More than 130 thousand gallons of bunker oil gushed into the Panay Gulf.

超過 1300000 加侖的燃油外洩至 Panay Gulf。

In an attempt to contain the spill locals turn to an unconventional method:

為了要控制這個燃油外洩的情況，當地人找到一個特別的方法：

these freaky-looking sausage things aren't all filled with synthetic materials fabricated in a lab.

這些長相怪異的長條狀物品裡，可不是塞滿了在實驗室裡製造出來的人工原料喔。

It's also organic stuff you can find on most continents and probably in your shower drain.

它還是有機的呢，這原料在每塊大陸都找得到，甚至是你家的排水孔都有。

It's human hair.

就是人類的毛髮。

After the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, Phil McCroy, a hair stylist in Alabama, had a novel idea for the cleanup effort.

在阿拉斯加的 Exxon Valdez 石油外洩事件之後， Phil McCroy，一個來自阿拉巴馬州的髮型設計師，突發奇想地有了一個清理然油外洩的點子。

On TV, he noticed how a sea otter's fur had become saturated with oil and thought if that's what oil would do to an otter's fur, then the same must be true for human hair.

他在電視上看到一隻毛上沾滿燃油的水獺，就聯想到，如果燃油會附著在水獺的毛上，那一定也會附著在人類的毛髮上。

He took scraps of hair trimmings from work, stuffed them into his wife's pantyhose and tested his new invention in a small spill he created at his house.

他就蒐集了髮廊地上的頭髮，塞在他老婆的絲襪裡面，然後用他自己特製的燃油外洩模擬箱來測試。

NASA studied and confirmed Phil's invention worked.

NASA 對這項發明做了研究，並證實 Phil 的發明有效。

I called every hair stylist in Alabama 'til I found him.

我打給了所有住在阿拉巴馬州的設計師，終於找到了他。

He said that his garage was full of hair being donated from salons all over the place,

他說來自各地的人把頭髮送來他這，多到塞滿了他整個車庫，

but he'd never been able to make a business out of it, and so from like about 2000, 2001 we were partners.

但他始終未能成功的用這個點子來創業，因此我們大概在 2000 還是 2001 年的時候開始合夥。

They teamed up on the Clean Wave program. It collects donated hair, fur, feathers, and other fibers to make recycled felted mats and hair booms that can mop up oil spills.

他們合作發起了一個 Clean Wave 計畫，開始蒐集各地捐贈的毛髮、絨毛、羽毛，以及其他纖維來製做成長方形的毯子及毛髮浮條來清理外洩燃油。

Turns out hair is pretty good at cleaning up oil.

沒想到頭髮竟然很適合拿來清理外洩燃油。

It repels water and can collect contaminants.

它不會吸水，而且可以讓汙染物附著在表面。

Water goes into a sponge and it blows up and that's called absorbent, but oil coats hair on the outside, so like it's called adsorbent.

當海綿碰到水的時候會膨脹，這叫做吸收，但當燃油包覆在毛髮的表面，就叫做吸附。

Hair is also natural, cheap, and renewable which makes it an ideal material for cleaning up oil spills.

毛髮是天然的，成本低並且具有永續性，是拿來清理石油的理想材料。

Making a hair boom is pretty straightforward.

製作這個毛髮浮條其實蠻容易的，

All you need is human hair and pantyhose.

你只需人類毛髮跟絲襪。

Take the hair, stuff it into the hose, and voilà.

把頭髮塞到絲襪裡面，就完成啦！

After getting over the freaky feeling of handling someone else's clumped up hair, place it into contaminated water and watch the hair boom do its thing.

突破那個手中握著別人毛髮團的怪異感後，再把它放進受汙染的水源，就可以看到這個毛髮浮條的神奇功效了。

There's little diesel spills all the time, so like every little harbor can use that stuff.

柴油逸漏的事情很常發生，每個港口幾乎都可以用上這東西。

You know, it was a great way to just kind of string from dock to dock and kind of protect your private beaches.

把毛髮海浮條綁在每個碼頭、岸邊，是一個清理私人海岸的好方法。

But hair booms and hair mats haven't been the principal method to clean major oil spills.

然而這些毛髮毯及浮條還未成為清理燃油外洩的主要工具。

They weren't used extensively in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon spill where over the course of 87 days 134 million gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico.

它並未在 Deepwater Horizon 深海鑽油平臺爆炸後被拿來清理燃油外洩的汙染，此事件歷時 87 天，共有 134,000,000 加侖的燃油外漏至墨西哥灣。

Instead, crews used 1.8 million gallons of chemical dispersants, oil skimmers, fire, and booms and barriers made of synthetic material to clean up the mess.

船員們反而用了 1,800,000 加侖的化學分散劑、撇油器、火，以及用合成原料製成的浮標和浮條來清理這個污染。

With oil spills, time is of the essence.

燃油外洩時，時間是非常緊迫的。

The longer oil is in the ocean the harder it is to retrieve.

燃油停留在海中的時間越長，就越難清理。

The immediate ecological impact of oil spills is obvious.

燃油外洩對生態造成的衝擊來的非常快，也非常明顯。

It kills marine wildlife and destroys habitats and breeding grounds.

海洋生物因此而死亡，並也摧毀了牠們的棲息地及繁殖地。

The chemicals used to clean up oil spills also pose a danger to human health.

而這些用來清理外洩燃油的化學藥劑，對人體的健康也帶來極大的威脅。

As of now, hair booms and hair mats are not the primary tools used to contain oil spills, but possibly one day they could be.

目前，毛髮毯及浮條還未成為清理燃油的主要工具，但有一天，它們很有可能會是。

It was very interesting for us to see the public desire to help.

看到大眾這麼願意幫忙，我們感到很驚奇。

There's so many hair salons in every city and billions more people with hair to spare.

每個城市有這麼多間髮廊，還有幾十億的人口可以提供他們的毛髮。

So, it's not out of he realm of possibilities that help for the next oil spill maybe just one snip away.

所以說清理燃油外洩的方法就在剪刀的「喀嚓聲」之間也不為過！