Help the Gulf Coast, Donate Your Old Nylons

Late last month, a fire erupted aboard the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig some 50 miles off the shore of Louisiana. The result: thousands of gallons of crude oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico each day and making its way toward shore, devastating both local flora and fauna and the commercial seafood industry. It's a crisis that could potentially outstrip the Exxon Valdez spill in damage.

What can you do to help? According to Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin, plenty. Chanin is helping to spread the word about Matter of Trust, an eco-activist organization coordinating donation efforts. Not cash, though that's helpful, too-what they're after are your old nylons. Apparently, your old stockings can absorb oil (as can hair clippings, strange as that may sound-after all, we shampoo to remove oil). "The spill in the Gulf is growing every day," Chanin told Style.com. "How staggering to think that our Gulf could be destroyed. I have been swimming in the Gulf almost every summer since I was a little girl. But every pair of stockings and box of hair helps. If folks would tell every hair dresser, every stylist, every person that they know…"

Donation information is available at www.matteroftrust.org. When was the last time you wore nylons, anyway?

By Matthew Schneier

Photo: Hulton Archive / Getty Images

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