So, I'd like to spend a few minutes with you folks today imagining what our planet might look like in a thousand years. But before I do that, I need to talk to you about synthetic materials like plastics, which require huge amounts of energy to create and, because of their disposal issues, are slowly poisoning our planet. I also want to tell you and share with you how my team and I have been using mushrooms over the last three years. Not like that. (Laughter) We're using mushrooms to create an entirely new class of materials, which perform a lot like plastics during their use, but are made from crop waste and are totally compostable at the end of their lives.
Ljudi, volio bih danas s vama provesti nekoliko minuta zamišljajući kako bi naš planet mogao izgledati za tisuću godina. Ali prije nego što to učinim trebam s vama razgovarati o sintetičkim materijalima poput plastike, koji za proizvodnju zahtijevaju ogromnu količinu energije i koji, zbog problema oko njihova odlaganja, polagano truju naš planet. Također vam želim reći i podijeliti s vama kako smo moj tim i ja koristili gljive tijekom posljednje tri godine. Ne na taj način. (Smijeh) Koristimo gljive kako bismo stvorili potpuno novu vrstu materijala, koji se tijekom upotrebe ponašaju vrlo slično plastici, ali se rade od žetvenog otpada i potpuno su razgradivi na kraju svog životnog vijeka.
(Cheering)
(Odobravanje)
But first, I need to talk to you about what I consider one of the most egregious offenders in the disposable plastics category. This is a material you all know is Styrofoam, but I like to think of it as toxic white stuff. In a single cubic foot of this material -- about what would come around your computer or large television -- you have the same energy content of about a liter and a half of petrol. Yet, after just a few weeks of use, you'll throw this material in the trash. And this isn't just found in packaging. 20 billion dollars of this material is produced every year, in everything from building materials to surfboards to coffee cups to table tops. And that's not the only place it's found. The EPA estimates, in the United States, by volume, this material occupies 25 percent of our landfills. Even worse is when it finds its way into our natural environment -- on the side of the road or next to a river. If it's not picked up by a human, like me and you, it'll stay there for thousands and thousands of years. Perhaps even worse is when it finds its way into our oceans, like in the great plastic gyre, where these materials are being mechanically broken into smaller and smaller bits, but they're not really going away. They're not biologically compatible. They're basically fouling up Earth's respiratory and circulatory systems. And because these materials are so prolific, because they're found in so many places, there's one other place you'll find this material, styrene, which is made from benzene, a known carcinogen. You'll find it inside of you.
Ali najprije trebam s vama razgovarati o, po mom mišljenju, jednom od najistaknutijih prijestupnika u kategoriji plastike za jednokratnu upotrebu. To je materijal kojeg svi znate kao stiropor, ali ja ga volim smatrati otrovnom bijelom tvari. U jednoj jedinoj kubičnoj stopi tog materijala -- otprilike koliko bi išlo oko vašeg računala ili velikog televizora -- imate jednaku količinu energije kao i u oko litri i pol benzina. A ipak, nakon samo nekoliko tjedana upotrebe, bacit ćete taj materijal u smeće. A on se ne nalazi samo u ambalaži. Svake se godine proizvede 20 milijardi dolara tog materijala u svemu, od građevinskih materijala, daski za surfanje, šalica za kavu do površina stolova. A to nije jedino mjesto gdje se nalazi. Agencija za zaštitu okoliša (EPA) u Sjedinjenim Državama procjenjuje da volumenski taj materijal zauzima 25% naših odlagališta. Još je gore kada završi u našem prirodnom okolišu -- uz rub ceste ili pored rijeke. Ako ga ne pokupi čovjek, poput mene i vas, ostat će tamo tisućama i tisućama godina. Možda je još gore kada završi u našim oceanima, kao u velikom plastičnom vrtlogu, gdje se ti materijali mehanički razbijaju na sve manje i manje djeliće, ali zapravo ne nestaju. Nisu biološki kompatibilni. Oni u osnovi onečišćuju dišni i krvožilni sustav Zemlje. A, budući da su ti materijali toliko rašireni, budući da se nalaze na toliko mjesta, postoji još jedno mjesto gdje ćete pronaći taj materijal, stiren, koji se proizvodi od benzena, poznatog karcenogena. Naći ćete ga u sebi.
