Heroes of Pachamama
Paul Stemets

One of my PanchaMama heroes is Paul Stamets, for his work with the mushroom healers.  Through his passion and dedication to helping preserve and protect our sacred ancient forests and the mycelium that are vital to our planet’s health and balance, he has brought mycelium up from the underworld and into the light, to be recognized as the incredible healers that they are.

Through his studies, he’s come to understand the mission of mycelium….that they are here to help “save the world” in a sense.  He is pioneering and inspiring the use of mycelium for many of the problems we face today…including “mycoremediation” (cleaning up polluted environments), “mycofiltration” (silting chemicals from water), the breaking down of nerve gases, heavy metals and even chemical weapons….and even using mycelium to replace plastics and styrofoam!

To me, Paul is a voice, defender and partner of PanchaMama, listening to the healing power of Nature and sharing this wisdom with the people, showing how we can work with Nature instead of against Nature to help restore balance and harmony.

“The time to act is now. Waiting for science and society to wake up to the importance of these ancient Old Growth fungi is perilously slow and narrow in vision. The meager attempts thus far may be too little, too late. Unless we collectively pool our resources, the mushroom genome will become increasingly threatened, and therefore, our very existence may be at stake. The loss of these keystone organisms should be an ecological call-to-arms for all concerned about our children’s future and the future of this planet.”  -Paul Stamets