Meme #12 - Radical Mycology

Toward the end of his book Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake explores the world of Radical Mycology. This chapter is future-oriented and explains how innovations and new processes learned from the Way of Fungi are being applied to critical problems facing the world. It’s an inspiring look at real solutions that address issues we usually think of as intractable. This teaches that many of the fixes needed to save our world are already available (or at least can be scaled up relatively quickly) and what we need to change more than anything else is our mindsets – how we understand the world and how we choose to behave. Like the previous essay, I will quote this chapter at some length because Sheldrake goes into effective detail on the particulars of the various solutions and I think it’s important to relate this information as often as possible, and in every appropriate setting. The goal of my essays is to capture the implications of these ideas on our individual and collective consciousness, so that will be the basis for my commentary on the topic. 

In the chapter Radical Mycology, Sheldrake writes: 

With much of life on Earth threatened by human activity, are there ways we can partner with fungi to help us adapt? A growing number of radical mycologists think exactly this. Many symbioses have formed in times of crisis. The algal partner in a lichen can’t make a living on bare rock without striking up a relationship with a fungus. Might it be that we can’t adjust to life on a damaged planet without cultivating new fungal relationships? (p.176) 

Peter McCoy is an anarchist, hip-hop artist, self-taught mycologist, and founder of an organization called Radical Mycology, which works to develop fungal solutions to the many technological and ecological problems we face. As he explains in his book Radical Mycology – a hybrid of fungal manifesto, guidebook, and grower’s guide – his goal is to create a “people’s mycological movement” versed in “the cultivation of fungi and the applications of mycology.” (p.179) 

To grow mushrooms on any kind of scale, growers have to develop a keen nose for material to satisfy voracious fungal appetites. Most mushroom-producing fungi thrive on the mess that humans make. Growing cash crops on waste is a kind of alchemy. Fungi transform a liability with negative worth into a product with value. A win for the waste-producer, a win for the cultivator, and a win for the fungi. (p.180) 

In one of his workshops, McCoy explained how he trained Pleurotus mycelium to digest one of the most commonly littered items in the world, cigarette butts, more than 750 thousand tons of which are thrown away every year. Unused cigarette butts will break down, given time, but used cigarette butts are saturated with toxic residues that impede the process. McCoy had weaned Pluerotus onto a diet of used butts by gradually phasing out alternatives. Over time, the fungus “learned” how to use them as its sole food source. (p.182) 

One of the ways fungi might help save the world is by helping to restore contaminated ecosystems. In mycoremediation, as the field is known, fungi become collaborators in environmental cleanup operations. (p.184) 

In his book Mycelium Running, Paul Stamets writes about a collaboration with a research institute in Washington State, which partnered with the US Department of Defense to develop ways to break down a potent neurotoxin. The chemical – dimethyl methylphosphonate, or DMMP – was one of the deadly components of VX gas, manufactured and deployed in the late 1980s by Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War. Stamets sent his colleagues twenty-eight different fungal species, which were exposed to the compound in gradually increasing concentrations. After six months, two of the species had “learned” to consume DMMP as their primary food source. (p.184) 

For McCoy, Radical Mycology means more than just solving particular problems in particular places. A distributed network of grassroots practitioners is also capable of advancing the state of fungal knowledge as a whole. One way this can happen is through the discovery and isolation of potent fungal strains. Fungi isolated from a contaminated environment may have already learned how to digest a given pollutant and, as locals, be able to remediate a problem and thrive. This was the approach used by a team of researchers in Pakistan who screened soil from a city landfill site in Islamabad and found a novel fungal strain that could degrade polyurethane plastic. (p.187) 

The most revolutionary innovation emerged in 2009. The founder of the magic mushroom-growing forum mycotopia.net, known only by the handle hippie3, devised a method to grow fungi without fear of contamination. This changed everything…In McCoy’s view this was one of the most important developments in the history of mycology – “lab results without the lab” – and has changed the cultivation of mushrooms forever. (pp.188-89) 

Whereas mycoremediation is all about decomposing the consequences of our actions, “mycofabrication” is all about recomposing the types of materials we choose to use in the first place. It is the yang to the yin of decomposition. (p.193) 

[The mycofabrication company, Ecovative attempts to] disrupt polluting industries. The packaging materials that Ecovative grows are designed to replace plastics. Their construction materials are designed to replace brick, concrete, and particle board. Their leather-like textile replaces animal leather…At the end of their life, mycelial products can be composted. (p.193)

Radical Mycology challenges us to change our behavior in lasting ways, but that is not a simple proposition. As the addict says, “It’s easy to quit. I’ve done it hundreds of times.” Apart from (and above) the possible symptoms of physical withdrawal, change is hard because the offending behavior often serves a purpose for the person by getting them through difficult moments. For instance, you may have seen people gathered outside office buildings smoking cigarettes. Many are there because they’re stressed, so they go outside and have a smoke. Do they feel better? You bet they do. Now, they can return to their cubicles, focus on their projects, not snap at their co-workers, or argue with their supervisors. So, the behavior works! “Ahh, don’t talk to me about things like lung cancer,” they might say. “That’s a long way down the road and I can’t think about that right now. I just need to get through this moment and get back to work.” This is an example of self-soothing behavior that serves a deeper purpose. Changing this behavior is not about just “breaking a habit,” which is hard enough. It’s more related to discovering why we’re agitated in the first place and understanding that unless we reconfigure our internal and external worlds, we will always need the behavior. But we’ll never reach this point of departure until the behavior stops working, usually because the negative consequences start to outweigh the benefits. But even then, we may not stop. There are people who continue to smoke cigarettes even after they’ve lost a lung or gone on oxygen. We can get well and truly “stuck” in behavior patterns to the point of death because we simply can’t imagine acting any other way. 