So, for all these reasons, I think we need better materials, and there are three key principles we can use to guide these materials. The first is feedstocks. Today, we use a single feedstock, petroleum, to heat our homes, power our cars and make most of the materials you see around you. We recognize this is a finite resource, and it's simply crazy to do this, to put a liter and a half of petrol in the trash every time you get a package. Second of all, we should really strive to use far less energy in creating these materials. I say far less, because 10 percent isn't going to cut it. We should be talking about half, a quarter, one-tenth the energy content. And lastly, and I think perhaps most importantly, we should be creating materials that fit into what I call nature's recycling system. This recycling system has been in place for the last billion years. I fit into it, you fit into it, and a hundred years tops, my body can return to the Earth with no preprocessing. Yet that packaging I got in the mail yesterday is going to last for thousands of years. This is crazy.
Zbog svih tih razloga mislim kako trebamo bolje materijale, a postoje tri ključna načela koja možemo koristiti u rukovanju tim materijalima. Prvo načelo su sirovine. Danas koristimo jednu jedinu sirovinu, naftu, za grijanje naših domova, pokretanje naših automobila i izradu većine materijala koje vidite oko sebe. Mi prepoznajemo da je to ograničeni izvor i da je jednostavno ludo to činiti, baciti litru i pol benzina u smeće svaki put kad nabavite nešto zapakirano. Kao drugo, stvarno bismo trebali nastojati koristiti daleko manje energije u proizvodnji tih materijala. Kažem daleko manje, jer 10% smanjenja nije dovoljno. Trebali bismo pričati o polovici, četvrtini, desetini količine energije. I zadnje, a mislim možda i najvažnije načelo, je da bismo trebali proizvoditi materijale koji se uklapaju u ono što ja zovem reciklirajući sustav prirode. Taj reciklirajući sustav je ovdje posljednjih milijardu godina. Ja se uklapam u njega, vi se uklapate u njega, i nakon najviše sto godina moje se tijelo može vratiti Zemlji bez prethodne obrade. A opet, ta ambalaža koju sam jučer dobio poštom trajat će tisućama godina. To je ludo.
But nature provides us with a really good model here. When a tree's done using its leaves -- its solar collectors, these amazing molecular photon capturing devices -- at the end of a season, it doesn't pack them up, take them to the leaf reprocessing center and have them melted down to form new leaves. It just drops them, the shortest distance possible, to the forest floor, where they're actually upcycled into next year's topsoil. And this gets us back to the mushrooms. Because in nature, mushrooms are the recycling system. And what we've discovered is, by using a part of the mushroom you've probably never seen -- analogous to its root structure; it's called mycelium -- we can actually grow materials with many of the same properties of conventional synthetics.
No, priroda nam ovdje pruža stvarno dobar primjer. Kada drvo završi s korištenjem svojeg lišća -- svojih solarnih kolektora, tih nevjerojatnih uređaja za hvatanje molekularnih fotona -- na kraju sezone, ono ga ne zapakira, ne odnese u centar za preradu lišća i ne topi da bi stvorilo novo lišće. Samo ga ispusti, na najmanju moguću udaljenost, na šumski pod, gdje se ono zapravo reciklira u gornji sloj tla sljedeće godine. A to nas vraća gljivama. Jer, u prirodi gljive su reciklirajući sustav. A ono što smo mi otkrili je da korištenjem dijela gljive koji vjerojatno nikada niste vidjeli -- analogno njenoj građi korijena; zove se micelij -- možemo zapravo uzgajati materijale s mnogim značajkama istim kao i kod konvencionalne sintetike.
Now, mycelium is an amazing material, because it's a self-assembling material. It actually takes things we would consider waste -- things like seed husks or woody biomass -- and can transform them into a chitinous polymer, which you can form into almost any shape. In our process, we basically use it as a glue. And by using mycelium as a glue, you can mold things just like you do in the plastic industry, and you can create materials with many different properties, materials that are insulating, fire-resistant, moisture-resistant, vapor-resistant -- materials that can absorb impacts, that can absorb acoustical impacts. But these materials are grown from agricultural byproducts, not petroleum. And because they're made of natural materials, they are 100 percent compostable in you own backyard.
Micelij je nevjerojatan materijal, zato što je to materijal koji se samo-sastavlja. On zapravo uzme stvari koje bismo smatrali otpadom -- stvari poput ljuski sjemenja ili drvene biomase -- i može ih pretvoriti u biopolimer hitin, kojeg možete formirati u skoro svaki oblik. U našem procesu u osnovi ga koristimo kao ljepilo. A koristeći micelij kao ljepilo možete modelirati stvari kao što to radite u industriji plastike i možete stvarati materijale s mnogim različitim svojstvima, materijale koji su izolacijski, vatrootporni, vodootporni, paronepropusni -- materijale koji mogu apsorbirati udarce, akustičke udarce. No, ovi materijali nastaju iz poljoprivrednih nusprodukata, a ne iz nafte. Budući da su od prirodnih materijala, 100% su razgradivi u vašem vlastitom dvorištu.
So I'd like to share with you the four basic steps required to make these materials. The first is selecting a feedstock, preferably something that's regional, that's in your area, right -- local manufacturing. The next is actually taking this feedstock and putting in a tool, physically filling an enclosure, a mold, in whatever shape you want to get. Then you actually grow the mycelium through these particles, and that's where the magic happens, because the organism is doing the work in this process, not the equipment. The final step is, of course, the product, whether it's a packaging material, a table top, or building block. Our vision is local manufacturing, like the local food movement, for production. So we've created formulations for all around the world using regional byproducts. If you're in China, you might use a rice husk or a cottonseed hull. If you're in Northern Europe or North America, you can use things like buckwheat husks or oat hulls. We then process these husks with some basic equipment.
Volio bih s vama podijeliti četiri osnovna koraka potrebna da bi se ti materijali proizveli. Prvi korak je izbor sirovine, po mogućnosti nešto što je regionalno, iz vašeg područja, naravno -- lokalne proizvodnje. Sljedeći korak je da stvarno uzmete tu sirovinu i stavite ju u spravu, fizički ispunjavajući kućište, kalup, u koji god oblik želite dobiti. Zatim zapravo uzgajate micelij pomoću tih čestica i tu se događa čarolija, jer posao u ovom procesu odrađuje organizam, a ne oprema. Zadnji korak je, naravno, proizvod, bilo da je to ambalažni materijal, površina stola ili građevinski blok. Naša vizija je lokalna proizvodnja poput pokreta za lokalnu proizvodnju hrane. Tako smo stvorili sustave za svuda po svijetu koristeći regionalne nusprodukte. Ako ste u Kini, mogli biste koristiti ljuskice riže ili ljuske sjemenja pamuka. Ako ste u Sjevernoj Europi ili Sjevernoj Americi, možete koristiti stvari poput heljdinih ili zobenih ljuskica. Zatim te ljuske obrađujemo pomoću iste osnovne opreme.
And I want to share with you a quick video from our facility that gives you a sense of how this looks at scale. So what you're seeing here is actually cotton hulls from Texas, in this case. It's a waste product. And what they're doing in our equipment is going through a continuous system, which cleans, cooks, cools and pasteurizes these materials, while also continuously inoculating them with our mycelium. This gives us a continuous stream of material that we can put into almost any shape, though today we're making corner blocks. And it's when this lid goes on the part, that the magic really starts. Because the manufacturing process is our organism. It'll actually begin to digest these wastes and, over the next five days, assemble them into biocomposites. Our entire facility is comprised of thousands and thousands and thousands of these tools sitting indoors in the dark, quietly self-assembling materials -- and everything from building materials to, in this case, a packaging corner block.
Želim s vama podijeliti kratak video iz našeg postrojenja koji će vam dati osjećaj kako to izgleda u pravoj veličini. Ovo što ovdje vidite u ovom slučaju su zapravo ljuskice pamuka iz Teksasa. To je otpadni materijal. A ono što on radi u našoj opremi je da prolazi kroz kontinuirani sustav, koji čisti, kuha, hladi i pasterizira te materijale, te ih istovremeno kalemi pomoću našeg micelija. To nam daje kontinuirani protok materijala koji možemo staviti u skoro svaki oblik, iako danas proizvodimo kutnike. A u trenutku kada se spusti ovaj poklopac počinje prava čarolija. Jer, proizvodni proces je naš organizam. On zapravo počinje probavljati taj otpad i, tijekom sljedećih pet dana, sastavlja ih u bio-smjese. Cijelo naše postrojenje se sastoji od tisuća i tisuća i tisuća tih alata, smještenih unutra u mraku, tihih samo-sastavljajućih materijala -- i sve od građevinskih materijala do, u ovom slučaju, ambalažnih kutnika.
So I've said a number of times that we grow materials. And it's kind of hard to picture how that happens. So my team has taken five days-worth of growth, a typical growth cycle for us, and condensed it into a 15-second time lapse. And I want you to really watch closely these little white dots on the screen, because, over the five-day period, what they do is extend out and through this material, using the energy that's contained in these seed husks to build this chitinous polymer matrix. This matrix self-assembles, growing through and around the particles, making millions and millions of tiny fibers. And what parts of the seed husk we don't digest, actually become part of the final, physical composite. So in front of your eyes, this part just self-assembled. It actually takes a little longer. It takes five days. But it's much faster than conventional farming.
