The fungi holding the world together (and other July wonders)
- Juno
- 13 hours ago
- 2 min read
It’s early July, glow-worms are lighting up the hedgerows and chalk grasslands after dark, swifts with this year's fledglings are performing their last displays before leaving for Africa, and the underground world of fungi has just made headlines for holding the planet together at a scale nobody had previously even guessed at.
News
Scientists working with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks have published the first - and frankly astonishing - global map of the planet’s arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks, the threadlike webs that link plant roots underground and trade nutrients for sugars, meaning that co-operation across and between species is far, far more common than competition.
Laid end to end, the fungal filaments that have been mapped so far would span roughly a tenth of the Milky Way (!!!), and the whole network is estimated to hold more carbon than all the world’s wild mammals combined. It is a striking reminder that the relationship between plants and fungi is not incidental scenery but one of the load-bearing partnerships that keeps terrestrial life running, mostly out of sight and almost entirely underappreciated. We are so much more connected than we imagine.
Glow-worm watching UK
We’re right in the peak season for glow-worms across much of England and Wales, and with the moon now very early in its first quarter and a warm, dry spell ahead (just as they like it for attracting mates), this week is a good one for an evening wander somewhere with rough, unmown grassland such as a chalk bank or old meadow edge.
Head out after 10pm at night, once it is dark, and resist the urge to use a torch so your eyes can adjust. Look low, close to the ground among the grass stems, for the faint greenish glow of females signalling to passing males. It costs nothing, needs no kit beyond patience, and finding them is so magical.
Plastic-Free Home Swap
If you’re looking to replace plastic bottles of detergent and cleaning spray, a refill system is one of the easiest swaps to make and stick with. You buy one sturdy bottle, then top it up with concentrated refill pouches or tablets that use a fraction of the plastic and postage of a standard supermarket bottle, and most services will take the empty pouches back to be reused. It suits a busy household well because it runs on autopilot once it is set up, arriving by post on whatever schedule you choose.
Where to find it: If you’re near me in Northumberland, RE in Corbridge stocks the wonderful locally-made herb scented Heart of the Home Eco Cleaner (www.re-foundobjects.com/product/view/heart-of-the-home-eco-cleaner?cat=14) - choose between three fragrantly summery, herby concentrates to add to a large spray bottle and top up with water (spearmint and rosemary; lavender, sage and rose geranium; eucalyptus, lemongrass and marjoram). The original mini bottle can be recycled. But many great local wholefoods shops have refill schemes - you're bound to find one near you. Alternatively, Smol (smolproducts.com), Bower Collective (bowercollective.com), and Splosh (splosh.com), are all independent UK refill brands worth trying directly, and for anyone who would rather pick one up alongside the weekly shop, Ocado (ocado.com) and Waitrose (waitrose.com) also now stock several of these ranges.
Happy July, everyone!
Juno
