|
Mushrooms Meet Brownfields - PERC Reports Dec 2006
|
December 2006 Volume
24 | Number 4
Mushrooms Meet Brownfields
A Market for Fungal Remediation
By Sam Nugent
When people
learn that I am an environmental entrepreneur building a business
with mushrooms, it is oft en assumed that it has to do with the
commercial-gourmet mushroom industry. That is, of course, after
a fleeting notion is entertained about the counterculture variety.
But I use the
term "mushroom" loosely in my business. While in the minds
of most people, the word mushroom conjures the concept of edibles—the
canned button variety commonly found on pizzas, or the various portabellas,
chantarelles, and oysters that have become popular on the produce
shelves of supermarkets—mushrooms are actually a form of fungi
that play an important role in the environment by decomposing organic
matter in the soil.
As the study
of fungi is known as mycology, the economic use of them is what
I refer to as myco-economics. My partners and I formed The Remediators
Inc. to develop a market for using fungi to clean up contaminated
soils. By enhancing soil conditions and providing adequate biomass,
we then can reintroduce naturally occurring organisms to create
an environment which rejuvenates the soil and disintegrates chemical
compounds. Enhanced growing conditions provide a vigorous colonization
of the soil, breaking down toxic elements into beneficial soil components
and returning the soil to a healthy state.
In 2000, the
U.S. Conference of Mayors reviewed 231 cities and estimated that
nearly 21,000 known contaminated brownfields—abandoned or underused
industrial or commercial properties where redevelopment is complicated
by actual or perceived environmental contamination—are paralyzing
more than 81,000 acres of once valued land parcels. If redeveloped
to their full potential, the study estimated the cities would realize
cumulative gains, in tax revenues alone, of $878 million (U.S. Conference
of Mayors 2000). On a national level, a U.S. Senate report from
the same year identified more than 45,000 brownfield locations in
the entire country (U.S. Senate 2001).
Read
full article here
Visit http://www.perc.org
|
