Are mushrooms sustainable?
Mushrooms are fascinating plants and have massive potential for use in meat-alternative foods, product packaging, and even environmental clean-up efforts. Here are the top four ways mushrooms are a sustainability darling:
Mushrooms don’t need intensive resources to grow
All plants and animals need resources like farm land, water, and sun to grow. Mushrooms require comparatively low amounts of water, land, AND sun. They grow best in dark and damp environments.
Meat requires an average of 520 - 720 gallons of water to produce just one pound of meat. By comparison, mushrooms require just 1.8 gallons on average to grow one pound.
One square foot of space produces an average of 7.1 pounds of mushrooms. One square foot of land supports just 0.02 pounds of liveweight animals* (aka a live animal, such as chickens, cows, turkeys, before they have been slaughtered for processing and packaging).
Not to mention square-footage efficiency. Mushrooms can be grown in indoor, stacked, space-efficient spaces, unlike traditional meat farming.
Image from fungially.com
Mushrooms are a great alternative to meat
Farming, particularly meat farming, is responsible for around 14.5% of global carbon emissions every year (some say this figure is closer to 16.5%). For this reason, and for health reasons, a plant-based diet is considered a more planet-friendly diet. Given that mushrooms are also light on water usage, they are also part of a water-efficient diet.
Due to mushrooms’ fairly neutral taste, meaty texture, and source of nutritional content, they are an excellent alternative to meat. Portobello mushroom burgers are commonplace on restaurant menus for this very reason.
I highly recommend checking out 9 Types of Mushrooms That Make Great Meat Replacements by Moku Foods to see exactly which mushrooms are the best replacements for which kinds of meat, if you’re mushroom-curious.
Mushroom roots are being used to create Styrofoam alternatives
Companies such as Ecovative have pioneered a way to create an alternative to Styrofoam using mycelium (mushroom roots), and hemp hurd. Their solution can be custom designed for specific products, takes seven days to grow, and is home compostable. This kind of biodegradable packaging innovation is the next best thing to zero packaging.
Other companies creating similar mushroom-based Styrofoam alternatives are Mushroom Material, and Magical Mushroom Company.
Mushrooms can clean up oil spills and oil-infused soils
Through a process called mycoremediation, mushrooms are able to absorb toxins through their root systems and convert them into non-toxic chemicals, stored in their caps. These “remediator” mushrooms should not be eaten, however. By composting them repeatedly into clean soils, the chemicals dissipate and eventually do become safe again.
However, this process is relatively new and is still being studied globally. Despite efforts to clean up Amazonian oil spills, there is research that needs to go into each spill area, such as what kind of mushrooms are native to the loation, and which are best suited for the job. And despite mushrooms’ relatively quick grow time, this isn’t a quick fix. These areas need to be set up for mushroom success, and monitored over time. Industry expert Paul Stamets does an incredible job of breaking this down in The Petroleum Problem.
Oyster mushrooms growing in oil contaminated soil. Image from Fungi.com
Integrating mushrooms into your life
Explore mushroom recipes:
If you want to integrate mushrooms into your life, I recommend looking into mushrooms as a replacement for meat products. This is a pretty tangible way to reduce your meat intake, and by proxy, foods which are resource-intensive to produce.
Note: When you’re shopping for mushrooms at the grocery store, take a look at where your mushrooms are coming from. Fresh mushrooms are typically imported from neighboring countries like Mexico and Canada, and can be imported from as far as China. The best way to to continue to reduce carbon emissions while shopping is to shop for locally-grown mushrooms, or even better, buy them at a local farmer’s market if there is one near you.
Swap Styrofoam with mushroom-derived packaging:
This will primarily apply if you’re a business or are packaging things in bulk. Outside of zero packaging, biodegradable packaging is the next best thing, and some of the best Styrofoam-alternative options are created from mycelium roots. Companies to consider:
*One square foot of land supports just 0.02 pounds of liveweight animals - calculation details: 363,216,000,000 lbs of animal liveweight uses 378,210,000 acres. Given 43,560 square feet per acre, this uses 16,474,827,600,000 square feet. 363,216,000,000 lbs of animal liveweight / 16,474,827,600,000 square feet = 0.02 lbs per square foot.