In an experiment, a plot of soil contaminated with diesel oil was inoculated with mycelia of oyster mushrooms. At the same time, other plots were treated using chemical remediation techniques, bacteriological techniques and a control plot was left untreated.  After four weeks, more than 95% of many of the PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) had been reduced to non-toxic components in the mycelial-inoculated plots. The other plots remained virtually unchanged.

It appears that the natural microbial community works with fungi to break down contaminants into some of life’s basic building blocks, carbon dioxide and water. Wood-degrading fungi are particularly good at breaking down aromatic pollutants like those in petroleum and chlorinated compounds like those in persistent pesticides.

Paul Stamets tells his own story.

Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets