Mushrooms are the craftsmen of the world around us: without them, there is no forest or biodiversity. They also help us heal, and can have a positive impact on the climate.
There would be five million species of fungi, of which only 150,000 are known, whose millions of filaments develop under the ground and branch out in the form of immense networks to exchange and communicate. The fungus is part of a monumental web called mycelium, a being neither animal nor plant whose ramifications can stretch for miles. This vegetative and underground part of fungi plays the roles of decomposer of organic matter and absorber of nutrients and water. Without mushrooms, the forest, biodiversity and even life on Earth would be impossible, they are the architects of the world around us.
What if, taking inspiration from mushrooms, we could live better and act on our microbiota, our body’s first immune reservoir? Some researchers rely on mycotherapy to develop new drugs to fight against, for example, cognitive or nervous diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases, depression, and even cancer…
Mushrooms among the solutions to the climate emergency?
Mushrooms are perhaps also the best allies of the climate. Some could help us to regenerate the soils impoverished by intensive agriculture, by associating with the roots to go and draw more nutrients and more water and help the trees to grow. A micro-solution to planetary issues, according to the United Nations, against possible famines.
Mushrooms also have an impact on a vital resource, water: their very fine meshes in the soil can in fact retain water and minerals, returned to plants during periods of drought. They have a solution to lower CO2 emissions (they store carbon in the soil and help plants to do the same), can help degrade pollution from petrochemicals, and mycelium could replace certain materials such as plastic , even concrete.
A report by Agathe Lanté, Eve Mazet, Gary Grabli, Vincent Fajeau for Capa Presse, broadcast in “Special Envoy” on June 22, 2023.
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