[Ccpg] SAT Feb 13/How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World with Paul Stamets

Sat Jan 30 15:50:10 PST 2010

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Santa Barbara City College Center for Sustainability &
  Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
presents:
~Mycelium Running~
How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World
with Paul Stamets

Saturday, February 13, 2010
Fe Bland Auditorium, Santa Barbara City College West Campus
  7-9:30 pm,  Admission $20 (SBCC students$10)

         Paul 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.

         Most 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 
"<http://www.utne.com/2008-11-13/50-Visionaries-Who-Are-Changing-Your-World.aspx>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 at sbcc.edu.

Paul Stamets on You Tube:
***YouTube: Paul Stamets at TED Conference
http://www.youtube.com/paulstamets#p/u/3/WuF4s-0-0Gs

Radio Interview:
Sustainable World Radio Interview January 2008 with Jill Cloutier
Paul Stamets, founder and president of Fungi 
Perfecti, has written six books on mushroom 
cultivation, use, and identification, including 
the bestseller, Mycelium Running:  How Mushrooms 
Can Help Save the World.  In this interview Paul 
talks about mycorestoration, what the fungal 
kingdom has to teach us, and how fungi have a 
sense of humor.  Tune in to learn why you should 
love the Mycelium running beneath your feet.
http://www.pdcastsusworldradio.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=295822

Related Websites:

<mailto:paul.s at fungi.com>paul.s at fungi.com
www.fungi.com
<http://www.hostdefense.com>www.hostdefense.com
www.lifeboxcompany.com
<http://www.youtube.com/paulstamets>www.youtube.com/paulstamets
www.ted.com/speakers/paul_stamets.html

-end-

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