SAT Feb 13/How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World with Paul

P aul Stamets believes growing mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment. A dedicated mycologist for more than thirty years, Stamets notes that humans, although adept at inventing toxins, are equally inept at removing them from our environment. He believes mushrooms can save the world.

In a rare appearance on the South Coast, Paul Stamets will give an evening talk on Saturday, February 13, at 7pm, hosted by the SBCC Center for Sustainability, at the Fe Bland Auditorium, SBCC West Campus. Stamets will share how he feels a mycological rescue of the planet can occur with the help of fungi. Mycelium, filaments of microscopic cells---of which mushrooms are the fruit---recycle carbon, nitrogen and other essential elements as they break down plant and animal debris. What Stamets has discovered is that the enzymes and acids that mycelium produce to decompose this debris, are also superb at breaking apart hydrocarbons, the base structure common to many pollutants. Stamets coined the word ‘myco-restoration’, to describe engaging mycelium to heal habitats and stabilize ecosystems. He believes that mycelium are the neurological network of nature, and that without fungi, all ecosystems would fail.

M ost think of mushrooms only in terms of edibles like Portabellos or Chantrelles, but the part fungi plays in the evolution of the planet is extraordinary. Stamets states that when the Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago and coalesced out of stardust, organisms first appeared in the ocean. The very first organisms on land were fungi. Earth's ongoing history included asteroid impacts, with loss sometimes of 90% of plant and animal life due to debris dust blotting out the sun. But fungi, without the need for sunlight, survived, and so did animals and plants that formed relationships with them.

Paul Stamets has been a mushroom enthusiast since the late 1970s, and is the founder of Fungi Perfecti (www.fungi.com). He has discovered four new species of mushrooms, and pioneered countless techniques in the field of edible and medicinal mushroom cultivation. He received the 1998 "Bioneers Award" from The Collective Heritage Institute, and the 1999 "Founder of a New Northwest Award" from the Pacific Rim Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils. In 2008, Paul received the National Geographic Adventure Magazine's Green-Novator and the Argosy Foundation's E-chievement Awards. He was also named one of Utne Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World" in their November–December 2008 issue. He has written six books on mushroom cultivation, use and identification, his latest book is Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. He has been a presenter at the prestigious TED conference.

The event takes place on Saturday, February 13, 7-9:30pm at the Fe Bland Forum auditorium, SBCC West Campus, 721 Cliff Drive. Admission $20 ($10 SBCC Students), no reservations, first come basis. The event is sponsored by the SBCC Center for Sustainability and the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network Non-Profit. For more information, (805) 965-0581, ext. 2177; msbushman@sbcc.edu.