Fantastic Fungi

12/14/19 • 48 min

Sustainable World Radio- Ecology and Permaculture Podcast

Episode 152: Famed cinematographer Louie Schwartzberg talks about his new film Fantastic Fungi that highlights the fascinating and often hidden world of the fungi beneath our feet.

Renowned for his time lapse work with flowers, Louie has now turned his lens toward the fungal kingdom with astonishing and beautiful results. In this episode, we do a deep dive into Fungi and the many solutions that they offer us at this critical time, including:

Carbon sequestration: Fungi are a climate change solution.
Mycoremediation: Fungi are the grand decomposers of nature and can be used to clean up environmental toxins, including oil spills.
Health: Medicinal mushrooms support our health and boost our immunity.
Water filtration: Fungi can clean contaminated water.
Therapy: Psilocybin mushrooms are being used therapeutically and mindfully to for consciousness raising.
Example of Sharing Economy: Fungi are a model and metaphor of a successful sharing economy, based on cooperation, that allows ecosystems to flourish.

Louie also talks about what he's learned from his forty years of filming flowers, how pollination is the love story that feeds the earth, and why it's time to change our narrative about nature- from survival and competition to partnership, cooperation, and interconnectedness.

Louie Schwartzberg is a voice for nature, plants, animals, and now fungi. An award winning cinematographer, director, and producer, Louie is the only filmmaker to be inducted into the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A visual artist who tells stories that celebrate life and reveal the mysteries and wisdom of nature, Louie Schwartzberg is a true environmental advocate.

Learn about Louie's new film Fantastic Fungi at FantasticFungi.com and look for a showing near you here.

Visit Louie's website at MovingArt.com.

Episode 152: Famed cinematographer Louie Schwartzberg talks about his new film Fantastic Fungi that highlights the fascinating and often hidden world of the fungi beneath our feet.

Carbon sequestration: Fungi are a climate change solution.
Mycoremediation: Fungi are the grand decomposers of nature and can be used to clean up environmental toxins, including oil spills.
Health: Medicinal mushrooms support our health and boost our immunity.
Water filtration: Fungi can clean contaminated water.
Therapy: Psilocybin mushrooms are being used therapeutically and mindfully to for consciousness raising.
Example of Sharing Economy: Fungi are a model and metaphor of a successful sharing economy, based on cooperation, that allows ecosystems to flourish.

Learn about Louie's new film Fantastic Fungi at FantasticFungi.com and look for a showing near you here.

Visit Louie's website at MovingArt.com.

Previous Episode

Healing Earth: A Diversity of Solutions

Episode 151: What if we could heal broken ecosystems, toxic landscapes, and poisoned water?

My guest today is Dr. John Todd, ecological designer and author of the new book, Healing Earth- An Ecologist's Journey of Innovation and Environmental Stewardship.

John Todd boldly travels to places that others try to avoid: toxic waste sites, oil spills, leaking landfills, and damaged waterways. Using the tools of nature to remediate these areas, John and his colleagues do good things in bad places.

An expert in the design and construction of wastewater treatment systems, Eco-Machines, and living technologies, John's projects pair ecological knowledge with biological allies, like bacteria, fungi, and plants.

An internationally renowned inventor and visionary, John's new book offers us a map of how to heal the Earth's damaged places, and in so doing, find the great work of our time.

Learn more from John at ToddEcological.com and OceanArksInt.org.

Next Episode

Gardening the Permaculture Way: How to Create an Abundant Perennial Garden

Episode 153: Put down that shovel and start a no-till perennial garden! In this fun and informative interview, Permaculture Designer and Teacher Morag Gamble shares her tips about how to create an abundant and thriving organic oasis.

Morag's garden in Queensland, Australia has more than 200 plants. In this episode she shares some of her favorites with us including Sweet Potato and Pumpkin. Did you know that you can eat the leaves of both?

We focus on soil health and how to build fertility through feeding the soil, why multifunctional perennial plants are a good choice for any garden, how to grow living mulches, and why it's important to eat root to shoot.

We delve into Morag's in situ composting methods that enliven the soil onsite and learn how to brew Comfrey Tea that is beneficial for plants and a potent soil activator. We also talk about what makes plants "Permaculture plants" and why they are good bets for your new or existing garden.

Working with the principles found in nature, you can start and maintain a beautiful and healthy organic garden that benefits not only you and your family, but also the wildlife in your yard.

More about Morag: Morag Gamble is the founding director of the Permaculture Education Institute. You can watch her videos online at her YouTube Channel and read her articles at Our Permaculture Life.

Morag offers many courses, including a Permaculture Gardening Course called The Incredible Edible Garden.

Morag lives at Crystal Waters. You can learn more about this award-winning eco village here.

Note: Our interview was recorded before the devastating fires in Australia. I spoke with Morag recently about the fires and will be posting that conversation as an episode soon. Until then, here's a link to the Ethos Foundation that will support communities in need, by offering free permaculture education once the fires settle. Through the program, participants will work on connecting with their community, creating collective projects like community gardens and focus on regenerating and rebuilding – creating resilient food gardens and wildlife gardens, creating bushfire-safe landscapes and homes with a permaculture design approach. They will also activate teams to help build gardens where needed – permablitz in bushfire communities.