A powerful and underappreciated ally in the climate crisis? Fungi | Toby Kiers and Merlin Sheldrake

Mycorrhizal fungal networks are a major global carbon sink. When we destroy them, we sabotage our efforts to limit global heating

If we want to tackle the climate crisis, we need to address a global blindspot: the vast underground fungal networks that sequester carbon and sustain much of life on Earth.

Fungi are largely invisible ecosystem engineers. Most live as branching, fusing networks of tubular cells known as mycelium. Globally, the total length of fungal mycelium in the top 10cm of soil is more than 450 quadrillion km: about half the width of our galaxy. These symbiotic networks comprise an ancient life-support system that easily qualifies as one of the wonders of the living world.

Toby Kiers is professor of evolutionary biology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and co-founder of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (Spun)

Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist and the author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures