guess investigative reporting is a thing of the past. Are trending items that important that MSNBC disreguards journalistic integrity?
Its sad, journalist use to report the news...now they create the news. Very sad indeed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOI2GGY1SeE
Teacher calls student the N-word. Yet, no national media attention was given. I ask Rachel why that is?
I searched MSNBC's archive and not one mention of this incident.
Media bias is appalling and running rampant.
I ask Rachel WHY that is? What makes a story a story Rachel? Ratings and demographics make the story right? You left leaning hypocrites are a mystery to me. I guess you have to be homosexual to get attention on MSNBC. At least Fake News is true to itself.
Sam, I don't think that's fair. I too have wanted Rachel to highlight the Baby Emma case in Northern VA, but it's not even a surety that she even reads these boards. I definitely don't think that insulting her is a way to get her or her producers to see what you want them to see.
I'm no expert, but everything I've read says the hair booms can be recovered, the oil squeezed out and collected, and the hair booms re-deployed. Hay or straw can only be used once and must be collected and burned or buried - the oil can not be recovered. If that's all true, then certainly the hair, being a renewable collector, would be far more efficient in the long run than hay or straw.
GREAT NEWS!! According to their website today, BP has decided to use the Matter of Trust Hairbooms. I don't have any more details, but there's the announcement on their website. The call is officially out for donations from anyone who wants to help.
"ALERTS 5/19/10
BP has contacted us and wants to use the boom! They will be sending out a press release presently.
YOU ALL DID IT!
EVERYONE CAN HELP!"
Many thanks to this blog for helping the cause!! We who support it and believe in it thank you.
http://www.matteroftrust.org