This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the End of Plastic (2029) article, about the Tremella purgare fungus, released into the Gulf of Mexico following the TransAm War Oil Spill, and the knock-on impact of the attempted bioremediation. This page has been listed as a level-3 vital article in Earth. If you can improve it, please do.

 

Deadly fungi?

Can an expert in this field please expand on or link to the meaning of ‘deadly fungus’ in the opening sentence. Deadly fungi is a disambiguation page and as a non-expert I am uncertain whether it applies here. -8ditor

 

Update details

There’s some updated research explaining the spreading mechanism the fungi used to move from sea to land. The spores eject hard, and once airborne, can latch on to any oil-based synthetic material, and then they grow and digest it. Here’s the ref: (Spread of mycelium oil to plastics) -jamirazzz

Dumping an untested fungus into the environment like they’ve learned nothing from biological pest control. -8ditor

I think it was tested (Lab Results – FUNGUS.PDF). Just not well enough, I guess. -SamePanicDifferentDisco

 

Article name

Doomsday doesn’t seem like a good fit for this article. It’s supposed to focus on the introduction of the oil-digesting fungus introduced into the Gulf of Mexico. -Kinoko

It does that in section one tho, look: Development and introduction into the ecosystem. It’s causing major chaos. -DoraTheExSpora

Chaos isn’t the same as doomsday. Suggest re-naming to ‘Unintended consequences of fungal petrochemical control.’ -Kinoko

 

Remove image

The picture of mushrooms sliced up on pizza can be confusing and may be dangerous. -thatplantguy

All suggestions that T purgare fungus might be edible in the future should be removed to prevent potentially fatal mistakes. This includes any links to edible fungi in the initial description. -jamirazzz

 

Level-3 change to Level-2

Can an expert please confirm whether we can upgrade this page from Level-3 to Level-2 to reflect the current shitstorm now that plastic everywhere is basically disappearing? -Kinoko

I second this, the damage it’s causing to health equipment is crazy! 

[This guy’s pacemaker disintegrated]. 

And there was that airplane that got holes in it while it was flying. Look: [Watch this airplane turn into swiss cheese!] -DoraTheExSpora

That footage needs to come with a trigger warning. I’ve unlinked them from the article. -thatplantguy

 

Misleading statement: Jelly seas???

Section four talks about the fungus (fungi?) eating all the microplastics in the ocean. But it talks about the seas turning to jelly, which is a misnomer. Sure, they’re more solid than previously, but when the plastics are all consumed, the fungi will die and it’ll become water again. -47.71.232.208

Yeah, but that’s going to take a while. And look, [U gotta see this dude walking on water] and his shoes melt because of the doomfungus. Plus, all the fish and things are gonna die before the seas are free of microplastics.

Img.png

Img2.png -DoraTheExSpora

Is there a way to revoke edit access if DoraTheExSpora doesn’t stop posting triggering things? -thatplantguy

This stuff is really happening, though. You can’t deny it. -DoraTheExSpora

 

Death toll

Updated figures rolling in from accidents and medical issues in section four. Suggest this be moved up to the intro section to keep it easier to locate/update. Also have made a list of things that contain plastic that people might not expect to suddenly break down. Like clothes and orthopaedic implants. -SamePanicDifferentDisco

These figures are changing daily. Will add a link to the UN mortality stats page. -8ditor

 

Sealing off computing equipment/bunkers

Has anyone else moved into their prepper bunker? Just checking if they’ve managed to sterilise everything before sealing in. -jamirazzz

I just switched everything in the house over to metal. Like, the keyboard is an old metal typewriter that I rigged. -DoraTheExSpora

Remember that this is not a chat room. But, yes, everything in the bunker looks ok so far, everyone settling in. Nice to be away from the city, too. -SamePanicDifferentDisco

 

Temporary lag

Had to move to a new bunker, didn’t realise the sealant around the windows was sus. Plus, internet went down because a bunch of equipment got eaten. The UN mortality page has been moving too fast to keep this page updated. Suggest just putting a link in the page intro. -jamirazzz

I think we should big up the numbers, so more people take it serious. Not like this dude [Watch this fool explode after drinking water with doomshroom in it!] -DoraTheExSpora

Petition to ban DoraTheExSpora for recidivism. -thatplantguy

 

Any updates?

I noticed there’s not been any updates for a few days. Family bunker life is keeping me busy, and so is managing the water situation. The filters were not designed for this. -SamePanicDifferentDisco

 

Checking in

Internet has also been very patchy the past few days. But if anyone has any updates, please feel free to post here. It would be good to know how regular contributors from different parts of the world are doing. I heard on the news that the seas haven’t actually turned back to liquid yet, and that’s really impacting things like weather. It would be good to hear from you folks. -SamePanicDifferentDisco

 

Still not heard anything

It’s been a few weeks since the last post and there’s been no updates. I don’t know if that means your internet is just down, or worse. Some internet services must still be running, because the UN is still updating their death toll, and there’s still news coming in through the radio. Anyway, I hope you’re all doing ok. -SamePanicDifferentDisco

 

Steampunk saved me

Glad I went with metal! Even bunkers aren’t safe, look [Doomfungus ate thru insulation and got this family!] -DoraTheExSpora

* * *

Ⓒ Emma Burnett

Originally published in Nature:Futures, June 2024. Reprinted here by permission of the author.