Human Hair Used to Clean Up Oil Spills

It’s strong and absorbent, naturally grabbing onto oil and water like sponges. So, as gross as it sounds, mats of human hair actually make the ideal material for cleaning up oil spills.  Ecological charity ‘Matter of Trust’ has thousands of pounds of it delivered by the tractor trailer load, so they can create the mats. That much hair might be a disgusting sight, but it’s making a huge difference at oil spill locations around the world.  They’re hoping to find a way to mechanize the process so there can be on-site hair mat production facilities at any harbor that might need one. Check out a video over at MNN.com.

Volunteers have been using this method since 2007 for cleaning up oil spills in the San Francisco Bay, soaking up oil on the beaches with masses of matted hair the size of doormats donated by salons. Once the mats are soaked with oil, oyster mushrooms are placed on them to absorb the oil, converting it to compost in about 12 weeks. Mushrooms have been used in the bioremediation of many types of toxic substances for years.

Hey, it’s an organic, natural, renewable material that exists in plentiful quantities. It’s usually considered a waste material and thrown in the trash. It’s perfect!

Link [MNN] + [Inhabitat]
Photo credit: Chronicle/Michael Macor

Droughts, Floods, Fires & Oil Spills Plague Australia

Can Australia get a break? The people of this country have had enough. Devastating fires, droughts, floods and crocodile problems have already killed thousands of people, wiped out the livelihoods of many more and destroyed homes and businesses all over the country. Now, they’re dealing with an oil spill after a cargo ship got caught in cyclonic weather. Large slicks of oil mixed with fertilizer are washing up on beaches along the Sunshine Coast and at Moreton Island.

From Yahoo News:

As the cargo fell in huge swells caused by tropical cyclone Hamish, it punctured the ship’s hull, releasing 30 tonnes of oil into Moreton Bay, near Queensland’s state capital Brisbane.

A slick 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) long and two metres (6.6 feet) wide was washing onto popular tourist beaches as the maritime safety authority launched an investigation into what it said was the state’s worst spill in 30 years.

Watkinson said it would take more than a week to clean up the spill, with trucks and excavators removing contaminated sand from the beaches.

“(The oil) is quite heavy in some spots — I’ve just been down there for a walk myself and have come back and it’s caked all over over my thongs (flip-flops) and all over my feet,” said Marcoola beach lifeguard David McLean.

“As you walk along it sticks to the bottom of your shoe like glue.”

Even worse, experts say the fertilizer might cause algal blooms that could suffocate fish and kill natural habitats. Fertilizer seeping into the water is a major cause of ocean dead zones, vast areas of oxygen-starved water where most life can’t survive.

The spill is even bigger than first reported, and the beaches have now been declared ‘disaster zones’. National parks bore the brunt of the damage. So far, a handful of birds covered in oil are the only wildlife known to be affected, but wildlife authorities warn that it will get worse the longer the oil sits.

All this, and climate scientists warn that Australia will be among the first to see some of the most extreme effects of global warming. Scary. These are brave, hardy people, and they’ll fight to stay in their homes – but nobody could blame them if they decided to jump ship and head to another country.

Link [Yahoo News]
Photo credit: The Telegraph

250,000 Gallon Oil Slick Spreads Toward Ireland

250,000 gallons of oil spilled in the ocean off Ireland’s south coast on Tuesday, in an area where Russian navy ships were refueling.  Irish authorities confirmed that the spill was spreading across the sea and may eventually pollute the Irish and Welsh coastlines. Meanwhile, Russia is pooh-poohing the idea that the spill constitutes a threat to coastal ecology and is attempting to downplay the size of the spill, all while refusing to admit culpability.

From The Times Online:

The spill, which happened as the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier was refuelling at sea, caused a slick that is now more than three miles long and almost as wide.

It is the biggest oil spill in waters around the British Isles since the Sea Empress ran aground off Milford Haven in 1996, causing widespread damage to the Pembrokeshire coast.

Surveillance flights by Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) calculated that about 1,000 tonnes of oil were spilt.

Russian authorities put the figure at 300 tonnes and have yet publicly to admit their role.

