Will Mushrooms Inherit the Earth?

I just watched a talk on TED. com:  6 ways Mushrooms Can Save the World  this afternoon


This talk reminded me alot of this poem I read in high school, my teacher had explained to us that in the event of a nuclear disaster that one of the only things that would survive were mushrooms... I know that sounds depressing...but it is pretty interesting to know what we put in our salads can actually save the world! :)


Here's the poem just for kicks..


Mushrooms

Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.

-Sylvia Plath