More from Catherine Girardeau
Cocktail Science: Distillation
(00:07:24)
From: Catherine Girardeau
This piece gives listeners a taste of the art and science contained in your cocktail. Go behind the scenes at St. George Spirits, a Northern California artisan distillery, ...
Microbes and Worms Turn Oil into Compost
(00:04:45)
From: Catherine Girardeau
A UC Berkeley researcher is attacking toxic hydrocarbons left over from oil spills with microbes, earthworms, and a few acres of land. Catherine Girardeau brings us this ...
Raging Grannies
(00:04:17)
From: Catherine Girardeau
This story highlights the women who inspired documentary filmmaker Pam Walton's latest film, "Raging Grannies: The Action League." Interviews with the filmmaker and her San ...
Instrument Builders Scrounge for Sounds
(00:06:04)
From: Catherine Girardeau
Two northern California instrument builders create self-styled musical masterpieces from found objects.
Vows
(00:10:20)
From: Catherine Girardeau
An exploration of wedding vows that combines personal essay with documentary form.
Jamming 101: A Classical Violinist's Foray into Bluegrass
(00:06:56)
From: Catherine Girardeau
A classical violinist sits in on a bluegrass jam.
Linda's Gift
(00:07:27)
From: Catherine Girardeau
A personal story of losing two mothers, and finding a voice.
Related Pieces
Piece Description
On November 7th, 2007, the container ship Cosco Busan rammed the San Francisco Bay Bridge in heavy fog, spilling 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the bay. Hundreds of volunteers helped clean the fouled beaches, including a group of eco-minded surfers who introduced an unusual clean-up tool: mats woven from human hair. But the volunteers didn't just sponge oil from the beaches. They found a space to conduct an experiment in bio-remediation, added mushrooms to the mix, and converted the toxic sludge into compost. This four-minute story takes the listener to San Francisco's Ocean Beach on the final day of the volunteer cleanup effort. Ambience from the bustling haz-mat training center and beach sound is woven through interviews with the Alabama barber who invented the hairmats, the community organizer who masterminded the compost effort, and a bioremediation scientist.
Broadcast History
Produced for the non-profit Chemical Heritage Foundation's podcast series "Distillations". First podcast Dec. 21, 2007.
Transcript
12/10/07 Catherine Girardeau, Earprint Productions HAIR MATS SCRIPT
TRT: 4:00
[AMBI, waves & sounds of volunteer command post at Ocean Beach: trucks idling, radios, footsteps]
Narrator: (0:21) On November 7th, the container ship Cosco Busan rammed the San Francisco Bay Bridge in heavy fog, spilling 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into the bay. Hundreds of volunteers turned out to clean the fouled beaches, including a group of eco-minded surfers and concerned residents who introduced an unusual clean-up tool: mats woven from human hair.
Reporter (field tape): (0:03) These are amazing. They look like Brillo pads.
Narrator: Why hair? It's ideal for absorbing oil from a beach, in part because of the scale-like structure of the outer hair shaft, which oil clings to but water does not. And volunteers say the sand shakes right off. Believe it or not, hair can turn cleanup into...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
Suggested host intro:
Producer Catherine Girardeau brings us this story about how a group of eco-minded surfers combined mushrooms and human hair to turn the toxic sludge from a San Francisco Bay oil spill into compost.
Remove SOC-out at 3:50: "For Distillations, I'm Catherine Girardeau in San Francisco."
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