By Eana Shah
Many of us associate the fungi kingdom with rotting food and animals. But did you know that mycelium can save the world in a few different ways? Mycelium is a part of a fungus that grows underground. It is composed of hyphae, which appear as tiny white connecting fibers. These root-like structures are crucial for decomposing plant material in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. They inhale oxygen and release carbon dioxide as humans do, and are neurological membranes that hold water.
The first way that mycelium can save the world is by restoring soil that has been contaminated by diesel and petroleum wastes. The mycelium absorbs these chemicals and completely restores a habitat. Farmlands close to factories have lots of toxic wastes in them, and the soils have lost their ability to grow crops. Mycelium has a lot of potential to restore the soil so that crops could continue to grow on those soils.
Mycelium can create completely new biological communities. As the mycelium absorbs nutrients from the harmful oil-drenched soils, they break down the carbon-hydrogen bonds that create fungal sugars. These spores attract birds that spread seeds leading to new life.
Fungi, like mycelium, kill harmful insects and pests such as termites and carpenter ants. The spores from the mycelium repel these insects, which allows the fungi to be a fool-proof solution to pest problems. They are also much cleaner, in a sustainable sense than pesticides.
Mycelium can clean the air and solve the energy crisis. They convert cellulose into fungal sugars, a process that produces econal. This can revolutionize the energy crisis by building carbon banks on the planet and renewing soils.
If you're interested in sustainability, biology, technology, or entrepreneurship, you should consider learning more about mycelium. They can be grown into CAD-software-developed molds for practical uses, such as planters or sustainable packaging. Ecovative, a company changing how plastic is used, has been using mycelium as the key product in their packaging. Plastics are detrimental to the environment and can be replaced with mycelium in a wide variety of ways. Mycelium itself decomposes into the soil after a few weeks without use, unlike plastic which never decomposes. This will relieve landfills of the laborious tasks of burning plastics.
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