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How to Harness the Ancient Partnership between Forests and Fungi | Colin Averill | TED

If we want to better understand the environment and combat climate change, we need to look deep underground, where diverse microscopic fungal networks mingle with tree roots to form symbiotic partnerships, says microbiologist Colin Averill. As we learn more about which of these fungi are most beneficial to forest health, we can reintroduce them into…

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If we want to better understand the environment and combat climate change, we need to look deep underground, where diverse microscopic fungal networks mingle with tree roots to form symbiotic partnerships, says microbiologist Colin Averill. As we learn more about which of these fungi are most beneficial to forest health, we can reintroduce them into the soil — potentially enhancing the growth and resilience of carbon-trapping trees and plants. Hear more about the emerging science aiming to supercharge forest ecosystems, one handful of soil at a time.

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33 Comments

33 Comments

  1. Namulema Zulaika

    January 24, 2023 at 12:07 pm

    Tip: be kind to everyone. We are all trying to put food on the table.whether you are a CEO or a cleaner.

    • eemoogee

      January 24, 2023 at 12:33 pm

      You don’t get to become CEO by being kind and being kind probably won’t lead a cleaner to challenging a system rigged against her. Otherwise, I agree with your general premise 100%!

    • Chris Menezes

      January 24, 2023 at 4:31 pm

      @eemoogee which company are you the CEO of?

  2. Adrian Alexandru

    January 24, 2023 at 12:11 pm

    you are only a poor mortal .

  3. Tanweer

    January 24, 2023 at 12:14 pm

    Nice speech 💯💯💯💯💯

  4. Doc Equis

    January 24, 2023 at 12:30 pm

    I saw this movie already… it was called Avatar…. keep up the good research… we are rooting for you. (Couldn’t resist). My impression is that reforestation can be done to repair damage to our environment. My hope is that resource exploiters will realize the benefits of reforestation and maybe climate disaster hysterics will stop their oppressive nonsense that the earth will be uninhabitable in 10 years.

  5. Polruss Tomakriss

    January 24, 2023 at 12:33 pm

    The last of us

  6. Paul Schaefer

    January 24, 2023 at 12:45 pm

    What if, Instead of planting the trees with a handful of the special soil, why not start the seeds in that soil so that the tree grows with them from a seed?

  7. Odrik Ronnin-GAMER

    January 24, 2023 at 1:05 pm

    Oh cool, now I can’t Unlisten to the corticep clicks in the background…

  8. Andy Cordy

    January 24, 2023 at 2:05 pm

    Explosive.! Thank you. The sooner this new knowledge is rolled out, the better. Itoo am in Wales and have, in a very modest way, begun rewilding a small portion of non productive farm land at the junction of field margins. After generations of crop spraying and farming monoculture, I am trying to diversify, with some considerable success overground but I have encountered difficulties with tree planting that is rightly explained by this video. Most of my trees are transplanted local seedlings but some are introduced saplings of native species. Those coming ‘bare rooted’ from tree suppliers are identifiably weaker than those transported with local soil.
    I’m wondering what I can do from above ground to help in the growth of beneficial underground species killed off by a century of pesticides, herbicides and grazing grasses.

  9. Stephen Catton

    January 24, 2023 at 2:07 pm

    Really interesting. So glad that there is a TED talk that is actually about science instead of narcissistic self serving preaching. There are quite a few TED videos about Fungi and mushrooms… also very interesting.

  10. XMckingwillX

    January 24, 2023 at 2:14 pm

    This releasing cant simply be coincidnce with the release of The Last of US lol

    ( i know its fiction)

  11. Md Rafiqul

    January 24, 2023 at 2:28 pm

    😀😀😀

  12. Marília Giannini

    January 24, 2023 at 2:31 pm

    The great ecological problem is the huge amount of people around the world. Too much consumers of food, water, air, in a democratic way without any hypocrisy.

  13. Balancing Stars n’ Cards Tarot

    January 24, 2023 at 3:01 pm

    This is compelling information that needs to happen in action all over the world if we are gonna save the one place we all call home.🌱

  14. Debbie Baker

    January 24, 2023 at 4:04 pm

    I LIKE IT!

  15. Niklas Baack

    January 24, 2023 at 4:05 pm

    This was a really informativ Ted talk. I learned a lot from it. Thanks for uploading.

  16. Riçe Experiment

    January 24, 2023 at 6:03 pm

    Love this!

