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1. Mitigating Carbon Emissions
It’s widely known that trees absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), helping to mitigate climate change. However, fewer people recognize the vital role of their underground partners — the fungi that coexist with trees. These fungi, known as mycorrhizal fungi, form networks with tree roots, exchanging nutrients for sugars generated through photosynthesis. The mycelium, the underground fungal network, can stretch across vast distances below the forest floor, and these fungi are considered “hidden climate defenders.”
Some types of mycorrhizal fungi, particularly ectomycorrhizal fungi, accelerate CO2 absorption by trees. Additionally, they help store carbon for much longer by decelerating the decomposition process, which would otherwise release carbon back into the atmosphere.
Fungi’s ability to store carbon as biomass allows forests to absorb more CO2 and effectively “trap” it within the ecosystem, slowing the pace of climate change. Protecting ectomycorrhizal fungi is therefore crucial in efforts to combat climate change.
2. Revitalizing Soil Health | 10 Ways Mushrooms Can Save Our Planet From Annihilation
Mushrooms play a significant role in improving soil health and could be key to rehabilitating soil degraded by modern agricultural practices.
Mycoremediation, a form of bioremediation, uses fungi to cleanse polluted soils and restore their nutrient levels. Certain types of mushrooms, known as “decomposers,” break down both organic and petroleum-based materials, transforming them into essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium. These nutrients are returned to the soil, enriching it and making it available for crops.
Mushrooms like shiitake (Lentinula edodes) and oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) can be grown in nutrient-depleted and polluted soils to help restore fertility gradually. However, mycoremediation is a process that takes time — often months or even years, depending on the extent of soil degradation.
3. Breaking Down Microplastics
Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing environmental issues today, with plastic waste doubling in the past 20 years and continuing to rise. As plastics degrade, they break into tiny particles called microplastics, which infiltrate soils, oceans, and freshwater ecosystems. These microplastics enter the food chain, causing harm to wildlife and the environment, and ultimately making their way into human food, where they pose health risks.
Certain species of fungi in the Pestalotiopsis genus have the ability to consume microplastics and break them down into organic molecules. These organic compounds can be absorbed by plants, turning the microplastics into usable nutrients for crops. By breaking down and eliminating microplastics, these fungi help solve a major environmental problem.
4. Combating Eutrophication
Eutrophication is the process by which excess nutrients, often from agricultural runoff, accumulate in water bodies, leading to rapid microbial growth that depletes oxygen levels. This depletion suffocates larger aquatic life and creates “dead zones” in lakes, rivers, and coastal areas. Agriculture, particularly crop farming and livestock operations, is the primary contributor to eutrophication.
Mycofiltration is an innovative technique that utilizes certain fungi species to filter out excess nutrients from water, helping prevent eutrophication.
This biotechnological approach could significantly improve the management of greywater, stormwater runoff, and agricultural runoff. The concept was pioneered by mycologist Paul Stamets in the 1980s, when he discovered that a particular mushroom species, the “Garden Giant” (Stropharia rugoso-annulata), could substantially reduce bacterial runoff from livestock-grazed pastures.
Building on this, Stamets developed a method of using mycelium colonized on spawn bags, which could be deployed like sandbags around water sources that are contaminated or at risk of nutrient runoff.
When placed strategically around areas vulnerable to runoff, these mycelium-filled spawn bags act as a barrier, significantly reducing the amount of nutrient-rich water that flows into surrounding ecosystems. This proactive method tackles the problem at its source, preventing eutrophication before it can take hold.
5. Creating Biodegradable Plastics | 10 Ways Mushrooms Can Save Our Planet From Annihilation
Mushroom-based packaging offers a promising alternative to traditional oil-based plastics, which take centuries to break down. This eco-friendly material requires less energy to produce, avoids the use of fossil fuels, and is fully biodegradable.
IKEA has already adopted a mycelium-based packaging solution called “MycoComposite.” This material, similar to polystyrene foam, can be grown and molded into the necessary shapes and sizes in under a week.
When this packaging ends up in landfills, it decomposes into harmless organic matter within weeks. It can even be buried in garden beds, where it serves as a natural fertilizer for plants.
Though the technology is still in its early stages, many experts believe that mushrooms could provide a viable solution to the growing plastic pollution crisis by replacing petroleum-based plastics with a biodegradable alternative.
6. Minimizing the Environmental Footprint of Livestock Farming
Mushrooms can play a role in reducing the environmental impact of livestock farming beyond just mitigating eutrophication from agricultural runoff.
