Paul Stamets
Encyclopedia
Mycology
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans as a source for tinder, medicinals , food and entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, and advocate of bioremediation
Bioremediation
Bioremediation is the use of microorganism metabolism to remove pollutants. Technologies can be generally classified as in situ or ex situ. In situ bioremediation involves treating the contaminated material at the site, while ex situ involves the removal of the contaminated material to be treated...
and medicinal mushrooms
Medicinal mushrooms
Medicinal mushrooms are mushrooms, or mushroom extracts, that are used or studied as possible treatments for diseases. Lentinula edodes , Grifola frondosa , Ganoderma lucidum , and Cordyceps, have a history of medicinal use spanning millennia in parts of Asia...
.
Research and advocacy
Stamets is on the editorial board of The International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, and is an advisor to the Program for Integrative Medicine at the University of ArizonaUniversity of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
Medical School, Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
. He is active in researching the medicinal properties of mushrooms, and is involved in two NIH
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
-funded clinical studies on cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
and HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
treatments using mushrooms as adjunct therapies. Having filed numerous patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s on the antiviral
Antiviral drug
Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used specifically for treating viral infections. Like antibiotics for bacteria, specific antivirals are used for specific viruses...
, pesticidal
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
, and remediative
Bioremediation
Bioremediation is the use of microorganism metabolism to remove pollutants. Technologies can be generally classified as in situ or ex situ. In situ bioremediation involves treating the contaminated material at the site, while ex situ involves the removal of the contaminated material to be treated...
properties of mushroom mycelia, his work has been called pioneering and visionary. A strong advocate of preserving biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
, Stamets supports research into the role of mushrooms for ecological restoration
Restoration ecology
-Definition:Restoration ecology is the scientific study and practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action, within a short time frame...
.
The author of numerous books and papers on the subject of mushroom identification and cultivation, Stamets has discovered four new species of mushrooms. He is an advocate of the permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
system of growing, and considers fungiculture
Fungiculture
Fungiculture is the process of producing food, medicine, and other products by the cultivation of mushrooms and other fungi.The word is also commonly used to refer to the practice of cultivating fungi by leafcutter ants, termites, ambrosia beetles, and marsh periwinkles.- Introduction :Mushrooms...
a valuable but underutilized aspect of permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
. He is also a leading researcher into the use of mushrooms in bioremediation
Bioremediation
Bioremediation is the use of microorganism metabolism to remove pollutants. Technologies can be generally classified as in situ or ex situ. In situ bioremediation involves treating the contaminated material at the site, while ex situ involves the removal of the contaminated material to be treated...
, processes he terms mycoremediation
Mycoremediation
Mycoremediation, a phrase coined by Paul Stamets, is a form of bioremediation, the process of using fungi to degrade or sequester contaminants in the environment. Stimulating microbial and enzyme activity, mycelium reduces toxins in-situ...
and mycofiltration
Mycofiltration
Mycofiltration is the process of using mushroom mycelium mats as biological filters. The term was coined by mycologist Paul Stamets.Stamets originally came up with the technique to control E. coli in the water outflow from his property. After planting a mushroom bed in the gulch where the water was...
.
Stamets was the recipient of the "Bioneers Award" from The Collective Heritage Institute in 1998, as well as the "Founder of a New Northwest Award" from the Pacific Rim Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils in 1999. He was also named one of Utne Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World" in their November–December 2008 issue. In February 2010, Paul received the President's Award from the Society for Ecological Restoration: Northwest Chapter, in recognition of his contributions to Ecological Restoration. His work was featured in the documentary film The 11th Hour
The 11th Hour (film)
The 11th Hour is a 2007 documentary film, created, produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, on the state of the natural environment. It was directed by Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners and financed by Adam Lewis and Pierre André Senizergues, and distributed by Warner Independent...
. He has also been featured in the eco-documentary films Dirt (film) and 2012, Time for a Change (film).
In 2008, he delivered a TED talk
TED (conference)
TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
: "Paul Stamets on 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World", which has been well reviewed.
Personal life
Stamets runs Fungi Perfecti, a family-owned company that sells mushroom cultivation kits and supplies. Stamets has two children, Azureus and LaDena Stamets, and is married to C. "Dusty" Wu Yao. Paul Stamets is an accomplished martial arts athlete, holding a black belt in TaekwondoTaekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
(1979), and also in Hwa Rang Do
Hwa Rang Do
Hwa Rang Do is a Korean martial art that was created by Dr. Joo Bang Lee and his brother Joo Sang Lee. This martial art teaches fighting techniques, weapons, spiritual training, intellectual enhancement, and artistic pursuits. It has a very evolved technical structure.-History:The name Hwa Rang Do...
(1994).
Books
- Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the WorldMycelium RunningMycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World is a 2005 book by Paul Stamets. The book explores the use and applications of fungi in bioremediation . Stamets details methods of termite and ant control using nontoxic mushroom mycelia and elaborates on fungi that may be able to neutralize...
(2005, ISBN 1-58008-579-2) - MycoMedicinals: An Informational Treatise on Mushrooms (1999, ISBN 0-9637971-9-0)
- Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World (1996, ISBN 0-89815-839-7)
- Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms (1996, ISBN 1-58008-175-4)
- Mushroom Cultivator, The (1983, ISBN 0-9610798-0-0)
- Psilocybe Mushrooms & Their Allies (1978), Homestead Book Company, ISBN 0-930180-03-8)
External links
- Stamets's Bio at Fungi Perfecti
- Stamets' TED talk, Stamets' Ted Talk from Mar 2008.