Along with describing the cycle of addiction, this self-soothing dynamic also reflects a larger scheme: human development and maturation. In their book, Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté relate how humans do not mature until we “find our tears” about situations that frustrate us. For instance, a child may want a treat, but the parent says “No.” This is really frustrating for the child so he may turn to a behavior designed to get the treat now – like throwing a tantrum. The parent thinks, “Is this really the hill I want to die on?” and decides to just give the kid what he wants because it’s so much easier than the alternative. So, the behavior works, and unless disrupted, it’s a pattern that can last a lifetime. The child learns that throwing a tantrum is effective - and that it feels good. From Neufeld and Maté’s perspective, this is a lost opportunity for growth. The child is suffering from the frustration related to the denial of the treat. He really wants it, but the parent has said “No.” This creates a great discomfort that must be resolved, either by changing the situation (he gets the treat) or through an internal change to the child (he learns how to manage his disappointment in a healthy manner). But this internal change can only happen when the child is allowed to feel the pain associated with the frustration. Getting the treat due to his tantrum does not provide that. Even though it’s harder for the parent, the child needs to “find his tears,” which might result in literal crying or just feeling the sadness that results from this frustration, but either way, he comes to realize (after many such incidents) that the only way to get rid of the discomfort is to learn how to deal with it himself. Ultimately, he may even come up with a clever “Plan B” like asking the parent, “Can I have the treat after dinner for dessert?” Likely, the answer will be “Yes.” He gets the treat, just not when he first craved it. 

What does this mean for the wider world? Our fossil fuel consumption is often described as an “addiction” and changing behaviors related to it is going to depend on a level of collective maturity that we do not seem to currently possess. Even contemplating the possibility of a transition away from fossil fuels causes real panic in a lot of people because it seems to undermine cherished notions about identity, threaten economic stability, and/or challenge behaviors we depend upon to get through our days. Truthfully, many of us are just not ready to experience the sadness related to the current, dire situation, and therefore, we’ll continue to turn to coping behaviors that simply push those feelings away. So, the question of the moment is: What fosters an environment where we can “find our tears” and come to realize that the only way to resolve the discomfort related to climate change is to transform ourselves, to change our behavior – to mature? According to Neufeld and Maté, this can only happen through the power of relationship. They point out that change makes us vulnerable, and it only feels safe to “find our tears” and mature when we’re actively connected to another person whom we trust and can count on to “have our backs.” In the traditional process of human development, this is the role of the parent. In our current situation, it might have to be someone else. 

The mycological community is a tight-knit group, in large part because it’s filled with oddballs who don’t belong anywhere else and feel a certain simpatico with each other. This is actually a pretty good description of fungi too. Many traditional scientists don’t know what to do with a group of organisms that refuse to fit neatly inside boxes of classification. Fungi are fluid. Fungi are unpredictable. Fungi are a taxonomical mess. This may be one explanation as to why there are no “departments of mycology” at universities - a reality that creates the need for an army of “citizen scientists” to join the handful of mycology academics working in the field. Together, they study the unconventional, ever-so-fascinating world of fungi because the “legit” researchers can’t wrap their heads around a Kingdom that does not conform to their expectations. Enter Radical Mycology, which is drawing together a sizable number of misfits who, in contradistinction to the normal scientists, can’t tear themselves away from the allure of their fellow non-conformists. 

The equation is simple. Lasting change requires “Finding our tears” over what’s not working. “Finding our tears” requires an adequate feeling of safety to get through the moment of vulnerability. Relationship creates that feeling of safety so that internal growth can occur. And community is built on an interlocking web of relationships. The Radical Mycology community is growing and attracting many people who can apply what they learn from the Way of Fungi into other aspects of our lives – work, family, and play, potentially leading to exponential change. In Entangled Life, Sheldrake describes a gathering of this community: 

In the autumn of 2018, I traveled to a farm in rural Oregon for the biannual Radical Mycology Convergence. There I found more than five hundred fungal nerds, mushroom growers, artists, budding enthusiasts, and social and ecological activists bustling around a farmyard.

To a person, this group consists of folks who are ready to change the world – some in small ways, others in big ways. The Radical Mycology community believes we don’t have to “accept things as they are” or as “they’re presented to us.” Rather, it’s a group imbued with a hacker mentality that combines fluid creativity with a belief that we can find a solution to every problem if we’re just allowed to get inside and poke around a little. A lot of mistakes are made this way, and every so often, also a discovery that changes the world. Thanks, hippie3!