Ian Somerhalder "Shaken" By Lack of Hollywood Support for Gulf Region

I just came across this article this morning or I most definitely would have shared it by now.

Actor Ian Somerhalder ("Damon", The Vampire Diaries & "Boone" Lost) has made two trips to the environmentally devastated Gulf region in recent weeks.  On his most recent visit, Somerhalder slept in his rental car, what he called the "Prius cabana suite" because there was no where else to stay due to all the people who have flocked to the Gulf region to try and help tame "the beast" as he calls it.  "The Beast", of course, being the BP oil spill.

Despite all the help in the Gulf, Somerhalder, a Covington, Louisiana native, notices there's something missing:  his Hollywood peers.

"Coming from the entertainment world, I'm really shaken by how quiet Hollywood is", admits Somerhalder.  While he assures his statements are made with the utmost respect for his peers and colleagues, he questions why there hasn't been a larger effort from Hollywood to raise funds to assist with the clean up. 

Hollywood is usually always right there to lend a hand, and some big names, when something bad happens.  But, I agree with Mr. Somerhalder, Hollywood has been surprisingly quiet on this whole issue.  There have been some celebrities who are admittedly trying to do whatever they can such as Kevin Costner.  But where have all the others been?

I applaud Mr. Costner and Mr. Somerhalder for their efforts and for standing up and doing what is right by putting themselves out there to help with this disaster.  I truly hope some of their colleagues in Hollywood take a page from their book and jump in to lend a hand or lend their name to the efforts in the Gulf.  The Gulf needs all the help it can get.

For more information, refer to the entire article including a video about Mr. Somerhalder's most recent trip to the Gulf.

Kevin Coster's "Dream Machines" Have Started Work in the Gulf

As you might remember, a while back, I blogged about an effort by actor Kevin Costner to help with the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. To recap, Coster, his brother and the company they established developed a vacuum-like machine that can supposedly remove up to 97% of oil from water.

Well, the machines have made their debut in the Gulf of Mexico.

Thirty-two of Costner's "dream machines" are going out into the waters on an oil finding barge.  Over the next 60 days, the 32 machines will start to do their thing. 

I truly hope this works.  Something has to work in the Gulf.

To read a bit more about this, check out this short article.

A New Savior in the Gulf Oil Spill? Kevin Costner?

The situation in the Gulf of Mexico seems to get worse by the day, doesn't it?  They've tried capping the spill once and it failed.  Hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil has spilled, and continues to spill out into the waters threatening animal and plant life as well as the economy of those who live and work in the Gulf.

But, there may be new hope and it is from a rather unlikely source.  Kevin Costner.

Yes, you read that right.  Bull Durham, Robin Hood, Dances with Wolves.  That Kevin Costner.

No can deny that the situation in the Gulf is severe and something needs to be done ASAP before things get any worse.  And, yes, they can get worse.

British Petroleum (BP) recently enlisted the help of movie star Kevin Costner who, along with his older brother, Dan, a scientist invented a vacuum-like machine that works using a high-powered centrifuge to suck up polluted water then separate it into oil and heavier water.  Mr. Costner has spent 15 years and approximately $26 million of his personal fortune developing this machine with his brother.

In the mid 1990's, Mr. Costner founded the Costner Industries Nevada Corporation to fund eco-friendly research by his brother and a team of scientists.  The firm invented the water cleaning device as well as a non-chemical battery.

Currently, there are 26 machines in Louisiana waiting to be deployed to do their jobs in the Gulf waters.  Each machine can clean between 5 and 200 gallons of water per minute depending upon the size of the machine.  Theoretically, this means the machines could clean up the oil as fast as it is polluting the waters.  The water that is filtered out of the machines comes out 97% clean.

For more information on this ray of hope for the Gulf, you can read the independent.co.uk article.

I truly hope Mr. Costner's machines do the trick in the Gulf.  He certainly has spent a great deal of time and money on this invention.  Something needs to be done and right now, this solution does seem to add a bit of hope to an otherwise dark situation.