How to Clean the Oil Spills

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Oil Spills

Oil spills are incredibly de-structive, killing wildlife with toxic compounds and devastating wetlands and tidal zones.

• Sometimes we can get help from na-ture to clean oil spills.

• Fungi (mushrooms) have helped clean up some of the most serious oil spills ever in human history in 2010. (The US Environmental Protection Agency tells us)

• Using fungi to remove or neutralize environmental pollutants (like oil) is a technique called ‘mycoremediation.’

Ways to Cleanup Oil Spills that people use usually. (Because people like the

short-term removal of oil)

1. Containment and skimming Oil and water don’t mix. So use nets to contain the spill and then use boats to skim off the top layer of oil

2. IncineratingBurning oil on the surface of the water. But this cause two big problems: burning oil make gasses, and the fire kill life.

3. Sinking the oilUse heavy hydrophobic agents to sink oil but its not like ‘cleanup.’

4. Mechanical removalPhysical efforts to remove oil often in-volving heavy machinery and causing additional damage to the surrounding ecosystem.

5. AbsorptionUsing a substance to absorb the oil from the water.

What is clearly missing from this list is a long-term and non-toxic method.

Then ‘Fungi’ way might be the best an-swer to protect nature.

How do Fungi Cleanup Oil spills

1. Fungi eat oil2. Fungi calls the bacteria3. Fungi regenerate ecosystems.

Why Fungi are well-suited for cleaning up oil spills because:

• Can live in sea water• Are amenable to large scale produc-

tion• Extremely cost effective• Easy to transport• Ubiquitous• Can tolerate hostile conditions