Finding Hope in the Dark Power of Fungus

I’ve experienced the power of fungi in my own life: I think of the magical mycorrhizae that helped my first-ever vegetable garden grow into a lush paradise, and I suppose all of those shrooms I ingested in my twenties. I dove into this piece, then, with interest and wonder. Fungi can “fortify soil and lower the use of pesticides, provide a model of connection for our increasingly fragmented and lonely society, heal psychological trauma and chronic illness, remediate the toxins of industrial society and much more,” writes Joanna Steinhardt. For Noema, Steinhardt dives into the fascinating world of DIY mycology, and specifically mycoremediation, the promising process of using fungi to break down pollutants and clean our waste. But mycoremediation is a tough, messy process to sell; it works in small-size projects (think petri dishes and gardens), but to replicate that success on a larger scale—to clean up an oil spill, for example—would be more challenging. Steinhardt writes a thoughtful essay on a complicated organism, and an interesting field that is inspiring optimistic environmentalists to take action in new ways.

In short order, Thomas found an article that showed that fungi can’t degrade bunker fuel on their own; the molecules in the heavy fuel are too complex. He proposed something simpler: composting. Take the hair mat lasagna, blend in plant waste, aerate regularly. And it worked. The pile began to naturally decompose. After a few months, they brought in earthworms to finish the job. Lab tests showed that the most toxic chemicals had broken down. “It took 18 months and a lot of manual labor, and it was really a mess,” Lisa told me. But in the end, they had usable (“freeway grade”) compost. Matter of Trust even got a grant from Patagonia to sell the final product at Costco.

Fungi was at the intersection of their political, environmental and personal concerns: It could fortify soil and lower the use of pesticides, provide a model of connection for our increasingly fragmented and lonely society, heal psychological trauma and chronic illness, remediate the toxins of industrial society and much more.