FYI
Fuel Your Inspiration
October 2026
Community is the most powerful weapon we have!
US climate data emigrating to Germany
It is critical that we arm ourselves with scientific fact and knowledge. But US President Trump and his administration have completely disregarded climate change, naming it a “hoax” in gaudy public venues, and have abhorrently removed even the words “climate change” and “global warming” from government websites. Now Germany has stepped in to throw a lifeline to US scientists. The files of US climate data will soon find safe haven in Hamburg at the German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ), and this rescue will ensure that the Trump administration cannot meddle with or compromise the information. Yale Environment 360, a wealth of climate and environmental reporting, offers an overview of the project. The scientists’ data will be protected and utilized to prepare the next United Nations climate assessment in 2029, and will help us all prepare for the future.
Fungi to the Rescue
Let Nature do her work! The natural microbiome in healthy soil can help it hold water and minerals, capture carbon, grow clean food, and deter pests, diseases, and weeds. All without poisonous agricultural chemicals. In myco-remediation, ffungi release powerful digestive enzymes and acids that enable their threadlike hyphae to feed themselves, but can also absorb, detoxify, or neutralize toxins in the soil, such as wildfire ash, oil and diesel spills, heavy metals, mining tailings, and radiation.
Most fungi live out of sight, and without them, we probably would not exist. Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures, by UK microbiologist and mycologist Merlin Sheldrake, is a thorough exploration into the thriving world underground that connects all life. Mycelia are ancient. True masters of networking, mushroom mycelia can communicate with plant roots near them, and they can share water or help defend each other against invading disease or pests. Fungi“demonstrate a radically relational approach to crisis and decision-making.” Read an article from the initiative, FloraFaunaFunga, called Beyond flora and fauna: Why it’s time to include fungi in global conservation goals.
“If you teased apart the
mycelium found in a teaspoon
of healthy soil and laid it
end to end, it could stretch
anywhere from 100 metres to 10km.”
Hyphae helping farmers. Kathryn Crew, a dietary manager-turned-mushroom farmer based in Arizona, US, turned her focus to local farmers and how mushroom mycelia could help them. She has dedicated her work to employ the underground network of thread-like branches–called hyphae–to miraculously rebuild soil sickened and made toxic by chemicals. Her short film tells us how traditional organic gardening techniques were upended by the post-World War II chemical industry that looked for a use for leftover war chemicals. These ended up being turned onto farm fields! She illustrates how a simple system change back to natural organic methods and the employment of natural myco-remediation enormously benefits farmers, our health, our budgets, and our precious Earth. This 3-minute student film quickly explains myco-remediation.
If film is your jam, look for Fungi - Web of Life, an IMAX project presented by Merlin Sheldrake, narrated by Björk, and featuring stunning time-lapse photography. Equally mind-blowing is Fantastic Fungi - The Mushroom Film, with well-known mycologist Paul Stamets, featuring time-lapse photography genius Louie Schwartzenberg. Watch Australian cinematographer Stephen Axford’s How fungi changed my view of the world. Find additional info at Fungi Foundation.
For inspiration, motivation, a breath of fresh air, and rejuvenation, bookmark this magazine
The magazine, Atmos, offers excellent journalism, interviews, a podcast, a newsletter, and beautiful photography covering art and culture, climate solutions, ecological wisdom, science and nature, and more. Just what the doctor ordered.
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