Finnegan gives back…

Calling all dog owners…spinners…shepards…hair salons…grateful deadheads…

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a couple weeks…and I mentioned it on our walk this week with the pack, Saren and her three pups Nina, Tallie and Margie…and Susan and her pup Tag, and they encouraged me to put the information up on the blog …

There is an organization Matter of Trust, via Excess Access…that collects hair of all kinds to be used in booms to soak up oil spills. They have been around for a while and it looks like they respond to spills on a global basis…but they have established a large presence in the gulf coast states and are filling warehouses with ready to deploy boom.

FINALLY, something we average citizens can do to help !

It turns out that hair, fur, and fleece is a natural oil magnet. They explained it better so I’ve copied the info below. And there is a video they just sent that illustrates the difference in absorbancy of hair booms vs. conventional booms.

It’s simple…you sign up, free and fast, and then they send you information that is current to tell you how to package the fibre and where to send it. That address changes on a weekly basis and they communicate that via the emails.They are organizing boom barbecues down south where people come and stuff the collected hair into nylon stockings.

It is a great grassroots effort to recycle and what a way for your pets to help out too !

I am collecting all of the discarded fleece from my spinning, and brushings from Miss Finn and getting it ready to box up and send.

I know Finnegan is excited. She’s thrilled to get rid of all that extra hair as the summer heats up !

If you’re interested read below… If you know of any especially hairy furry friends, please pass this info along.

Feels so good to have something proactive to do instead of just blaming and worrying.

Grab your brushes !!!

H

I found the following info on a blog site that I subscribe to… PetnBlog Animal and Human Wellness

If you’ve been keeping tabs on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, you’ve probably been wondering how exactly you can help.

Well, for those of you with furry, four-legged flatmates, it can be as easy as sweeping the floors and collecting all that errant fur and hair.

So how exactly can hoarding pet fur help with cleaning up one of the worst environmental disasters in recent memory? Enter Matter of Trust, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that’s been accepting donations of non-filthy pet fur and human hair since 1998 to craft oil-absorbing hairmats — described as “flat square dreadlocks” — and hair-stuffed containment booms made from recycled pantyhose.

These hairy contraptions are effective at soaking-up oil and they don’t require any new resources … just stuff you’d normally trash (or compost) unless you’re into, umm, stockpiling fur.I must say, sending along fur to Matter of Trust via Excess Access is an eco-ideal spring cleaning mission for folks with critters around the house.

In addition to pet owners, groomers and salon owners can get involved too by sending in bulk shipments of hair/fur. In fact, as of Tuesday, 400,000 pounds of hair was en route to the Gulf Coast.

Did you know that ONE pound of hair can soak up ONE quart of oil in One minute?

Alabama hairdresser Phil McCrory came up with the hairy idea while watching news reports on the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, according to the Matter of Trust website.
Video: Hair being used in oil cleanup

As a hair professional, he knows how hair is attracted to oil– and why humans need to shampoo their hair regularly. The oil clings to the hair but is not absorbed by it. That makes hair a good, natural cleaning aide.

Matter of Trust says they’ve opened more than a dozen warehouses in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida where the hair is shipped. Hundreds of volunteers stuff the hair and fur into nylons which are then tied together to form tubes or booms. The booms are used to surround, contain and aid cleanup of the oil spill.

What is needed, how to send it:

• Clean hair from human heads — can be straight, curly, dyed, permed, straightened

• Every type of fur, horse hair, wool waste and feather is fine

• Make certain there is no garbage — metal or paper — in with the hair/fur

• Washed nylon stocking (even with runs)

• Place in separate plastic garbage bag, put inside of separate boxes labeled debris-free hair/fur or nylons

• Check with Matter of Trust website to find out where to ship the boxes.