Getting to the Root of the Issue
Mycelium’s Plan to a Sustainable Future
With 2023 well underway, we now have under seven years to reach the sustainable development goals (“SDG”) that United Nations (“UN”) Member States agreed to achieve in 2015, through collective action and global cooperation. Since then, the alarm to actively work towards a sustainable future rang a number of times, embodied by the Paris Agreement and COP conventions for climate action (SDG 13), among other conventions and summits. However, it has become clear that although several UN member states have demonstrated their commitment towards a sustainable future, the alarm has still been snoozed by many, and further ignored by others.
While brainstorming theoretical solutions as a catch-up game is certainly valiant and applaudable in nature, growing are the concerns that, without tangible action, theories and ideas are simply too meager to comfort those who overwhelmingly suffer from our actions, and inaction, vis-à-vis our planet as an ecosystem.
For example, the unfairness of Africa’s precarity to climate change effects is now a cemented reality; the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimated the continent’s contribution of global greenhouse gas emissions to be just shy of five percent, whereas the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) conveyed Africa’s vulnerability by detailing the climate crisis’ simultaneous attack on its water and food systems, urban infrastructures, agricultural production, and public health, as core tenants to its population’s livelihood. *Politics is now the administrator of the group-chat*
It is no secret that efforts geared towards creating a sustainable future must be as potent and multifaceted as the forces aiming to dismantle it. Furthermore, the long-lasting effect of sustainable efforts will only truly become apparent when water and food systems, facilitated by developed urban infrastructures, are able to stabilize agricultural production and increase the resilience of the population’s public health. It is precisely a cyclical model, in which benefits pour from one aspect of livelihood to another, that Africa, and the world by extension, will be able to benefit from circular economies.
After three paragraphs, and as reward for your patience, it is only fair that we explore how a multi-purposed fungus can help create the blueprint for sustainable practices in agriculture, textile, and construction industries.
Mycelium is the vegetative body that produces fungi, with the most common example being mushrooms and its variations. It is often visualized as a web-like structure that spreads into the soil to collect nutrients, food, and water from dead organic matter to ultimately germ mushrooms, when optimal conditions apply. In addition to channeling nutrients from the soil to the fungus, mycelium also decomposes organic matter that it feeds back into the soil, thereby closing one energy cycle, and commencing others by forming symbiotic ecosystems with neighboring trees and plants. In that way, mycelium is a crucial connector in green environments due to its ability to deliver nutrients and facilitate the exchange of sugars and carbohydrates among plants.
Given its fiber-like structure, the malleability of mycelium has afforded it some uses that transcend its regenerative function in agriculture.
By virtue of its biodegradability, mycelium as a water-resistant compostable packaging is a suitable alternative to plastic packaging, as it is able to transport and store a variety of items, including produce. IKEA and Dell are among the companies that have opted for mycelium-based packaging for their business operations. The WEF further highlighted how mycelium composites can serve as greener building materials, and in-so-doing, can help dilute the carbon footprint of the construction industry. Ecovative Design LLC (“Ecovative”), a materials company based in New York State, has pioneered the movement away from plastic solutions in construction by leveraging mycelium-derived materials. In that regard, MycoFutures North Atlantic (“MycoFutures”), a biotechnology company based in Newfoundland, Canada, aims to maximize on mycelium’s bio-structure to rival and eventually dislodge animal leather from its position in the fashion and textile industries.
By creating and commercializing mycelium products, Ecovative and MycoFutures have adopted sustainable solutions at the forefront of their businesses by emphasizing their environmental benefits - namely the lower emissions both products generate in comparison to cement and animal leather, respectively.
After six paragraphs, we have contextualized the state of emergency we find ourselves in, vis-à-vis a sustainable future, by referencing Africa’s vulnerability to the climate crisis. We followed by introducing the sustainable uses of mycelium and its track-record in the agriculture, construction, and textile industries. It is now time we tie it all together by conjecturing mycelium’s role in potentially alleviating Africa’s vulnerability to climate change effects.
Although the Ecovative and MycoFutures examples are unfolding in the United States and Canada respectively, African countries, given their reliance on agriculture and the importance of urban infrastructure in their development goals, have the incentive to adopt the sustainable blueprint that mycelium’s modus operandi offers in a plethora of sectors and industries.
For example, the concept of regenerative agriculture, whereby adaptive and resilient agricultural techniques - such as cropping and soil systems - engender high-yielding agricultural output, has already been implemented in Kenya, Senegal, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, and more.
These practices form an approach to “climate-smart agriculture” that mycelium-based products also subscribe to. By increasing agricultural production, regenerative agriculture can sustain increasing consumer demand, and facilitate trading systems within, and beyond, the agricultural sector. Mycelium-based products, by virtue of its multifarious uses, also offer opportunities to create circular economies by intermeshing agriculture, construction, public health, textile, and transportation, among other industries.
Considering the threats of food insecurity, rising debt, and soaring inflation, often rooted in extreme weather events, mycelium, as a vehicle of regenerative agriculture, has a role to play in both alleviating Africa’s precarity to climate change effects and driving a sustainable future for African populations.
** Please note that this article referred to Africa in light of its position in the climate change conversation. The Decarbonomics Initiative understands and regards Africa as the home of its 54 countries, each with their own demographics, economic, and socio-political and cultural contexts. No attempt to discredit Africa or African countries was made in this article.**
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