| This is good scientific evidence that the mushroom is essentially the “guardian of the forest” and the ecological environment, maintaining a balance and cohesion within all living species. (3) There are also endophytes, which are beneficial nonmycorrhizal fungi that partner with many different plants. Psilocybin is an endophytic form of fungi. One of the thoughtful ideas Paul has come up with, is the use of these particular fungi for countering desertification and renewing the growth that has been lost in arid desert climates. By taking seedling of plants which normally would not survive high desert temperatures and dusting them with the spores from a thermally tolerant species of endophytic fungi, the plants were able to grow in and withstand temperatures substantially higher than those which were not treated. (4) We have to wonder, if one of the reasons we have a desert in the Middle East is because the ancient people cut down the majority of the trees. The whole of Lebanon was known once for its cedar trees, and we read about the Greeks going abroad on sailing ships made from the timber of very large trees. People have created a very unbalanced ecological climate on the earth, and it is long past the time to restore it to its rightful balance. This isn’t something humans have just done in the last 100 years. The planet may be long overdue for a healing treatment by humanity. Together, these three forms of the mushroom, saprophytic, mycorrhizal and endophytic help plants stave off starvation, dehydration and parasitization. Stamets suggests that seed pods infused with all three types of spores could be used to jumpstart the production of new growth climates. We can use mycelial mats to contain, filter and break down natural toxins in the environment like fecal matter in water run-off, and use it to keep populations of viruses and diseases from spreading. Factory farming is creating a multitude of pollution problems as fecal waste from manure ponds contaminates the surrounding environment. The placement of the correct mushrooms species in the proper environment can prevent all of this. Heavy metals that pollute the environment and groundwater can be literally eaten up by certain varieties of fungi. One particular variety removed 91 percent of the copper and 70 percent of the zinc from treated swine effluent. (5) When situations such as fires or disasters such as oil spills take place, the mycelium environment responds accordingly, resulting in the creation of 1 or 2 million new species of fungi, in that isolated location, which then go to work cleaning it up, and rehabilitating the environment. Let us not forget that we get some very important medicines from mushrooms and fungal spores, not the least of which, would be the ergot alkaloids, but also medicines for treating certain types of cancers like Taxol, have been isolated from Tacomyces andreanae growing on the yew tree. An extract from the mycelium of Fomitopsis officinalis is helpful with protecting human blood cells from infection by orthopox viruses, which includes smallpox. Of course, we all know about the use for Penicillin, derived from a strain of mold fungi. (6) |
Besides the medicines derived from mushrooms and various forms of fungi, we also have a wide variety of medical uses for which a host of mushrooms are beneficial. Of course, I am mentioning this as a preventative, and not a cure. The ways medicinal mushrooms can work on our bodies and give us health benefits is only now beginning to be understood by natural health practitioners. Medicinal mushrooms have tremendous antimicrobial properties and can be used to prevent all sorts of illnesses. According to Stamets, “mushroom derivatives are known to activate natural immune responses in mammalian cells, in effect boosting an organism’s resistance to microbial infection.” (7) Stamet’s plan for mycorestoration includes four primary steps. Mycofiltration, mycoforestry, mycoremediation and mycopesticides. (8) Mycorestoration involves taking mushrooms such as turkey tail and using them to prevent forest blights as well as breaking down toxic chemicals like PCBs and dioxins in our environment. Species of fungus have been identified which can clean up deadly neurotoxins such as VX and sarin. These toxic substances which would kill humans, become food and nutrient sources for cultures of mycelium. Nature has been using mycorestoration since the beginning of time, and all that we, as humans, must do is learn how to reproduce it and help the earth along. (9) One of our greatest toxic contaminants comes from the petroleum industry and all the petrochemical byproducts we use in society. We can use mushrooms to remove these toxins from our environment and make the earth a lot cleaner and safer by applying these methods. According to Stamets: “Since many of the bonds that hold plant material together are similar to the bonds found in petroleum products, including diesel, oil, and many herbicides and pesticides, mycelial enzymes are well suited for decomposing a wide spectrum of durable toxic chemicals.” Oyster mushrooms grown on toxified diesel oil soil, showed no traces of detectable petroleum residues, which means, if the tests showed no traces of heavy metals also, the mushrooms would be edible at this point. (3) Mycelium, p. 17-22 (4) ibid, p. 30 (5) ibid, p. 60; Price et. al, 2001 (6) Mycelium, p. 8 (7) ibid, p. 41 (8) ibid, p. 51 (9) ibid, p. 53 |