SF BAY AREA GREENS OIL SPILL CLEANUP WITH
OILY-HAIRMAT-EATING MUSHROOMS

OILY-HAIRMAT-EATING MUSHROOMS TREATABILITY STUDY INFORMATION (More Photos)

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Setting up the site.............................Happy mushrooms at 4 days ........ Oily hairmats: before mushrooms + after only 7 days


WHY THIS WORKS

"You shampoo your hair because it gets greasy. Hair is very efficient at collecting oil out of the air, off surfaces like your skin and out of the water, even petroleum oil. Hair is adsorbant (as in "clings to" unlike absorbant which is to "soak up.") There are over 300,000 hair salons in the US and each collects about 1 pound of hair a day. Right now, most of that goes into the waste stream, but it should all be made into hairmats." Phil McCrory of Smartgrow.net, hairmat inventor and barber (more info).

Fungi (mushrooms) love hair and nails:
As any one with a toenail fungus can attest. And if you have any friends with dreadlocks, ask if you can cut one lock off and cut it open to see what's growing in there. Lots of cool stuff!

Fungus also loves oil:
"The roots of mushrooms, called mycelium (http://www.fungi.com/info/sems/index.html), produce enzymes that unlock wood fibers, which are composed of strings of carbon-hydrogen molecules in the form of cellulose and lignin. Similarly oil and most petroleum products are held together by these same molecular bonds. The mushroom mycelium breaks these bonds, and then re-constructs the oil into carbohydrates, fungal sugars, that make up the mushroom's physical structures." Paul Stamets, Fungi.com

So, first you soak up spilled oil with hair, then you turn the oily hair into compost with mushrooms. Mother Nature doesn't make waste, only opportunities. You just need to pay attention to her clues. For eons, she has been hanging oily bangs in front of our eyes and giving us nail fungus on our toes for a reason. But, she's concerned that humans are a bit slow as a species, thus clearly in need of an extra nudge.

An extraordinary number of key people (ecologists, scientists, politicians, press, funders, suppliers, Trustees, volunteers, permit experts, transportation and petroleum executives, labs, professors, lawyers...) needed to be able to connect quickly and in a "think outside the box" location during an oil spill. (See our Thank You Page.) And the rest is... our greener future!



DID YOU KNOW?

Every year, an estimated 706 million gallons of oil enter our planet's oceans:
By far the greatest source of spilled oil is households. We can make a difference, according to the Smithsonian Institution and the Environment Protection Agency:

Used Motor Oil - accounts for 363 million gallons in our oceans!
50% of Americans change their own motor oil, but only 1/3 of that oil is collected and recycled.
2/3 are dumped down drains or spilled on driveways and onto streets. One typlcal 5 quart oil change improperly dumped can contanimate millions of gallons of freshwater.

Routine ship maintenance and washing containers - account for 137 million gallons of oil in our oceans.

From air pollution - 92 million gallons

Natural seepage of oil bubbling up from the sea bottom - 62 million gallons

Large Spill Accidents - 37 million gallons

Offshore drilling - 15 million gallons


Would you care to see our:

Ocean Beach Oil Spill Eco-Cleanup Photos

Manmade Surplus Programs

Eco-Education Programs