Fungi Friday's - July 8th, 2022
Issue #39
Another week, another Fungi Friday newsletter… and man, I cannot believe it’s once again already Friday! Short week with the holiday and not much to update on the mushroom growing front. As touched on last week, we’re on to attempt #2 when it comes to growing restaurant quality oysters. I’ll be making a visit down to the farm this weekend to install some duct work and get the panel situation reset, so if you’re lucky, i’ll have some more pics for next weeks issue… with the short week though, let’s get on to the ((short)) Fungi Friday features!
Know about mushroom packaging, a substitute to plastic
We all know that single use plastic is a tragedy for the environment, however in a consumer led society like the one we live in, the packaging and shipping of goods all around the world is something that we certainly can’t avoid. That being said, there are still governments around the world doing what they can, such as India, who just recently banned these single use plastics in an attempt to protect the environment. Without these so regularly used plastics though, the market needs to come up with better alternatives, and that is exactly where the item in our first feature article comes in to play. Planet Positive Packaging - the new mushroom packaging that’s biodegrade-able in just 45 days!
The U.K. based company claims their product is both cost effective and scalable, utilizing mycelium and agricultural waste in order to create a competitive replacement for the fossil fuel based plastic products we are all accustomed to. And thus far, the company claims to have shipped 500,000 pieces of mushroom packaging to different companies around the world. So next time you order something online, there’s certainly a chance your packaging might be mushroom based in the future!
Is fungi the most underused resource in the fight against climate change?
And for our second and last article this week, another sustainability focused feature… might fungi actually be the most underused resource in the fight against climate change? As we’ve covered a few times over on this small corner of the internet, fungi and forests happen to be friends. And with forests disappearing at an alarming rate, its more important now than ever to utilize fungi to promote re-forestation. It’s estimated that reducing deforestation and promoting growth can lower global carbon emissions by 30%.
But how do fungi promote healthy, vibrant forests and fight against climate change? Well, we’re taught as children how trees ingest carbon dioxide. What is not typically mentioned, however, is that the fungal networks underground are where the trees deposit this ingested CO2, is stored for safe keeping. According to the article, destroying forests creates almost as much greenhouse gas emissions as global road travel. The tropical forest alliance is a group focused on solving that. The article then goes on to touch on a few other fungi related topics, like mapping the worlds fungi networks and how fungi play a role in sustainable farming, through use cases such as acting as bio-fertilizers. I definitely recommend giving it a read, as this one is jam packed with different interesting, climate related goodies.
Want even more? Here are some other interesting, mushroom focused reads of the week:
(((Sadly, short article week — we’ll bring you more next week though, no worries!!))
As always, thank you for reading this weeks edition of Fungi Friday’s! If you enjoyed what you found, please feel free to forward to friends also interested in the Fungi Community!
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