24.5.10

Floating Fungi to Save the Gulf

The helpless feeling that one gets as the BP oil spill burgeons each day to sickening proportions can be almost suffocating when one thinks of the implications. We watch every day as the waters fill with oil, and stand by horrified at BP's insufficient actions. Now they are pouring dispersant chemicals into our waters... chemicals that might be more toxic than the oil itself. But there are other ways to combat this utter monstrosity, ways that do not necessarily involve further damage to our marine life and our wetlands. It doesn't always have to be about destruction, it can also be about innovation and healing. One amazing solution is the use of mushrooms to clean up oil spills. Yes, you read that correctly. I said mushrooms.

Paul Stamets is a mycologist and super-hero extrodinaire who famously advocates "6 Ways that Mushrooms Can Save the World." I was lucky enough to listen to one of his lectures 2 years ago at the Washington, D.C. Green Festival, and what he had to say changed my world. In particular, he spoke about the degenerative effects of mycelium fungi and its various enzymes on hydrocarbon toxins. In a study that he conducted with remediating diesel-contaminated soil through mycelium inoculation, Paul was able to successfully reduce the amount of Total Aromatic Hydrocarbons from 10,000 parts per million to only 200 parts per million... in just 16 weeks. The soil was then approved for landscaping use along highways. If that isn't amazing, you tell me what is.

And now Paul is suggesting we try the same thing with oil spills in our waters. Of course, the conditions are much different and there are many questions left up in the air about this strategy. Still, its effects seem promising enough that they warrant some trust and, at the very least, to be given a try. And because I couldn't put it any better myself... please read Paul Stamets' excellent piece about the petroleum problem, mycoremediation, and how mushrooms can seriously save the world:


For the earth,
Tasha Pea

1 comment:

  1. what a fun guy! haha, this man has the knowledge forsureburgers. this is an important link!

    ReplyDelete