The Vice President of the ASLA sent a letter yesterday to President Obama's Oil Spill Commission applauding their recent efforts. Regardless of your stance on the oil spill and the current effort put forth to clean it up, the subject of her letter is very important.

In the letter she highlighted the need for greater site remediation and offered the expertise of landscape architects and members of the Society to help address ecological problems caused by the spill. Bioremediation is something I haven't looked into much, but is something to greatly consider given the devastating spread of the current event. Dispersants have been the main method used so far, but they are chemical solutions and have other effects on the natural environment in addition to affecting the oil.

I'm not saying that bioremediation would be the best way to clean this whole thing up. It has been pointed out that the heavy metals and chemicals cleaned up by microbes could be reintroduced into the food chain, and then we get into bio-magnification and bio-accumulation territory. I guess what I am trying to say is that I firmly agree with and applaud the ASLA and their push for the use of natural methods to combat this disaster. By enlisting the help of the ASLA and local landscape architects we can bring temporary work to the region and employ those who may be out of a job, such as the fishermen currently waiting for all of this to end. 

If anyone has any ideas or current projects that address this type of issue, I would love to hear your thoughts. Until then I will be researching methods to use landscape design and the natural environment to mop up the spread of this disaster.