Guest essay by Eric Worrall
This is the only climate technology which really frightens me.
This scientist thinks she has the key to curb climate change: super plants
Adam Popescu in La Jolla, California
Tue 16 Apr 2019 20.00 AESTDr Joanne Chory hopes that genetic modifications to enhance plants’ natural carbon-fixing traits could play a key role – but knows that time is short, for her and the planet
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She is now working to design plants capable of storing even more carbon dioxide in their roots. Her Ideal Plant project uses gene editing – via traditional horticulture and Crispr – to do so. On a large scale, this could suck enough carbon out of the atmosphere to slow down climate change.
This concept basically splices the genes of regular crops and everyday plants like beans, corn and cotton, with a new compound that makes them absorb more carbon. Their roots then transfer it to the soil to keep it there.
This approach essentially supercharges what nature already does.
“I get worked up when I talk about the project,” Chory tells me in an office at the Salk Institute, a revered bio research campus at the edge of the Pacific Ocean in southern California. Her desk is full of posies, awards, family photos and framed magazine covers from science journals. “We have to find a way to take CO2 out of the atmosphere and I think plants are the only way to do that affordably,” Chory says.
“I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders,” she says, letting out a laugh. “It is a lot of pressure.”…
Developing these Ideal Plants is step one in the Harnessing Plants Initiative, which amplifies root systems and production of suberin – which is essentially cork, or the rind on your cantaloupe, the magic key to plants holding more of that carbon – before transferring these genetic traits to row and cover crops. Given the right resources, and funding, prototypes of each crop are expected to be ready in the next five years.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/16/super-plants-climate-change-joanne-chory-carbon-dioxide
Why do I think this technology is so frightening?
Back in the depths of the last ice age, CO2 levels dropped so low the world almost ended.
Despite wild claims by some climate scientists, it seems extraordinarily unlikely we have broken the 2.6 million year old Quaternary Glaciation pattern of hundred thousand year ice ages interrupted by brief interglacials lasting 10-20 thousand years.
No civilisation lasts forever. No interglacial lasts forever. One day the ice will return. If the ice returns when human civilisation is at an ebb, civilisation could collapse.
But regardless of what happens to people, wild variants of “super plants” with enhanced CO2 absorbing capabilities might survive. Cover crops, already resilient to winter conditions, with genetically enhanced CO2 absorbing capabilities and unnaturally strong root systems, might cope really well with the onslaught of the next ice age.
Perhaps wild descendants of the “ideal plants” will survive well enough to keep drawing down CO2 levels, even lower than during the last glacial maximum.
“I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders,” she says, letting out a laugh. “It is a lot of pressure.”
The Alarmist CAGW propaganda has driven many people crazy with fear. Ms Chory is another victim. Let’s hope her, and other’s, deperation doesn’t victimize the Earth’s living things with some stupid plan to fix a CO2 problem that does not exist.
This seems to me to be a prime example of an expert in one area of science relying on the expertise of scientists in another field.
I don’t think I’m going very far out on a limb here when I say that Dr. Chory probably is totally unaware of Climategate, Mike’s Nature trick, the failures and foibles of climate models, the Pause, the innumerable failed climate doomsday predictions, and the broad picture of climate change over geologic time. That, and then there’s a ton of money available for anything tied to “Climate Change.”
The question is, given that Dr. Chory can readily get money for “Climate Change” research, what would she do if she was brought up to speed on the issues I mentioned as well as other facts brought up in this comment thread?
The money is there. The “experts” in another field have spoken. “Everyone Knows” the World will end if we don’t get rid of CO2 (it’s on every channel and in all the papers). She’d be shunned, defunded, and maybe fired if she didn’t toe the CAGW line. Why would we expect Dr. Chory to do anything differently?
Fighting the knowledge deficit is an uphill battle, but taking the money out of the mix would go a long way towards ending the CAGW folly.
