Bio-Inspiration: Hair Mats
They say necessity is the mother of all invention, and 20 years ago after the large oil spill of the Exxon Valdez, hairdresser Phil McCrory saw a need and discovered a solution. Human hair absorbs oil naturally, why not in large oil spills? He invented hair mats, testing them in his backyard and even at NASA. Lisa Craig Gautier and her organization, Matter of Trust have taken it a step further. They’re collecting human hair and dog fur from around the globe and are trying to manufacture the mats stateside. Lisa is so hard-working and her organization is so wonderfully holistic, it’s easy to be inspired by the work she does.
She’s also working with researchers on a safe disposal method for the used, oil-filled mats. It looks like Thomas Azwell of UC Berkeley might be on to something with his army of worms. Check it out. Oil, hair, worms - not a pretty story, but an important one.
-Molly
That´s the way to do it! Congratulations!
The planet needs more of this actions, urgently!
Adriano Garcez
PORTUGAL
Comment by Adriano Garcez — April 15, 2009 @ 11:00 am
Fantastic. Innovation and science can save us from ourselves if we follow the innovators.
Comment by Karen — April 21, 2009 @ 2:27 pm
[...] For our inaugural installment, we chat with Thomas Azwell, one of our 2008-2009 Bay Area Fellows and a PhD student in Environmental Science, Policy, & Management at The University of California, Berkeley. With the support of ASF, Azwell—who believes that “the overall health of a community can be measured by how we care for our children”—developed a plant ecology and community garden initiative at Mt. Diablo High School that includes a health foods project in collaboration with John Muir Medical Center. (Azwell is also developing a safe disposal method for hair mats used to clean up oil spills—in fact, the California Academy of Sciences recently posted a video on Azwell’s work: http://www.calacademy.org/science/sia/2009/04/bio-inspiration-hair-mats/) [...]
Pingback by Five Questions for a Fellow: Thomas Azwell, Bay Area « Beyond Boulders: The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship’s Official Blog — April 28, 2009 @ 5:15 am
[...] of California, Berkeley) before—and so has the California Academy of Sciences, which posted a fascinating video about Azwell’s work to develop a safe disposal method for the hair mats used to clean up oil [...]
Pingback by “Gardens Are My Attempt to Apply This Same Philosophy” « Beyond Boulders: The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship’s Official Blog — October 15, 2009 @ 7:45 am