By now, most people are aware that the last century of industrial growth has had a lasting impact on the environment. The things humans make and use are more useful, cost effective, and available to more people than ever. But that means they are often made of plastics and chemicals that extend more thoroughly in our ecosystems and stay there for a long time, even forever. Science is still working to understand the extent of pollution to Earth's waterways, soil, even our own bodies.

Among the most concerning pollutants are polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAs, the 'forever chemicals' used to manufacture nonstick cookware, waterproof clothing, and countless other applications since manufacturers started using them in the 1930s. These days, they are found essentially everywhere, including the bloodstreams of almost every human being. Thankfully, the PFA levels detected in humans have gradually declined as awareness has increased, but their presence in groundwater and food remain a real risk.

Yet where life is being harmed by such chemicals, life may also offer a solution: the endless creativity of microbes.

Microbes are probably the world's best chemists. Within their tiny, often single-celled bodies, they contain the tools for creating endless varieties of chemical compounds, many of which humans don't yet know how to create ourselves. We harness these abilities to create things like citric acid to enhance our food, ethanol for fuel. Microbes are even behind many of the vitamins we take to stay healthy, and countless other important chemicals. Humans have been replicating microbes for millennia. Whether for beer or medicine, the microbes are fermented in great big vats called bioreactors. Only relatively recently have humans gained the ability to wield the chemical talents of microbes, thanks to tools like DNA sequencing that make it easier to target those with useful abilities.

Among the most exciting to emerge recently is the discovery that some can consume PFAs as food. One company leading in this area is called Allonnia. Their recently announced 1,4 D-Stroy system uses a specially identified bacterium that targets the forever chemical 1,4 Dioxane. Common to detergents and other consumer chemical products, been used since the 1950s, has been discovered in as much as 25% of drinking water, and causes serious health problems. With high throughput testing, the company identified bacteria that could break the bonds of this forever chemical, converting it into water and carbon dioxide, eliminating as much as 98 percent of the contaminant by introducing the bacterium in a targeted way.

This is an example of what is often called 'bioremediation', which essentially means using biology to clean up contamination and pollution. It's a promising industry that has actually been around for decades. What makes this moment different than before is the tools available to discover the useful abilities of microorganisms like the bacteria used by Allonnia. This is made possible thanks to high resolution, high volume sequencing of DNA, and analytical tools that allow scientists to isolate a single microbe with a unique and super useful skill — like eating PFAs, for example. Companies and researchers are just beginning to explore the vast, untapped diversity of life already out there doing things that, at scale, could solve some of the biggest consequences of manufacturing and chemical industries.

This is just the beginning of an explosion of new insights and applications drawn from biology. It extends to the initial production of materials, too, as well as the cleanup afterwards. For example, Biomason's use of a bacterium that produces calcium carbonate as a much less carbon intensive way of making concrete. There are many synthetic chemicals and materials that emerge from industry, the kinds of chemicals that the Earth has never seen before. But they're made of the same atoms and bonds as everything else, and it may be a mark of human hubris to think that we've come up with something that life — in all its infinite variety and innovation — cannot effectively deal with.

Bringing manufacturing back into alignment with nature is a massively important step towards becoming sustainable stewards of Spaceship Earth. With all the consequences of unregulated industry over the last century or two, just as big a challenge lies in addressing those consequences. In the same spirit as changing the way we make things by partnering with nature, the solutions we seek can also be found in nature. Bioremediation is a huge and growing industry in and of itself, and could mark a shift in the way humans relate to our environments and the things we make.