Video of how hay pulls oil out of water. Why isn't this being done?

[Maraya1969]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5SxX2EntEo

These men even said they wanted work using the hay. And a man on Maddow recently said that is you stick hair, (from the bottom of hair salons and pet salons), into nylons it would do the same thing.


I would volunteer to help stuff nylons around my area. They would have NO problem getting the stuff.

[Duer 157099]

1. From what I've read, they've been getting tons of hair

and so far, nobody is using it for the oil.

[TroglodyteScholar]

2. Growing, baling and shipping enough hay to do the job would be a very longterm kind of "solution"

Let's not forget the size of the mess here.

[Maraya1969]

3. Well look at the post above you. It is easy for people all over the country

to mail hair in to various facilities. It can't hurt.

[TroglodyteScholar]

4. I guess technically it doesn't hurt, but it's also pointless and kinda cute in its naivete.

If the Gulf were composed of two little bowls, I guess the solution would be simple.

[katzenjammers]

7. And then...what the hell do we do with all that oil-soaked hair? Use Prell?

:eyes: :silly:

[TroglodyteScholar]

9. No...

...we continue thumbing through the big ACME catalog we ordered the giant box from...



Perhaps the dehydrated boulders?

[Maraya1969]

14. Put it in a landfill.

[katzenjammers]

5. Mailing hair...yes indeed, how could that not be the miracle solution?

:eyes:

[caledesi]

13. Wrong board. nt

[Subdivisions]

6. They are using hay to sop up the oil...

It's called marsh grass.

[katzenjammers]

8. Unfortunately it is still (for the nonce) growing.

...

[TroglodyteScholar]

10. (Eek) n/t

[Ruby the Liberal]

11. The vast majority of the oil is not on the surface.

I saw that vid last week, and it is compelling, but imagine trying to clean a 10 mile by 3 mile plume 300 feet deep at 1/2 mile of water.

On another note - Talk with your local salons and pet groomers about donating clippings. The ones I have talked with here have been extremely receptive in participating and have even set up a central location for drop offs.

[marions ghost]

12. Hair booms basically cockamamie idea for this spill

Here comes the booming hair boom appeal again...mainly it's a good stimulus for the hairdressers and pet groomers of America. As far as the oil spill, scientists really DO NOT believe in this hair boom effort. Hair gets wet and sinks, especially laden with oil. One scientist said there's not enough excess hair in America to make a dent in the spill. Find another form of direct action to help!
-----------
http://www.startribune.com/nation/94335669.html

"So Far, Hair Booms Have Not Made the Cut in Oil Spill Cleanup"
Last update: May 19, 2010 - 7:02 PM

----------------------------
RALEIGH, N.C. — Hair salons nationwide are sweeping up clippings, stuffing them in boxes and sending them to the Gulf Coast to help sop up oil. But the officials overseeing the massive crude cleanup say they aren't using any hair. It is all apparently just being stored in warehouses in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.

Matt Lewis, owner of the Sport Clips barber shop in Raleigh, said a store manager heard about Matter of Trust's efforts, so Lewis registered the store on the group's website, matteroftrust.org. Last week, Sport Clips sent 12 pounds of hair at a cost of $13 in shipping to an address in Louisiana, he said. He even persuaded Sport Clips' corporate headquarters to get involved. Syd's Hair Shop in Chapel Hill, N.C., and VIPet Resort in Raleigh also are vacuuming up hair and calling the UPS guy.

But hair booms are not being used in the cleanup of the exploded BP oil rig, according to Heath Seng, who is with the U.S. Coast Guard, on Wednesday. Mark Proegler, a spokesman for BP who is at the cleanup site, said crews are using only "regular, absorbent plastic booms."

Even Matter of Trust's website acknowledged earlier this week, "At this time BP is not soliciting or accepting (hair) donations." (snip)

Thomas Birkland, an N.C. State University public policy professor who is an expert on disasters and environmental policy, said he is not surprised that people are sending hair, even if it is not being used.

"In any disaster, well-meaning people get together materials that they think will help," said Birkland, who has extensively studied oil spills, including the Exxon Valdez. But sometimes the materials just create logistical problems, he said. For instance, after 9/11, people donated blood, but it was not needed for victims, so it was used for other needs. After the tsunami in Thailand, people donated down parkas and heavy-duty tents, but it's a warm climate where coats got too hot and the tents turned into saunas.

"People want to help; they don't want to see oily birds, oily turtles or oily dolphins," Birkland said. "The question is, where do you put the hair? Where do you distribute it? It might not have been part of the response plan for a spill of this size," he continued. "Just because it's a good idea, it may not be practical."
(c) 2010, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.).

[Maraya1969]

16. This is good news for the manufacturers of regular, absorbent plastic booms

Using old pantie hose filled with hair and dragged through the oil and then brought back to shore sounds like as good of an idea. They could have several pantie hose filled and tied together 1/2 mile long on a barge and that would soak up as much as the newly manufactured plastic that we don't want.

[marions ghost]

17. the hair gets wet and sinks

the plastic stuff absorbs oil but not water & is reusable.

No booms are going to really save the Gulf. It's an illusion. It could divert the worst of it for awhile, but the scale of this thing will undermine the booms.

But if you don't believe me, well go out there with your booms and take some pictures.

[SidDithers]

15. Both hair and hay soak up water as well as oil...

they're virtually useless as a marine spill sorbent.

You need an oil-only sorbent, like meltblown polypropylene or dried sphagunum peat moss. You want to selectively clean up the mess, take the oil, leave the water behind.

Sid

[RagAss]

18. Horse Lobby.

[Hempathy]

19. It seems like it would just make a messy situation all that much messier.

btw-

How do you spread hay in a marshland?

and-

"a man on Maddow recently said..." is not exactly a noteworthy source.