A friend recently came back from the TED conference out West and sent along a lecture called 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World. "This guy stole the show," he said. Despite the fact that the last time we heard someone proclaim that mushrooms could save the world, we were singing You Enjoy Myself during an epic trampoline jam, we thought better and realized that TED would be above Fungi jokes and lame Phish references.All prejudgments aside, we have to tell you that this 17 minute lecture is not only worth every second, it should be longer. It's hard to compress the history of an organism that predates plants by several hundred million years into a few short minutes.In that Inconvenient Truth sort of way, Paul Stamets takes the science of mycelium and prototaxites and explains their epic story in terms that inspire us to consider a world where mushrooms absorb toxins from the earth, restore habitats, cure the flu, reinvent pesticides, neutralize carbon and grow old growth forests from cardboard boxes. In short, 'engaging mycelium can help save the world.'The stuff is real and it's powerful, and believe us it's worth your time.
"Once you’ve heard 'renaissance mycologist' Paul Stamets talk about mushrooms, you'll never look at the world -- not to mention your backyard -- in the same way again." Linda Baker, Salon.com
Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world [VIDEO]
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