Mycelium - Are you Ready to Wear Clothes Made of Fungi!! #mycelium #green #substitute #interesting #fungi #animals #fashion #clothes #chernobyl #technology #globalwarming #cattle

 MYCELIUM – the green substitute.

Have you ever heard of Mycelium? I knew nothing about it until a couple days ago when I read a most interesting article. I must share the information with you.

“Mycelium hits the market as green substitute for leather, plastic.” That was the headline for an article on CBC Technology and Science, March 22, 2021.

“Designer Stella McCartney unveils mycelium-based clothing.” Written by Emily Chung the article explained how the British Fashion designer unveiled black leather clothing made “not from cow hide - but mycelium which is grown from fungi.”

Sounds very strange, doesn’t it? But it is happening. 

For some time, those people who did not want to wear leather garments made from animals had to settle for plastic “pleather.” But, according to Chung’s article, later this year, people who want products made with leather should be able to buy more products “made from another bio-based material that is grown by recycling waste.”

“Mycelium is already on the market in the form of styrofoam-like packaging, “un-leather” handbags, flooring, and sound-proofing acoustic panels. It’s also been experimentally used to build larger structures.” 

But what exactly is mycelium? It is made of fungi. Many people think of fungi as plants, but they are more closely related to animals, the article says. Mycelium is the “fast-growing network of roots of the fungi (not the fruits we know as mushrooms).

Raising cattle (that are used to make leather) is “known to consume and pollute water, use lots of land and generate greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change at a higher rate than most other domestic animals. With leather, lots of potentially harmful chemicals and energy are also used to tan the hides.”

Alexander Bismarck, a professor of materials chemistry at the Imperial College, London has said that “compared to animal based materials as well as plastics, mycelium-based products provide a significant reduction in CO2 or greenhouse gas.”

“In nature fungi help soils capture and store carbon through their symbiotic relationships with plants. This contrasts with raising cattle which is known to consume and pollute water and generate greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change at a higher rate than most other domestic animals.”

“A lot of potentially harmful chemicals and energy are also used to tan the hides,” he said.

What else can mycelium be used for? It can replace cardboard, wood, and bioplastics; it can also reduce the need to cut down so many trees.

I looked up a story on CBC (Technology and Science) published in September 2020, that described how a Dutch startup company “Loop” began making and selling biodegradable coffins made of mycelium. The Loop Cocoon caskets are grown within a week at the company’s lab by mixing mycelium with wood chips in the mold of a coffin. 

“

Mycelium is nature’s biggest recycler,” Bob Hendrikx, creator of the casket said.” It is continuously looking for food and transforming it into plant nutrition.”  

Mycelium also devours toxins and turns them into nutrients.

Hendrikx added: “It is used in Chernobyl to clean up the soil there from the nuclear disaster.” 

Really? Did you know that? I didn’t.

 #mycelium #green #substitute  #interesting #fungi #animals #fashion #clothes #chernobyl #technology #globalwarming #cattle

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