The aircraft carrier, a Russian refuelling ship and a Russian tug were, however, found amid the oil when the spill was detected by a satelite on Saturday. Four other Russian naval vessels were nearby.

The slick is breaking up and a tug boat loaded with anti-pollution equipment is attempting clean-up, but many still worry that tar balls will wash ashore in Wales and Ireland. The slick will enter British waters by early next week and could start washing up on the beaches in two to three weeks. Weather conditions will likely play a major role in how much of the oil hits the coastlines.

So, despite all evidence to the contrary, Russia is refusing to admit blame and will only say that they’re “analyzing the information”. Big surprise there, huh – I mean, we all know how Russia is always so quick to admit wrongdoing.

It’s like Lewis Smith over at Twilight Earth said – in effect, “f-ck fossil fuels”.

We’ve talked about the “Alaskan Pipeline Ruptures,”  and the “World Wide Contamination of Water Sources,” but we have never spoken about a “Wind Spill” or a “Solar Power Contamination.”

I’m looking forward to a world where our biggest worry will be slinging ice from Wind Turbines in Montana or a “Green Crude” spill in an Algae plant.

Link [The Times Online] + [Twilight Earth]

Toast the Earth with Exxon Mobile

Remember this classic video? Watch as ExxonMobil funds junk science, wrecks the Arctic Refuge, and spills oil on endangered wildlife.

“The globe is slowly warming, real scientists all know. But Exxon Mobile’s here to say it really isn’t so…”

Aside from a little less global warming denial, has much changed since 2006?

Exxon Valdez Payments Delayed Again After 19 Years of Waiting

An imminent payment from Exxon Mobil Corp. to the commercial fishermen affected by the nation’s worst oil spill has been delayed once again.  The damages have been put off for 19 years so far, and this time it’s due to lawyers for Sea Hawk Seafoods, Inc., a Seattle-based company that ran a fish-processing plant in Valdez, filing court papers objecting to the allocation plan.

From The Huffington Post:

They are seeking a new plan that conforms to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June, which awarded up to $507.5 million in punitive damages to nearly 33,000 commercial fishermen, cannery workers, land owners, Alaska Natives and others who claimed harm from the 1989 crude oil spill. The plaintiffs had been seeking $5 billion.

After the Supreme Court decision, lawyers for the plaintiffs and Exxon worked out a partial settlement under which Exxon agreed to release $383 million.

The money was to be distributed under an allocation plan approved in 1996 by Anchorage federal Judge H. Russel Holland, and Sea Hawk contends that it is flawed.

According to the company, the Supreme Court decided that the size of punitive damage awards must be proportional to the size of compensatory damage awards already paid to plaintiffs. The company argues the current plan assigns some plaintiffs larger or smaller shares than they deserve.

Big shocker. This payment has been delayed so many times for so many reasons – usually through efforts of Exxon to avoid opening their wallet. This time, it’s infighting among the plantiffs. Exxon, of course, is fighting this effort by Sea Hawk Seafoods, claiming that their demands will deprive other plaintiffs of their fair share of the damages (like they’re really worried about that – they just don’t want to pay).

Prior to this development, Exxon had avoided paying the damages because ever since Sarah Palin stepped in as governor of Alaska, she has failed to collect the money. The previous governor had presented Exxon with a demand to pay the extra $92 million in estimated damages due for ‘unanticipated environmental injuries’ from the spill. Since Palin was elected, she hasn’t pressed the issue, while Exxon has continued to reap record profits in Alaska.

Aren’t the damages for this spill a drop in the bucket for a company that has raked in ungodly amounts of money in the last few decades? It’s obscene.  This needs to be laid to rest as soon as possible.

Link [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Rehabilitated Penguins Released in South America

Ready, get set, go! On Oct 4th, after months of rehabilitation, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) released 372 Magellanic penguins in Brazil. Watch as they find their way back to the ocean:

The International Fund for Animal Welfare works to improve the welfare of wild and domestic animals throughout the world by reducing commercial exploitation of animals, protecting wildlife habitats, and assisting animals in distress. IFAW works around the world to rescue animals in harm’s way and to provide shelter and care for orphaned, injured, or mistreated animals, including stranded sea mammals and birds affected by oil spills.