A small boy named Domingo wandered the giant forests of his hometown. He ran into the trees across the ground covered in spongy fungi making a soft cushion for his feet on the forest floor. The wind rushed through the giant stems of mushrooms that lined up with the trees, while giant canopies of the mushrooms made home to animals relaxing in the sun. Bushes of mushroom spores make for entertaining obstacles on Domingo’s run in as he weaved through the forest. His deeper breaths made him aware of the fresher mushroom smell he was getting from the nature around him. Taking a second to appreciate his surroundings, Domingo stopped on the trail to observe all the insects living within these mushroom crevices. A multitude of bugs appeared to him that piqued his curiosity. They crawled across the colourful types of little fungi on the trail, as Domingo spotted the strands and spores that define each strain of fungi. He discovered the soft, spongy, tough, varying textures of the forest floor and bushes surrounding. Looking further around him, he noticed the luscious, dense, fungi forest he was surrounded in and all it provided. He understood and appreciated what different mushrooms accomplish and how they interact with his world. He grew up only cultivating and eating mushrooms for food with his family. They used them for anything he could think of in his home. They used them for medicine, for water systems, for packaging... Anything that was run in his world was run off mushrooms and fungi power.
What would the world look like without all these mushrooms? How would they survive without them? He just had to know!
Visiting his grandparent’s house, his inquisitive mind couldn’t help but ask about the past:
“Hi, Grandma! So great to see you- can I ask you some questions, pretty please?”
Domingo’s grandmother grinned and launched into her history lesson that blew his little mind away. She explained that the world he lives in today once looked completely, utterly different. The world as he knew it was due to the fungi and mushroom technology humans learned and utilized to solve the issues they created. Humans had an issue of consumption and waste dealing. Piles of plastics, clothing, parts, and any garbage were scattered throughout streets in the past. On the Earth now, mushrooms eat the trash because our ‘plastics’ are made of fungi. Everything in our system now can be fully recycled.
Humans had an issue with making the energy they lived on and making it efficient. Now, mushrooms can filter air for buildings, mushrooms provide shade, and mushrooms provide insulation inside the home walls. Humans ran out of agricultural areas and flora and fauna became endangered everywhere; mushrooms are the (only) to go to these days for their quick and easy production and high nutrition value.
Domingo could barely the transition his grandmother described.
The world was collapsing and societies couldn’t handle the burdens of human waste that had been produced; natural systems everywhere suffered until they were almost extinct. Former agriculture processes could not keep up with demand and there were fewer resources for the animals to live on. Our so-called innovative solutions of nuclear power unleashed loads of nuclear waste that surrounding communities and ecosystems could not handle. Humans took advantage of every square inch of Earth they could get, leaving nature with nothing. Something had to be changed for humans, animals, plants, and everything in between to survive on this planet.
Everything changed as scientists researched and the general population adopted fungi and mushrooms into their practices. Mushrooms were enhanced to improve their decomposition abilities, desolating garbage dumps, clothing piles, and plastics that could not be recycled or reduced. They developed this fungi ability further into eating up nuclear waste that was infecting many surrounding communities from power plants. Slowly, human waste was being cleared out, making way for nature to spring. It all began with the fungi and their capabilities and functionalities; they grow quickly, making a communication connection between their roots that nature does not see anywhere else. It became the powerhouse of the new natural ecosystem of Domingo’s Earth and ruled the land. But it only prevailed as humans learned how to utilize them efficiently and cooperatively with nature. Living with the mushroom power allowed them to make a new Earth that humans, plants, and animals could survive on fruitfully. Domingo appreciated how his world came to be, and could not wait to see what else the magical fungi could possibly do.
