How to Become Fungal? How to Organize like a Mycelium?
Come along to discuss the ever-so-inspiring, newly released, Let's Become Fungal!
Dear Fellow Myconauts,
We had quite the festive Fungal Friendsgiving, big shoutout to Robyn for hosting us again! What a kind and loving community that knows how to show up. So much gratitude.
Also, a phenomenal Mycoverse discussion on conservation, see Brenna’s recap below. (thanks Brenna!)
Photo credit: Robyn Beck
The mushroom season is upon us! I made some quality observations I’m proud of for the CA Fungal Diversity Survey Project last week here in SoCal. Also encountered the mycoheterotrophic snow plants coming up, quite out of season.
How to Become Fungal?
Monday, December 11th, 7pm @ Arlington Garden, Pasadena, CA – Free
Sponsored by Arlington Garden
For this month's reading discussion, we will be discussing the recently released book, ever so inspiring, as if made for the Mycoverse… Let’s Become Fungal!
But first, a special announcement...
We are excited to announce Exploring the Mycoverse's new official sponsor, Arlington Garden! We are honored and express our deepest gratitude for the support!
We will be discussing the book Let's Become Fungal! over three months (Dec, Jan, Feb) so please join us for any and all of these discussions. Discussion questions will be sent out in advance to those who RSVP.
You can purchase the book locally at Vroman's Bookstore here (they currently have some in stock at the time of this event posting).
Before this discussion, we invite you to:
Read the first three teachings/chapters of Let's Become Fungal!
(1) How to Become Fungal?
(2) How to Review Our Collective Memory?
(3) How to Organize Like a Mycelium?
Please see the Eventbrite event details for more info and to RSVP!
We will also be raffling off (for free) Tobias’s latest mushroom painting donated to the Mycoverse pictured below! Thank you for your artistic generosity, Tobias!
Previously in the Mycoverse… Recap By Brenna Cheyney
Fungi & Rethinking Conservation
Monday, November 27, 2023
Under the luminous, palpable, and lore-inspiring full moon—we offered more questions. Conservation mycology was the theme, but as is the nature of the field and the nature of nature, our discussion expanded beyond boundaries and “queendoms,” intertwining multidisciplinary realms of ecology, anthropology, sociology, political science, and storytelling. The traditional conservation of scarcity and mechanistic methodologies are too static for the dynamic assemblages of intimacy between funga, flora, and fauna. So what does “conservation of abundance” look like for these “functional collectives”?
In anthropocentric detachment conditioning, the human urge to act as superior caretakers and protectors of other biota has led to the dismissal of the agency and intelligence of the more-than-human world. Lab settings are still rife with dominator frameworks and often view species of study through a Capitalist lens of productivity. When we ask what “work” can fungi do that will benefit others, we continue to exploit their existence and perpetuate the imbalance of arbitrary hierarchy. Let us instead shift to a language of care, that asks, how do mushrooms play? How do lichen love? What is the “mycelial way”?
Meaningful existence can also be just that—being not doing. Just as the plural ways of knowing span beyond names, be they scientific, common, or even pet, “pluralism” or “plurality” as Robin Wall Kimmerer embraces, acknowledges that there are endless ways to witness and welcomes one to use all of their senses to learn with more-than-humans. When approaching a plant to say hello, we first use our sight and sense of smell to find the name we may or may not know. We may not ever know their names of human consensus, but we notice how their leaves feel, how their blooms unfurl, how the wind makes them dance—and are these traits not equally important to their position in the web of life?
How can Traditional Ecological Knowledge and diverse oral-aural mediums find respectful integration into a full-spectrum conservation model? The Fungi Foundation has established an Elder’s Program, with their goals listed as “unveiling of ancestral human relationships with fungi” and “rememorize our ancestors’ memories, learn from them, and promote their conservation and care.” Many of the questions posed in the “research agenda for conservation mycology” table rely on data collection. But what are the ethics of TEK integration when “data means management” and the qualitative and quantitative practices of conservation do not consistently apply to fungi?
With so many ever-fluctuating factors to consider in order to “prove” whether or not a fungal species is endangered, when we already know we are suffering rapid “biocultural diversity” loss due to anthropocentric obstinacy, why not devise a new system of protections, that encourages bureaucratic and economic support for a multiplicity of conservation strategies? “In a culture that values rarity, you will continue to create rarity,” and thus if we release the focus on rarity, we can remember that all biota are equally worthy of our attention, and uplift the abundance that exists, taking an ecosystemic approach. The term “endangered” also sticks to the rhumb of a linear timeline, where, as we’ve come to understand, time is non-linear, polytemporal, intersecting, diverging, weaving, and cyclical. How do we convert conservation to a polytemporal time scale?
It can be difficult to know where to begin in the expanse of abstraction. Some mycological societies embrace traditional conservation practices with place-based preservation to make change within reach, while others, like Exploring the Mycoverse, continue to learn and question and play with language to help shift ideologies of the global paradigm with future generations in mind. Each approach can be beneficial and are equal forms of turning ideas into actions. Most folx join mycological societies because they want to be in community and experience joy with others, not really because they want to be a walking Rolodex of scientific fungal ID cards. This is a form of self-care, which is also a form of ecosystem-care, which is another way of saying we are taking an ecopsychology approach. We are acting, we are considering, we are absorbing, we are playing, and we are being, together. We are the “critical yeast” of a global uprising and the hyphal strands of reconnection to the unseen, with every step on teeming soil.
Acknowledgments, References, & Resources
Thank you to all of the holobionts who participated in the discussion on 11/27/23, whose words are entangled herein.
Conservation of Abundance: How Fungi Can Contribute to Rethinking Conservation (2023)
Recognition of the discipline of conservation mycology (2018)
NatGeo: Fungi are key to our Survival. Are we doing enough to protect them? (2021)
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimerer
Taking a Long View of Time, and Becoming “Critical Yeast” - On Being with Krista Tippett
Myconaut Mushroom Links
Bioneers 2024 in Berkley with Merlin Sheldrake, Suzanne Simmard, and many more! You can use my discount code (AARON7248). See you there! Thanks to Huan for bringing this to our attention.
Merlin Sheldrake and Sophie Strand met again last month with yet another enlightening discussion – “I think of magic as the art of connection” - Merlin
Smushi Come Home! A recently released video game with a hint of mycological education (Steam and Switch). Thanks to Janneke for this recommendation.
Looking sporeward,
Aaron