Can desalination solve our water needs?

(Unknown Variables) America poured billions of gallons of filtered (desalinated) seawater into a dead desert -- and what happened next was unbelievable. Israel has been desalinating salt water for a long time, as have other countries. Why doesn't the USA do it? It's more about politics and economics of selling freshwater than any technological obstacle to abundance and prosperity.

Fungi recycle: Let it rot in peace

Paul Stamets, D.Sc. (Fungi Perfecti, 5/31/16), Dhr. Seven, Ananda (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

"Chicken of the Woods" is an edible polypore mushroom that grows on trees and deadwood.

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Mycelia make the forest work.

We humans are experts in our misguided attempts to clean up the environment. Such is the case with our misunderstanding of the importance of [mushroom] decomposition.

I wish to help reframe the benefits of fungi with a “Let it Rot” Campaign. Rather than removing or chipping a fallen tree or its branches, leave them on the property and allow them to decompose to support fungal biodiversity.

Decomposition = new green growth

Alternatively, inoculate the fallen tree with gourmet mushrooms (more on this subject here) and see new delicacies bloom with a little help from nature’s own recyclers.

While sinister actors like blight, root rot, and rust mold make the news headlines, the truth is that fungi form an essential underpinning of the natural world.

Carbon cycling, soil formation, nutrient mineralization and utilization, protection from pathogens and herbivores, and control of plant and insect populations are only a few of the roles that fungi fulfill in the environment.

One inoculated wood chip is enough

Saprophytic or "wood-decomposing" fungi help drive the world's carbon cycle by making the carbon stored in wood available to build soils, microbial communities, and ultimately nourish plants.

The “white rot” fungi (such as Oyster mushrooms) break down the lignin in wood and the “brown rot” polypore fungi (such as Chicken of the Woods or Sulphur or Yellow Polypore) break down the cellulose.

As these fungi dine, their extracellular digestive systems leak some of the nutrients into their surrounding environment. These liberated nutrients that escape digestion by the fungi become “mineralized” in the soil and help form the base of the terrestrial food web.

"Mushroom" is fruit of mycelia

The mycorrhizal species — including some favorite edible mushrooms like Chanterelles and Porcini mushrooms — critically aid the growth of their plant symbionts by scavenging and translocating mineral nutrients such as phosphate.

Throughout the process they colonize the roots of the plants and alter the microbial community in the rhizosphere (root zone) to help protect their plant host from pathogens.

Acids and digestive enzymes secreted by mycorrhizal fungi (as well as saprophytic species and lichens, a strange combination of algae and bacteria) can even break down rocks to further liberate minerals and micronutrients.

Shroom Junkie makes healthy mushroom mylk

The increased growth of the plant improves crop yields, soil aggregation, and carbon immobilization, to name just a few of the benefits.

Endophytic fungi are a fascinating group that live within and between the vascular cells of plants in a mutualistic relationship.

Researchers are now discovering them within nearly every plant that has been studied. These hidden fungi are known to increase drought tolerance and reduce predation by herbivores, among other yet-to-be discovered benefits to their host plants.

So the take home message is: LET IT ROT in peace! While there are certainly legitimate concerns about the rise of fungal pathogens, cankers, and blights on a warming planet, there is no reason to let them blind us to the wonders of the fungal fabric that builds and binds our biosphere.

Fungi Perfecti (fungi.com)

Explore, study, and cultivate the fungi in our life, and see nature rebound in a joyous chorus with mushrooms leading the way! To our planet, Paul Stamets

Here's a second opinion on Chicken of the Woods wild foraged shelf mushroom

Burmese recycling: don't abuse, reuse (video)

Thida Nathalie, ThaBarWaWEB, L.A./Rangoon; Burma VJ (HBO); Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

Don't Abuse, Reuse

What could be made out of bamboo?

(Episode 3, June 20, 2020) One of the initiatives at the Thabarwa Nature Center in Los Angeles is to collect used goods and other donated items and ship them to Burma (Myanmar) by sea. One shipping container returns, and another is sent. The last one arrived just before the Water Festival.

Then the coronavirus lockdown was announced in Burma. Sayadaw Ottamasara had to stay in Burma indefinitely. But no crisis is too large. He began giving Dharma talks to calm the locals and the foreign volunteers. Then he started a new initiative to come up with a better alms food container.

He begins collecting discarded plastic water bottles to reuse them, as well as to manage waste and keep food separated better. Fifteen of the 17 daily almsround routes are cut off. And group size is restricted to just five.

It's an incredible feat what is accomplished, watching the innovation and speed of the main Thabarwa Center in Thanlyin, Burma, in outer Rangoon (Yangon Division). Sayadaw is at the helm, and 4,000 residents with special needs are fed, protected, and cared for. Unique initiatives develop daily.

Pacifica Free Speech Radio Los Angeles (KPFK.org 90.7 FM) recycles.

Re-Thinking Progress: Circular Economy (video)

Molly X, Wisdom Quarterly

It's better to be circular like the universe than linear like America's disposable culture

LABOR DAY, 2011 - It is better to live in an intentional community like Eco-Village, Los Angeles, than to buy-use-throw away everything in our lives. This mentality is dangerous to our health, the well being of the planet and has destroyed the economy. It is a corporate means of extraction, pulling money out of consumers who are encouraged to go into debt for the attempted satisfaction of desires ad campaigns seed and water. If we wake up to the unsustainability of this hamster wheel (aka "rat race"), we just might be able to pull ourselves and others out of the mire. It is better than holding our collective breathe waiting to exhale in the hopes that Obama is suddenly going to grow a backbone and reject the corporations that (s)elected him. The same holds true for our health and our garden... and the "meditation practice" we call life. Next time try a green job.

(good to be green)

How to Reduce Garbage

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