How Mushrooms Show Us Our Environment Isn't Binary

If we’re critically thinking about it - mushrooms have incredible properties and life saving attributes (umm, hello penicillin). Penicillin G was first made from a penicillium fungus that occurs in nature. Mushrooms show us that our environment is far from binary. Enter queer ecology: an emerging field that seeks to explore the connections between ecological issues and queer identities. At its core, queer ecology recognizes that the struggles for environmental justice and LGBTQ+ rights are not separate, but rather interconnected. By examining the relationships between nature, culture, and identity, queer ecology offers a new perspective on environmental issues and the ways in which they impact marginalized communities.  In this episode of Wild Virginia Virtual Coffee Talk, we discuss lawns, indigenous sciences, urban spaces overgrown nature taking over, The Last of Us, Abney Park in London, environmental racism, and how a lot of what we think looks good is actually really bad (for natural ecosystems and sustainability at large).