Earthworms can clean up oil! Hooray!!!

Well not exactly earthworms per se, but the microbes that they excrete can break down petroleum chemicals in the soil. Pretty Cool eh?

Everyone with oil spills get your grove on to soilfoodweb.org for info on how to get a lot of this earthworm Castings. Make sure you have Red Wiggler Earthworms. They're the best.

Here's an abstract about the castings breaking down the soil (big thank you to Radical Reference for providing the abstract)

"Effects of Lumbricus terrestris, Allolobophora chlorotica and Eisenia fetida on microbial community dynamics in oil-contaminated soil" From the journal Soil Biology & Biochemistry. 2005, vol. 37, no11, pp. 2065-2076 [12 page(s) (article)] (1 p.1/4)

"Oil spills are one of the most common types of soil pollution. Bioremediation has become an attractive alternative to physicochemical methods of remediation, where feasible. Earthworms have been shown to stimulate the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil, and it was hypothesized that the role of earthworms in remediation lies in the enhancement of an oil degrading microbial community. The aim of this study was to characterize microbial activity and community dynamics in oil-contaminated soil incubated with or without earthworms. Three earthworm species (Eisenia fetida, Allolobophora chlorotica and Lumbricus terrestris) were incubated in crude oil polluted soil (ca. 10,000 mg/kg total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH)) and a reference soil for 28 d. Control treatments with manual mixing and/or cattle dung amendment were also included. In the oil-contaminated soil, respiration and concentration of microbial biomass was significantly enhanced by earthworm amendment, and TPH concentrations decreased significantly. These effects were less evident in treatments with A. chlorotica, possibly due to a difference in behavior, since individuals of this endogeic species were found in a state of inactivity (aestivation). Microbial community dynamics were described by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analyses. After 28 d, similar shifts in the soil PLFA composition were observed in the oil-contaminated soil irrespective of worm species. Fungal:bacterial ratios were increased in the presence of worms, but also by addition of dung as a food source, indicating a non-specific effect of metabolizable substrates. In contrast, the fatty acids 17:1ω8 (=Δ9-heptadecenoic acid) and 20:4ω6c (arachidonic acid) were specifically stimulated by the presence of earthworms in the oil-contaminated soil. The results showed that earthworms can contribute positively to bioremediation of oil-contaminated soil, but that the effect may be species-dependent."

There are also a number of books available on this subject that should be available to you at your local public or university library. For example:

Remediation of Petroleum Contaminated Soils: Biological, Physical, and Chemical Processes
By Eve Riser-Roberts

Louisiana is sinking!

You actually cannot get rid of wetlands for wetlands by definition are at the interface between the land and the ocean. Therefore, where ever those two bodies meet will be where the wetlands are. The only way you may not have wetlands is if there is no more land.

Now Southeastern Louisiana is sinking, and as a result, the wetlands that are supposed to protect and be a barrier for the land including New Orleans are moving closer and closer to New Orleans (Northward) as the land sinks. Scientists say we have 10 years to go before it's too late and the wetlands inevitably come to the backdoor of New Orleans, and then Goodbye NOLA.

So I read this today http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20070625b, which says the dead zone is growing. The dead zone created by too much fertilizer coming out of the mouth of the Mississippi. We could use this excess fertilizer--which is just nitrogen and phosphorus--to build the wetland plants and trees that could stabilize the wetlands where they are. Of course we could also use all the precious sediment from the river to build the actual land in the wetlands (called accretion) to counteract the 'sinking' that is happening. But the man-made controls on the river make utilizing this sediment impossible right now. Instead the precious stuff is sent into the Gulf along with the nutrients neither of which we can benefit from.

We know the answers to our problems, but we can't do anything about them because the powerful have the control. This can be seen with the recent closing of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO). Local people, organizations, and the local Parish government have been calling for its closure for decades, but only two weeks ago did the Army Corp. decide to close it. It has done damage to wetlands, increased salinization of inland water bodies and cost a lot to taxpayers and to the environment. Yet action on it can only be done by federal body and then only veeerrrry slooooowly. This is everywhere the same problem with federal bodies.

What do we do if we don't have the time to wait for the Army Corp.? What if the sinking of Southeastern Louisiana out paces the federal, state or even local bureaucracy?