HOW MUSHROOMS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
Mycelium can save soil that has been saturated with diesel and other petroleum wastes.
In a study done on four piles of contaminated soil – a control pile, one treated with bacteria, one treated with enzymes, and the last treated with mushroom mycelium – the one treated with mycelium were found to have absorbed the oil. If this substance can restore habitats exposed to toxic waste, just imagine what it could do to save farmlands close to factories!
Mycelium can create entirely new biological communities.
As the mycelium absorbs nutrients from the oil-drenched soil, they break down carbon-hydrogen bonds and remanufacture the hydrocarbons into carbohydrates or fungal sugars. The spores that are present attract insects, which attract birds, who carry seeds, ultimately creating an entirely new biological community.
Can mushrooms save the bees? Mycelium can produce vaccines for bees and humans.
Agarikon mushrooms, a very rare type of fungi, produce highly active vaccines against poxviruses and flu viruses (AH1N1, H3N2, among others). Since terrorism makes use of biological warfare, Stamets believes that saving these mushrooms can be considered a matter of national defense.
Red Reishi mushrooms and “tinder fungus” have been shown to be effective “vaccines” for bees. They are an effective anti-viral that protects bees from viruses they’ve never before been protected from.
And here’s a fun fact: Not only does mycelium aid in the transfer of nutrients to many kinds of plants, but since humans and mushrooms share the same pathogens, the best and strongest antibiotics come from fungi!
Mycelium is a near-permanent solution to harmful insects.
Fungi kill harmful insects like carpenter ants and termites. More than that, the spores from the mushrooms repel the insects, making this a near-permanent solution to carpenter ants or termites reinvasion. It is, so far, the most disruptive technology in the pesticide industry.
Do mushrooms clean the air? Mycelium is a solution to the energy crisis.
Mycelium converts cellulose into fungal sugars. This process produces Econol. Econol is ethanol generated from cellulose using mycelium as an intermediary. This can address the energy crisis by building carbon banks on the planet and renewing soils.
