Yesterday we presented one solution to the oil volcano spewing in the Gulf. It turns out that is not the only solution BP and the US could be employing. Here are several more. If I can find them, I wonder why BP and the US government can’t and doesn’t. It’s sad to think that the most powerful entities in the world don’t think more sustainably rather than using toxic chemicals that simply put more oil on the bottom of the ocean with dire consequences to the ocean and aquatic life.

1. “Oil Sponge,” a name trademarked by Phase III, Inc. Rated as the “best performing” absorbent by the US Army Corp of Engineers, Oil Sponge is 100% organic, and is made from renewable resources.

Oil Sponge is built using a microbial and nutrient package, capable of transforming oil hydrocarbons into a safe bi-product of carbon dioxide and water.

2. After the Exxon Valdez incident of March 1989, Mycelx of Georgia developed what looks like a paper towel to soak up to 50 times its weight in oil. And while this product is used from the Middle East to Europe to Canada.

3. Then there is the Aerohaz product manufactured by Sustainable Technologies, Inc. that encapsulates environmental contaminants, making crude oil and other oil like substances easy to retrieve.

4. Even hair naturally separates oil from water, leaving large tar globs, in which mushrooms can then be seeded. And as the mushrooms grow, they digest the oil, leaving non-toxic organics, which can then be composed into soil, great for growing healthy vegetables.

Anyone who has ever had a bad hair day knows how well hair will retain oil. In fact, Lisa Gautier, president of Matter of Fact (website for hair salons) has collected 400,000 pounds of hair, and stuffed it all into nylons to be used as booms near Gulf shores.

This idea could give a shot in the arm to our economy, by creating organic compose for the millions of nutrient depleted farm acres in the world. Also there could be a viable cottage industry of collecting hair from salons. And, hair is certainly a renewable resource, with most of us contributing.

Then there’s hay, sawdust, crushed volcanic rock, and even kitty litter that could have mulched with the oil on the surface of the Gulf waters, making for easy pick-up.

Trying to give this a positive spin, BP spokesman John Crabtree said his corporation had dropped more than 560,000 gallons of [toxic] chemical dispersants on the surface slicks and 28,700 gallons of the chemical at the subsea wellhead, 5,000 feet below sea-level.

Mandy Joyce, a marine sciences professor at the University of Georgia carefully chose her words about  BP’s deplorable dispersants: “Anything that requires oxygen will not be able to survive that water. The food web is going to change. You could stymie the entire production level of the Gulf of Mexico. That’s a very real possibility.”

BP’s chemical dispersants contain 2-butoxyethanol, a compound that kills marine and wildlife, exactly the life our clean-up measures should try to save.

Finally, yesterday the EPA gave BP 24 hours to forward a list of non-toxic alternatives and begin using them.

There is a principle that should have been used here and in preparing for any emergency situation. It’s a fundamental part of new paradigm thinking that says, “First, do no harm.”. I would add to all life forms. This is the new design imperative that all future projects should be held accountable to. Again, this comes down to asking when considering funding a project it’s impacts on people and the planet and if negative, not proceeding. It’s so simple in theory but so challenging in practice to shoft the consciousness of those in power. That is the real challenge we face-to operate with the highest ethics. This is what socially responsible business seeks to do and we can all play a role in its acceleration by purchasing those products that are sustainable,  living lives with the lightest ecological footprint and thanking those individuals and organizations that are doing the right thing.