Art by Shanhuan Manton back in 2023 for the SoCal Funga Project. I love that document is signed in a spore print! Also love that Robin Wall Kimmerer just started a campaign to declare your INTERdependence.
This week marks a momentous occasion where “funga” is now a word in the dictionary. Big congratulations to Giuliana Furci and the Fungi Foundation for making this happen, coining this helpful term in effort to incorporate fungi into our everyday life and conservation frameworks.
I have been a big advocate of this term ever since I heard Giuliana introduce me to the concept at the Telluride Mushroom Festival at the beginning of my career with fungi. It gave language to fungi as relational beings tied to place and time and put them on equal footing with fauna and flora. Since then, you may have seen me sporting a playfully fluorescent orange FUNGA cap made by Riitta Ikonen to popularize and normalize the term. I also founded a regional conservation initiative the SoCal Funga Project utilizing iNaturalist and community engagement to illustrate the overlooked abundance of fungal diversity in Southern California.
Image by Giuliana Furci
I wore my first hat so much that I had to reach out to Riita to get another.
The SoCal Funga Project founded in 2022 (1) supports community science research, (2) fungal awareness educational public programming, and (3) public advocacy to incorporate fungi into conservation frameworks locally. Poster by Miranda Van Iderstine, Shanhuan Manton, and Aaron Tupac.
Meeting the Mushrooms of Los Angeles publication update! Unfortunately, my publisher shared with me this month they’re needing extra time to finish putting my book together and the publication date will be moved from November 2026 to January of 2027. Looking forward to using the time to expand my book tour and further develop the companion class that will teach the book + lessons from Exploring the Mycoverse. I’m appreciating the continued help and support navigating the challenging current job market. Thank you for sending me job boards, opportunities, and connecting me with potential future employers! Keep on sending them along!
Friday, July 24th, 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm $10 – $40
I’ll be teaching a workshop on Mushrooms and Mythology. Exploring our ancient human relationships with fungi through stories of folklore, science, and art. Here’s more info from Descanso:
Descanso After Dark: Nature’s Magic invites you into a night of wonder and whimsy inspired by the hidden magic of the natural world. From earth-based folklore to the secret lives of plants, explore the mysteries that surround us every day and lean into the wonder of Descanso.
Wander the grounds at your own pace, discovering performances and activities that unfold throughout the evening.
Monday, July 27th, 6pm, free by donation
(Note we’re trying something different, we’re meeting earlier at 6pm!)
Come along in Exploring the Mycoverse as we explore how the recent research about the consciousness of natural world is connected to the future of conservation. Michael Pollan’s new book sets the stage for the high stakes of who we consider to be conscious deserves legal rights and protections. Along with the rise of AI technologies and their trillion dollar industry, comes the claims for legal for protection and rights – arguments centered around consciousness.
Plant and fungal consciousness is an emerging field that is growing rapidly where there are now conferences and books dedicated to this subject such as the book we will be discussing the future once the free-open access version is released: Thinking with Plants & Fungi
We will be discussing the book in its entirety. If you don’t get a chance to read the book, we invite you to please watch Michael Pollan’s talk about A World Appears he gave at this year’s Bioneers conference, a conference centered on building better relationship with the natural world.
You can now preorder my book Meeting the Mushrooms of Los Angeles: Curiosity, Queerness, and How to Love a Fungus via my website or wherever you buy books! If you purchase through my website you directly support me and my work. I am offering signed and personalized inscriptions (fun for gifts!) through my website. I am so excited for you to read it. From the publisher:
Looking sporeward,
Aaron
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