Filtering Water with Fungal Mats

Designing with fungi

Chapter 1

Nature's ultimate glue

Chapter 2

Replacing plastic and packaging

Chapter 3

Building the future with fungi

Chapter 4

Cleaning the earth and circular systems

YOUR GOAL

Master of Designing with fungi

Ch 4 · Cleaning the earth and circular systems

sonia The wood wide web connection

sonia Fungi-Led Circular Design

We can grow our packages from mushroom roots today! (Compost it back, yeah!)

sonia Filtering water with fungal mats

The wood wide web connection

sonia Underground fungal networks allow trees to communicate and share vital resources.

Filtering water with fungal mats

sonia Mycelium filters can remove harmful bacteria and heavy metals from waterways.

Spore to Soil

BETA

sonia Grow mycelium networks to discover how fungi-led design turns waste into healthy soil.

Fun Fact

Plastic-eating fungi: The fungus Pestalotiopsis microspora can survive exclusively on a diet of plastic, even without any oxygen.

Glossary

mycoremediation (noun)
The use of fungi to degrade or remove contaminants from a polluted area. In 2017, environmentalists deployed oyster mushrooms to degrade toxic ash after devastating wildfires in Sonoma County.

Gossip

Which fungal superpower is most important?

Quiz

What do trees share with each other through mycorrhizal networks?

sonia Fungi that eat toxic waste

Quiz

Which plastic-eating fungus was discovered by Yale students in the Amazon rainforest?

sonia Designing a zero waste world

Quiz

What type of plastic can the Pestalotiopsis microspora fungus digest?

Quiz

What nickname did biologist Suzanne Simard give to underground forest fungal networks?

Quiz

What is the scientific term for using fungi to clean up environmental pollutants?

Quiz

Who pioneered 'mycofiltration' to clean up polluted water runoff?

Quiz

What harmful bacteria can mycofiltration mats trap and remove from water?

Quiz

What fundamental design principle does the fungal lifecycle teach human industry?