For the Love of Fungi!

Here at Fungi Ally we aim to improve and disperse information and technology to utilize fungi. Growing mushrooms is just one of the many benefits the fungi kingdom has to offer to humankind. There are multitudes of other amazing opportunities for us to ally with the fungi. Simply by observing fungal growth patterns and the network of nutrient distribution and communication humans have much to learn. The decentralized and vastly interconnected mycelial network of fungi make these organisms extremely strong and resiliant. It allows them when broken apart or moved to quickly colonize an area and potentially recreate one large organism. We can see how effective this model is in our society with crowdfunding as I discussed in my last post.  If our communities continue to develop models to empower themselves while creating more points of communication between eachother, like the fungi we will become a strong organism. Fungi's role as a recycler make them a natural ally to humankind at this time. While natural resources become more valueable and the systems to recycle what we have already used becomes more critical it is obvious to turn towards the fungal kingdom. There is a huge amount of organic material locked up in cellulose and hemicellulose. Most organism which can digest these chemicals fall in the kingdom of fungi. We can use fungi to unlock these vast resources of food which are otherwise undigestible to our world. Fungi's ability to speed up the degradation of any organic material needs to be further explored by humans. The ability to take a nurtient depleted "waste" product like newspaper and turn it into a high protein food source, first in the form of mushrooms and second in the form of feedstock, is a miraculous wonder unique to the fungi! Research along this vein utilizing Oyster mushrooms which are very aggressive and need small amounts of nutrients to thrive is abundant and hopeful. The ability of fungi to utilize products which are polluting our world in order to feed protein deficient populations cannot be ignored! In our age of cancer, radiation, HIV and other epidemics it is in our best interest to look to the kingdom of Fungi for help. Found growing in the reactors of Chernobyl, some fungi bioaccumulate radiation. These mushrooms can be grown in areas of heavy contamination to concentrate and remove radiation, particularly cesium. The also have an amazing ability to bioaccumulate heavy metals. We can use them to turn contaminated city plots into flourishing gardens! Paul Stamets posted an article explaining how to utilize fungi to help clean fukushima. Species like Ganoderma tsugae/lucidum are known to combat radiation on the human body level. Several cancer drugs sourced from fungi have been approved and now widely used in China and Japan which great success. The people of America are starting to tune into mushrooms as medicine and are using them at the grassroots level. To push through at the pharmacuetical level will be difficult as the fungi utilize an array of chemical constituents which are nearly impossible to synthesize in the lab and therefor cannot be patented. But companies like HOST defense and Aloha Medicinals are strongly entering the dietary supplement markets to make these products available. Ally with the Fungi my friends!! Reach out to this kingdom to help solve the problems of our days. This is only the beginning. Mycology is such a young field with so many off shoots becoming larger and larger. The worlds of myco-remediation, cultivation, myco-cueticals myco-recycling are just starting to be explored and like the mycelium of a fungus growth is exponential! Join hands with the kingdom of Fungi and let us walk into a healthier, cleaner, brighter future.