5 wild schemes to stop the oil spill

Concerned parties are proposing out-there solutions to the Gulf disaster — from nuclear weapons to the subtler power of absorbant human hair

Use human hair to clean up the oil spill? Really?
(Image credit: Corbis)

As BP readily admits, its experimental plan to lower a 100-ton concrete-and-steel dome over one of the Gulf of Mexico oil leaks might fail completely. But the vast technical challenges of stemming an underwater "volcano of oil" certainly call for creative thinking. Here, five much-further-outside-the-box strategies to stop the spill:

1. Nuclear weapons

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us