Around 80% of the world’s soybean production is used as animal feed, primarily for cattle. This practice has a significant environmental footprint. Not only do cattle require large amounts of land, but the crops grown to feed them do too. The resources needed to maintain livestock are immense.
For instance, one acre of soybeans can feed about 20 cows for a month. While this may seem manageable, when considering the estimated 1.5 billion cows globally, the scale of the problem becomes clear. The demand for livestock feed contributes greatly to deforestation and the destruction of natural ecosystems.
To put it into perspective, producing just 1 kg of beef requires 25 kg of crops and 15,000 liters of water.
Mushrooms could help alleviate some of this pressure. While they may not serve as a direct substitute for cattle feed, certain fungi species can break down the tough, indigestible stalks of crops like wheat, barley, and corn, transforming them into digestible, carbohydrate-rich animal feed. This process could enable farmers to repurpose organic crop waste into more sustainable livestock feed, reducing the need for additional land and resources to grow feed crops.
7. A Sustainable Food Source | 10 Ways Mushrooms Can Save Our Planet From Annihilation
Global meat consumption stands at around 340 million tons annually, and this demand continues to rise. However, the current commercial meat industry is a major contributor to environmental harm, not to mention the ethical concerns associated with animal farming.
Mushrooms could offer a more sustainable alternative to meet some of our growing food needs. Companies like Fable Foods and Meati have already developed mushroom-based products that mimic the taste and texture of meat, providing a plant-based option that is both delicious and environmentally friendly.
Growing mushrooms requires far fewer resources than raising livestock. For instance, mushroom production uses much less water, generates far fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and can be grown on a variety of substrates, including agricultural byproducts and waste.
Mushrooms can also be cultivated vertically, maximizing space efficiency and reducing the pressure on land that is often linked to deforestation and habitat destruction caused by traditional farming.
Additionally, mushrooms grow rapidly, with large yields possible in just a few weeks. The leftover mushroom substrate can be repurposed to improve soil quality, enhancing fertility, structure, and water retention.
8. A Sustainable Building Material
Mushrooms can even be used to create sustainable building materials.
Surprisingly, bricks can be grown using mycelium. These “biobricks” are made by filling molds with agricultural waste and allowing the mycelium to colonize the material. Once the mycelium fully integrates into the substrate, the resulting bricks are removed from the molds, revealing strong, durable building blocks.
It may sound too good to be true, but it works! In 2014, an innovative building and art installation called “Hy-Fi” was constructed in New York City using mushroom biobricks. The structure remains standing today, and projects like “FUNGAR” are continuing to explore the potential of mycelium as an alternative to traditional, carbon-intensive building materials like concrete.
9. Protecting Bees
Bees and other pollinators are facing a rapid decline, primarily due to modern agricultural practices like monoculture farming, which reduces biodiversity, and the widespread use of insecticides.
Mushrooms could help address these challenges by promoting more biodiverse farming systems and reducing the need for vast monoculture fields.
In addition, mushrooms might offer a solution to a pressing problem affecting honey bees — disease.
Viral infections can spread quickly through bee colonies, often wiping out entire hives. When a hive dies, bees from other colonies may enter to steal resources, inadvertently spreading the infection.
Research by Paul Stamets has shown that feeding honey bees mycelium from Polypore fungi species can enhance their resistance to certain diseases and bacterial infections. While studies are ongoing, the results so far are promising, suggesting that fungi could play a key role in improving bee health and helping prevent disease outbreaks.
10. Environmental Disaster Remediation
Oil spills are among the most catastrophic environmental disasters, and while mushrooms can’t clean up an entire oil spill on their own, they can assist in restoring the land once the major cleanup has taken place. 10 Ways Mushrooms Can Save Our Planet From Annihilation
Even after the initial spill is “cleaned up,” residual crude oil remains in the soil, rendering the land unsuitable for cultivation and harmful to local ecosystems.
In the Ecuadorian Amazon, abandoned oil pits filled with crude oil have been left to leach into the environment for decades. While oil companies eventually returned to clear the toxic waste, they didn’t make efforts to restore the soil. As a result, the harmful oil continues to contaminate the local food and water supply.
Organizations like the Amazon Defense Coalition are teaching local communities to use Geomyces, a native fungus, to break down the leftover crude oil. This fungus helps convert the oil into more fertile soil, which can then be used for growing crops or supporting livestock.
Mushrooms may also offer solutions for other environmental crises, such as radioactive contamination. In 1991, scientists discovered that certain fungi species in the Chernobyl disaster zone were growing toward the radioactive material, using it as a food source. These fungi, known as “radiotrophic fungi,” decompose the radiation and convert it into energy for their growth, providing a potential means of cleaning up contaminated areas after nuclear events.