Date Change! In Search of Mycotopia & 2nd Year Celebration
Join us for a deep dive into learning about the people behind the scenes of the thriving social & community science myco movement.
Dear Fellow Myconauts,
We have some program schedule changes to announce and an exciting 2nd Year Anniversary Potluck Celebration with Danielle Stevenson on Friday, September 1st!
After receiving feedback and many requests from our fellow myconauts, we will be pushing back our next Mycoverse to give folks more time to read In Search of Mycotopia to the following Monday, July 31st at 7pm.
Then, we will be taking a break until later in August for our second discussion of In Search of Mycotopia on Thursday, August 24th at 7pm (switching it up from meeting on Monday due to Telluride Mushroom Festival some of us are attending).
Previously in the Mycoverse…
In our Mycoverse discussion this week, we had a surprise visit by the author of In Search of Mycotopia so come out and you may just very well meet the author in person!
PS – Our Donna Haraway film screening was a real hit and we’ll be exploring a bit more of her work exploring inclusive ways of thinking about science and cultivating responsibility. Linked below is a classic video of early Haraway the documentary showed a clip of.
In Search of Mycotopia – The Mycelium Underground
(Part I)
Monday, July 31st, 7pm @ Arlington Garden, Pasadena, CA
Note the date change to Monday, July 31st! To accommodate extra time to read!
In part 1 of 2 discussions, we will be discussing the first half of the book while finishing the rest of the book with a final discussion at the end of August. I found it to be a pretty quick read compared to what we typically read in the Mycoverse.
In the first half, here we meet many mushrooms and many mycologists focusing on building community with fungi such as our local SoCal phyto-myco-remediation mycologist, Danielle Stevenson, and other California mycologists!
Before the discussion, we invite you to:
Read chapters 1-6 (up to page 134 in the hardcover)
In Search of Mycotopia – Who Speaks for the Mushroom
(Part II )
Thursday, August 24th, 7pm @ Arlington Garden, Pasadena, CA
In part 2 of 2 discussions, we will be discussing the last half of the book in preparation for the following week's discussion with one of the mycologists featured in Mycotopia, Danielle Stevenson. In this last half of the book we learn about the insporation behind creating the "mycelium underground" of myco-scenes across the country as well as how to get involved with fungi, and how to be in better relationship with the more than human world around us (e.g. via conservation, applied mycology, in community with intersectional mycology movements discussed).
Before the discussion, we invite you to:
Read chapters 7-12 (roughly140 pages)
Exploring the Mycoverse 2nd Year Anniversary Potluck Celebration with Danielle Stevenson
Friday, September 1st, 7pm @ Arlington Garden, Pasadena, CA
Join us in celebrating two years of creating community with fellow myconauts and fungi curious folks! We have a very special guest, local mycologicist Danielle Stevenson, who is leading (quite literally) groundbreaking research in phyto-myco-remediation healing soils of heavy metal polution. She will share her extensive experience and journeys through the many worlds of mycology, from having her own DIY business to being a Radical Mycologist to being to a mycologist in academia.
About our special guest:
Danielle Stevenson is an applied scientist, mycologist and environmental problem-solver who works with soils, fungi, plants and people to address wastes and pollution in creative and circular ways. Currently a PhD candidate in Environmental Toxicology at the University of California Riverside where she studies sustainable remediation of brownfields with fungi and plants. She also founded and runs D.I.Y. Fungi (est. 2012) for research, education and action around fungal food, medicine, waste management and remediation, and Healing City Soils (est. 2015) with the Compost Education Centre to provide soil metal testing, resources, and community bioremediation for people growing food. She is involved in many projects supporting regeneration o f lands and waters, environmental education and community-capacity building.
Learn more about her work here:
https://www.danielle-stevenson.com/
https://phyto-myco-remediation.ucr.edu/
https://diyfungi.blog/
Looking sporeward,
Aaron