We have SO MUCH rubbish.
Much of what our throw-away convenience civilisation produces is regurgitated petrolium-based plastic packaging that doesn’t biodegrade or rot for 500 years.
There are teams of scientists working on ways to use technology to solve this problem; from turning plastic back into oil to recycling into new packages. These strategies still use energy and ultimately fossil fuels to drive the process. Wouldn’t it be great to have a solution that didn’t require fuels and resulted in food rather than more plastic bags?
Does that sound ridiculous?
Well.. there is at least one man who doesn’t think so:
Paul Stamets is an Award-winning American mycologist who has worked for a number of years developing techniques of mycoremediation and mycological pesticides.
Stamets is also very interested in medical solutions to viral and bacterial threats from modern civilisation’s factory farming and depletion of natural habitats.
Possibly most interesting is the work Stamets has done in developing techniques of mycoremeditation, that is: transforming toxic environments (such as oil spills) into fertile supportive eco-systems. See also www.fungi.com/mycotech/petroleum_problem.html
Stamets has a company called Fungi Perfecti – www.fungi.com/ that sells mushroom spores, books, suppliments and more, including a revolutionary idea called the LifeBox.
“The Life Box is not just a box: it is a teaching tool that unfolds into a continuing, life-long experience”
Cardboard packaging is permeated with mycelium spores and geographically appropriate forest species seeds so that having fulfilled it’s purpose as packaging, the box can become the growing medium for new green life.
The Life Box may become a palate, a template for eco-artisans and architects to help re-green the planet. The Tree Life Box uses trees approved by every state in the United States that regulates tree movement, and are approved for export to Canada. All species embedded within the Life Box™ are native to the continental US and Canada and are non-invasive. We plan to expand the Life Box line of products to include wild flowers, vegetables, grasses and herbs within boxes, padded envelopes, egg cartons and a wide variety of packaging materials.
Currently the LifeBox is only available in Canada and the US, personally I would love to see it spread around the world!
For more information on Paul Stamets and his work:
blog.ted.com/2008/05/06/paul_stamets/
www.ted.com/speakers/paul_stamets.html
www.fungi.com/mycotech/mycova.html
keybreakthrough.blogspot.com/2009/10/paul-stamets-six-mycological-solutions.html