Zato sam rekao nekoliko puta da mi uzgajamo materijale. Nekako je teško zamisliti kako se to događa. Zato je moj tim uzeo petodnevnu vrijednost uzgoja, tipičnog uzgojnog ciklusa za nas, i sažeo ju u vremenski interval od 15 sekundi. Htio bih da stvarno pažljivo gledate te sitne bijele točkice na ekranu, jer, nakon petodnevnog razdoblja, one se šire na sve strane kroz taj materijal koristeći energiju koja je sadržana u tim ljuskicama kako bi izgradila tu matricu biopolimera hitina. Ta se matrica samo-sastavlja, šireći se oko svih čestica, stvarajući milijune sičušnih vlakana. A dijelovi ljuskica koji se ne probave, zapravo postaju dio konačne fizičke smjese. Tako se ovaj komad, nama pred očima, jednostavno samo-sastavio. Zapravo to traje malo dulje. Traje pet dana. Ali je puno brže od konvencionalnog uzgoja.
The last step, of course, is application. In this case, we've grown a corner block. A major Fortune 500 furniture maker uses these corner blocks to protect their tables in shipment. They used to use a plastic packaging buffer, but we were able to give them the exact same physical performance with our grown material. Best of all, when it gets to the customer, it's not trash. They can actually put this in their natural ecosystem without any processing, and it's going to improve the local soil.
Posljednji korak je, naravno, primjena. U ovom slučaju, uzgojili smo kutnik. Veliki proizvođač namještaja Fortune 500 koristi te kutnike za zaštitu svojih stolova tijekom prijevoza. Prije su koristili plastičnu ambalažnu zaštitu, ali smo im mi bili u stanju ponuditi identičan fizički učinak s našim uzgojenim materijalom. Najbolje od svega, kada taj materijal stigne do kupca, on nije smeće. Kupac ga zapravo može staviti u svoj prirodni eko-sustav bez ikakve obrade, a on će poboljšati lokalno tlo.
So, why mycelium? The first reason is local open feedstocks. You want to be able to do this anywhere in the world and not worry about peak rice hull or peak cottonseed hulls, because you have multiple choices. The next is self-assembly, because the organism is actually doing most of the work in this process. You don't need a lot of equipment to set up a production facility. So you can have lots of small facilities spread all across the world. Biological yield is really important. And because 100 percent of what we put in the tool become the final product, even the parts that aren't digested become part of the structure, we're getting incredible yield rates.
Dakle, zašto micelij? Prvi razlog je neposredna lokalna sirovina. Želite biti u mogučnosti to činiti bilo gdje u svijetu i ne brinuti oko vrhunca ljuskica riže ili sjemenja pamuka, jer imate brojne izbore. Sljedeći razlog je samo-sastavljanje, jer organizam zapravo odrađuje veći dio posla u ovom procesu. Ne trebate puno opreme da biste postavili postrojenje za proizvodnju. Možete imati puno malih postrojenja raširenih širom svijeta. Biološki prinos je zaista važan. A budući da 100% onoga što stavimo u alat postaje konačni proizvod, čak i dijelovi koji nisu probavljeni postaju dio građe, dobivamo nevjerojatne stope prinosa.
Natural polymers, well ... I think that's what's most important, because these polymers have been tried and tested in our ecosystem for the last billion years, in everything from mushrooms to crustaceans. They're not going to clog up Earth's ecosystems. They work great. And while, today, we can practically guarantee that yesterday's packaging is going to be here in 10,000 years, what I want to guarantee is that in 10,000 years, our descendants, our children's children, will be living happily and in harmony with a healthy Earth. And I think that can be some really good news.
Prirodni polimeri...mislim da je to ono što je najvažnije, jer su ti polimeri isprobani i testirani u našem eko-sustavu tijekom zadnjih milijardu godina u svemu, od gljiva do školjki. Oni neće začepiti Zemljine eko-sustave. Izvanredno funkcioniraju. I dok danas možemo praktički jamčiti da će jučerašnja ambalaža biti ovdje za 10.000 godina, ono što ja želim jamčiti je to da će za 10.000 godina naši potomci, djeca naše djece, živjeti sretno i u skladu sa zdravom Zemljom. A mislim da bi to mogle biti stvarno dobre vijesti.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(pljesak)