This past weekend I learned about something really cool that’s going on — a way ordinary people are helping (by the thousands, it seems) — to make a difference with oil spills.
First of all, let’s take a bit of a detour to an article I just wrote for The Examiner today, which gives you a bit of context. I was bathing our dog at Woof and Wash (which, as you’ll see in the article, is a very cool place which saves my back untold pains when it comes time to wash the dog) and in the process of interviewing the owners, i learned about Matter of Trust.
This organization collects clean hair from people and dogs, and uses it to fill those oil spill booms that help keep the oil slicks off the shores of precious wetlands and other fragile coastal areas. Hey, if we could find a way to stop having the spills in the first place, that would be MY first choice, no doubt about it — but so far that doesn’t seem to be on the agenda. Next best thing is what to do about them when they happen — and that’s not an “if” — it’s a definite “when.”
The disaster unfolding currently in the Gulf of Mexico tells why we need these oil spill booms — hundreds and thousands of them — for a coastline that stretches from Florida to Texas. I can’t even imagine how many that would be.
So come on. Get your barbers, hairdressers, and pet groomers on board with this. You’re gonna get your hair cut anyway, and unless you donate it to a place like this, it just goes into the wastebasket. Donate your already-clean-and-cut hair to a worthy cause! And tell everyone you know.
Photo by jwebb
This is the best idea I’ve heard in a really long time. Together, we can make a difference. And oh yeah, if you’re one of those people who used to holler that inane slogan “drill baby drill” — maybe you could take a closer look at what happens when the drilling goes horribly wrong. Which it does.
You’d be better off pressuring your elected representatives to fund as many alternative energy sources as they can find — like right away — so we can avoid these and other disasters from mine collapses to oil slicks that destroy the environment and people’s livelihoods along with them.
Speaking of trust. . . just follow your heart.