  17. Connor Hawley

    January 24, 2023 at 7:51 pm

    The only disappointment in this talk is that he didn’t use his chance to say the word “Ectomycorrhiza” (the fancy word for what this talk is about)

  18. Christopher Reynolds

    January 24, 2023 at 8:40 pm

    Not my thing but, cool

  19. Reina Tycoon

    January 24, 2023 at 9:48 pm

    This is so fascinating. I had no idea there were symbiotic bacterium and fungi in soil and bound to plant roots. I love how this brilliant man and his team discovered this and are doing good with their knowledge. I imagine once they grow enough of these efficient biomes in soil and implement it into agriculture and forests it will solve crop issues and climate pollution. This is soo amazing it gave me goosebumps. Also, my goodness Colin is such a well spoken and excellent public speaker. Keep up the awesome important work you all!

  20. Jesse Yules Film

    January 24, 2023 at 10:47 pm

    The take away from this should be “forests are more complex than we thought. We should protect them better because they are not easily reproduced.”

  21. Jesse Yules

    January 24, 2023 at 10:47 pm

    The take away from this should be “forests are more complex than we thought. We should protect them better because they are not easily reproduced.”

  22. MoveOn

    January 24, 2023 at 11:32 pm

    He’s cute af

  23. Brian McInnis

    January 25, 2023 at 12:48 am

    There’s no ‘between’. Fungi are an ingredient of forests.

  24. Guide Mathematics [Mathematics]

    January 25, 2023 at 1:21 am

    Thanks 🥰

  25. Guide Mathematics [Mathematics]

    January 25, 2023 at 1:21 am

    Hello

  26. WGUTR

    January 25, 2023 at 2:20 am

    Great talk! Thank you! This is another way people can make a real difference.

    Veganism is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce our environmental impact,University of Oxford study finds

    It’s genuinely amazing how many truly brilliant peoples’ minds fry when the “V”word gets mentioned and
    they turn into the most logically inconsistent and rationally dishonest folk, and they end up providing
    “really problematic takes”! Please don’t be those people!

    In regards to what people can do as individuals when it comes to climate change. Of course it is no silver
    bullet and won’t solve the problem by itself, but would go a long way to helping.

    Lead author Joseph Poore said: “A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact
    on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water
    use.”

    The article was in the Independent: Veganism is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce our environmental impact,
    study finds.

    And the original study was in Science :Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and
    consumers.

    Again, you are all probably well aware of this website as a good source of reliable information.

    The website “Our world in data” is used as a teaching resource at Harvard, Oxford, MIT and other
    esteemed universities has a huge amount of information on the impacts of food choices on the
    environment, well worth checking out.

    There is also an article in Nat geo “How beef eaters in cities are draining rivers in the American West”
    which is particularly pertinent to this.

    Making the change to Veganism also allows an individual to live the most morally and ethically consistent
    life possible in our current system. By this I mean simply that the majority of the population considers
    themselves animal lovers and the vegan ethos aligns with the least amount of animal rights violations
    and cruelty possible at the moment.

    There is now no and in fact hasn’t been for some time any contention over the viability of the vegan diet,
    for all stages of life. If you search online for “American academy of nutrition and dietetics ” vegan and
    that will clarify the scientific consensus. They are, as I understand it, the biggest nutrition and dietetics
    organisation in the world, and their position is backed up by the corresponding organisation in the UK
    and elsewhere.

    For most people with animal companions in your lives, you are very aware of them as individuals, with
    likes and dislikes and distinctive personalities. Is it any stretch at all to understand that the 70 to 80
    Billion land animals and 3 Trillion fish that are slaughtered each year all possess, maybe some to a
    lesser degree, the same level of consciousness, individuality and the will and desire to live?Pigs, for
    example, are widely recognised as being at least as smart as three to five year old human children, and,
    on the scale as we understand it more intellectually and emotionally adept than dogs.

    Please just ask yourself this question. What IS the morally relevant difference between those beings we
    breed for food and those we breed for companionship?

    And for that matter the difference between “them”(the others) and us, same answer, none.

    I highly recommend you check out Ed Winters ted talk: Every argument against Veganism and if you
    haven’t seen it, the film “Dominion 2018”, which is on YT, is a must watch for anyone who consumes
    animal products and supports other industries that exploit animals.

  27. Aradhya

    January 25, 2023 at 5:45 am

    Excellent

  28. Charlotte Scott

    January 25, 2023 at 1:36 pm

    I love microbiome studies! Just so important. Thank you

  29. macnet83

    January 25, 2023 at 2:24 pm

    since watching the Last of Us I don’t want to be near fungi

  30. Brooks Hamilton

    January 26, 2023 at 5:54 am

    Great talk and perspective

  31. Cosmic Warrior Princess Harmony

    January 26, 2023 at 4:53 pm

    Extremely fragile agricultural ecosystems arewhat will lead to famine, food shortages and eventually death by hunger. I can already see it. In my own home. And it’s worrying.
    We need to rethink and re-evaluate the importance of the microsystems that support the larger ecosystem.

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