Using Mushrooms to Clean Hunters Point?
Bayview-Hunters Point were targets of radioactive pollution and the US Navy still hasn’t cleaned their mess up. Could mushrooms and fungi help?
Why It’s STILL Toxic
Bayview-Hunters Point is, first and foremost, a strong community built brick by brick by people who are often overlooked or mischaracterized. Some of the coolest art and best food can be found in the Bayview.
But it’s also got a big problem: radioactive waste and other toxins dumped by the US Navy have sat for decades without remediation. Not only that, but there was a lot of industrial waste and trash dumping. Parts of the neighborhood were declared a superfund site in 1986.
Environmental Racism
Not only is there a huge mess, but the very same people hired to clean it falsified their data. And what’s worse is that even though the scandal was uncovered in 2012, the public wasn’t told until 2014. Whatever you think happened in Hunters Point, it was worse. And there’s no way of knowing how bad it is because the majority of samples were never even tested.
How to Clean a Toxic Mess
There are several ways that Bayview-Hunters Point toxic sites can be cleaned. One popular method is excavation. That is expensive, heavy work – and there’s no money or political willpower.
In fact, the EPA plans to let the Navy practically walk away from the problem without ever properly addressing the toxicity. Even though the rates of cancer, asthma, reproductive issues, and other health problems are far higher in the areas directly corresponding to toxic sites. Even though rising water and climate change are going to bring this problem to the knees of the City (or bring the City to its knees, whichever comes first).
Another way to clean up toxicity is through friends like mushrooms, plants, and fungi. Mushrooms don’t even have to be growing! Scientists have found that using mushroom compost, a byproduct of the mushroom industry, can be effective in removing certain pollutants like diesel.
Bioremediation: A Potential Solution
Six months ago, the news rippled through the airwaves: Fungus was using melanin (yes, the same melanin that makes skin have color) to absorb radiation in Chernobyl. Melanin protects people from harmful UV radiation, but in this case scientists found that melanin was doing more than shielding: it’s “[facilitating] energy production by converting gamma radiation into chemical energy.”
The tantalizing discovery suggests that, with further research and appropriate levels of funding from the government, humanity might be able to develop a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to clean up radioactive and toxic sites.
Science At Risk in SF
Bioremediation is an exciting field full of promise, but the best science happens without added strain of jumping through DOGE hoops and fighting at the local level for funding. The more that mediocre moderates and shills for the right wing fascists at the helm allow to be gutted from scientists, the less of a chance we’ll ever see this amount to anything on a widespread scale.
However, we have good news. Despite billionaires at the top continuing to defund science and make both nonprofit and government research harder, folks here in San Francisco are finding a way to plant seeds (and spores) for the future.
Mission Science Workshop Making Strides
Bart Evans, Programs Manager and Science Instructor at Mission Science Workshop, says, “We worked the past year or so with Bay Area Applied Mycology (BAAM) to develop a kid-friendly oyster mushroom terrarium project. We have since done it with thousands of students and adults all over San Francisco!” Mission Science focuses heavily on the greater Mission, Excelsior and Bayview neighborhoods, and southeast part of SF. According to Evans, “In those areas there are concentrations of “brownfields” so we are excited to work with students around creative environmental solutions.”
There’s also active research in neighboring cities like LA, but it could take years to get the breakthroughs we need to solve the toxicity problems in the Bay Area. That’s why it’s so exciting that Mission Science Workshop is offering educational programming. After all, what’s the point of the research if the next generation isn’t trained and eager to jump in when the boomers and billionaires finally die off?
Hope for the Future
“This is something hands on and immediate that students can do right now to start to learn about this approach to environmental cleanup,” Evans says.
Not only does MSW help get kids to learn about science; they give them hope. Evans says, “We teach a class about microplastic pollution that involves building an ocean model, adding plastic contaminates and modeling where they accumulate at different salinity and density. It can be a little depressing, but for example this article gives us something hopeful we can share with students.”
MSW is empowering students to take science into their own hands. One example is the workshop they provided at Charles Drew Elementary this year. Students got to try lead testing in soils, and then they learned about how that can be “cleaned up” by using fungi. Evans says, “We are still new to all of this and learning a lot, but we are happy to give students the tools to discover this stuff for themselves!”
People can drop by and check everything out at MSW’s free open Saturday programs, 10am-3pm, 5/17 Excelsior, 6/7 Bayview, 6/14 Mission, and 6/21 Excelsior. Find out more at their website: https://www.missionscienceworkshop.org/
Howdy! My name is Katy Atchison and I'm an Associate Editor for Broke-Ass Stuart.
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