Is it just me, or have the days since the Deepwater Horizon explosion blew a hole into a pipe deep in the Gulf of Mexico, a catastrophe that has since been confirmed the worst oil spill in US history, played out like an extra dark episode of that Amy Poehler and Seth Meyer's "REALLY?" bit on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update?
The "top kill" didn't work? Really? The "junk shot?" (And who is coming up with these names, by the way?) They're pouring thousands of gallons of chemical dispersants into the Gulf to counter the oil spewing forth? Those chemicals are highly toxic and possibly creating plumes, increasing danger to coral reefs and other sealife? The EPA didn't test them until after BP had started using them? It took the president how long to issue an apparently toothless moratorium on off-shore drilling? People are getting haircuts all over the country, for nothing? It took the EPA how long to finally demand BP switch to a less toxic dispersant?
August??? I mean...it's crazy, right?
This might sound crazy too, but maybe mushrooms would be a better deal than these chemical dispersants. That's right, mushrooms. I thought it was crazy, too, the first time I heard about it, about 10 or 15 years ago. In fact, that's the only thing I remember about that first time I heard about it, and I wish I could remember which of my radical friends had mentioned it to me because I would apologize for not having believed it back then and for not having written about it sooner.
In fact, mushrooms were proven back in the late 1990s to be a useful tool in cleaning toxic soil, even soil contaminated by diesel. Watch Paul Stamets, leading mycologist, explain in his TED talk:
Stamets himself does not claim that mushrooms are the way forward -- in a web page created to answer the questions writers like me (and hopefully, some decision-makers as well) are putting to him, he lays out what he knows and what he doesn't. In the former category, the fact that by inoculating diesel-contaminated soil with oyster mushroom spores, he and scientists from Battelle Laboratories managed to cut the toxicity of the soil from 10,000 parts per million to less than 200, over a period of 16 weeks. In the latter category, major questions remain, like how salt water would affect the process.
What Stamets does call for is increased dissemination of knowledge of mycoremediation, more funding for research, Mycological Response Teams to respond to such environmental disasters as oil spills, and mushroom production centers strategically placed near population centers around the country, the waste from which could also be used as compost, or in times such as these, for remediation. Also, for people to spread the word. You can do this by sharing this blog post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or old-fashioned email.
Suffice it to say that you can't clean up a mess that just keeps spilling, and who knows -- maybe the dispersants are our best bet in a worst case scenario. But if we're taking shots in the dark, maybe we should be funding research toward more eco-friendly solutions to eco disasters. Mycoremediation probably won't ever make any money for BP, or even friends of BP, but it wouldn't hurt to look into it. Really.
Follow Leslie Hatfield on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lesliehatfield
I've read Stamets' book and ordered mushroom kits from his company/research group. What's promising, is that the Oyster mushroom kits they develop use a straw/hay medium.
Ideally, local low-tech clean up crews can apply both methods to remove and break down the oil.
Im glad that this guy got some patents too. Its good to see folks get rewarded for doing something good for the planet. Less insecticides, who doesnt like an ant with a shroom growing out of his noggin.
If the government can be sold on its uses and it saves the rain forest, all the better.
And of course we have to keep in mind that most of the problems from any disaster come from the secondary issues. Anything being used would also have its own set of issues as a result.
But what is really bothering me is that we are doing the one single biggest thing we shouldn't ever be doing . And that is relying on BP to fix this. James Carville got it down absolutely. And he would. He is more of an insider on this than any of us could ever hope to be.
He said:
BP is NOT America's friend. It is a business. And it is going to do solely whatever is best for its business . Not for any of the problems it has created.
Until Obama takes leadership of this in a way that is more than merely grumbling at how BP is handling what it only minimally wants to deal with, we are all left with this echoing sense of despair brought on by no one in government acknowledging the severity that every newscast is making it plainer for every citizen to comprehend.
Obama should have come down on that dividend announcement with all the wrath and power that was granted to him by the electorate.
-gala1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VfypUzx1tI
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/21/bp-not-planning-to-use-hu_n_585515.html?show_comment_id=47972184#comment_47972184
The leftover substrate from oyster mushroom production becomes very rich compost, or in this case, mycelium rich substrate that can still metabolize other carbon-rich compounds (i.e. the oil) in order to grow more mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms are some of the most aggressive species of mushrooms, and it amazes me how they can grow on such a wide array of substrates (from woodchips to oil!)
Would love to connect with others working on using mushrooms to fight the oil spill - please reach out to us through our website (www.bttrventures.com)
Thanks!
That's where you apply the mushrooms, not at sea.
So, yes, you CAN apply mushrooms to the oil-drenched booms.