I have been thinking all morning long about writing Dr. Chory, but I have not come up with the words that might actually reach her. This woman believes completely in what she is doing. She thinks she is saving the world, and a large portion of the world is telling her, in no uncertain terms, that she is. She is also suffering from a slow, debilitating disease and believes that the very meaning of her life depends on her rapid success in producing increased carbon sequestering plants. The world is depending on her. Her grandchildren are depending on her.
How does one write an email and inform her that she is working on something that may very well lead to the end of all life on Earth during the next glaciation period? If that is too extreme, how does one even let her know that all her hard work will have no impact on the climate, because CO2 is not a significant driver of climate change? Will she listen to a stranger, with no recognized authority, telling her that her noble life’s work is meaningless at best and extraordinarily dangerous at worst?
If I was in her shoes, would I listen to such a stranger? Probably not in a million years.
There are many working on this project. That Guardian picked Dr. Chory for the article because she is a super-sweet Grandma with Parkinson’s Disease trying to save the world before her horrible fate catches up with her. The story is a master-stroke of propaganda. Dr, Chory is unassailable. One cannot point out the fallacy of the story without coming across to the public as a truly horrible person, attacking a sweet little old lady with a simple desire to ‘save’ the planet before she dies.
Attacking Dr. Chory is exactly what the Guardian wants us to do. The Guardian is a tool of manipulation and I choose not to be manipulated by their machinations. It is horrible how they are using Dr. Chory to promote a false and despicable narrative, but typical for the CAGW myth builders.
I wish Dr. Chory well with her battle with Parkinson’s.
CO2 madness aside, these “super plants” will be a hard sell for farmers. Other than possible subsidies, what would be the advantages for them to try these? Supposedly, they will help the soil. M’kay, maybe they will. Will they be easier to grow, or harder, and what will their ultimate production be? Who knows?
when they released the fiddled green revolution short stemmed crops the outlay for farmers to buy new lower headers or adaptation of old ones at best was huge. and the animals lost out on hay and fodder, and the breeding means theyre at risk of UG99 infection as has occurred in eu america africa etc already
Aus has biosecurity nightmares of it getting in here
“What could possibly go wrong?”
Climate Change Hypochondria.
This is more like Climate Change Anorexia – take drastic and self-destructive action against an imaginary “illness”.
does she mean Ents ? maybe … or some other fairy tale ?
I wondered about that, too. But Ents were treeherds, guarding the forests.
However, I do have a great idea: stop funding this kind of stuff, and tell her to do the first steps herself without any financing from outside. I know: she’s already got the funding, but it’s just a thought.
Besides, nitrogen in the soil is as necessary to plant growth as CO2, so why isn’t she looking at that part of this business? Why not improve on nitrogen-fixing plants like alfalfa and soybeans? Just trying to ingratiate herself with the ecohippies and Warmunistas, maybe?
This could be the start of a great horror movie.
High minded people invent something to save the world; it ends up killing everything.
Perhaps we could write it, imagining the steps toward doom, and we’d have to ignore any logic that tells us it won’t happen …. think Jurassic Park … I can see the plants wilting … people gasping for breath .. no plant food for people or cows …
Movie producers (who may believe AGW alarmism) will nonetheless be overwhelmingly influenced by the idea of a great horror movie.
Way to go, biologist, keep fighting that happy full of life warm interglacial period. But she obviously didn’t get the memo, the only thing that can save us is world socialism. I’m sure socialism will be the cure when the next ice age comes too.
Regarding “Back in the depths of the last ice age, CO2 levels dropped so low the world almost ended.”: Not true. Back in the depths of Pleistocene ice age glaciations, dips of atmospheric CO2 went down as low as about 180 PPM. In a study of the effects of reduced CO2 on various plants, only the most CO2-needy one studied needed 150 PPM of CO2 to survive, grow and reproduce, and other C3 plants did so with CO2 as low as 60 PPM. C4 plants all survived, grew and reproduced with even lower CO2 levels down to 10 PPM.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0e23/5047cba00479f9b2177e423e8d31db43229d.pdf
“Carbon starvation in glacial trees recovered from the La Brea tar pits, southern California”
https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/102/3/690.full.pdf
Granted it would not be the end of the world, but the impact would be significant and severe. Few C3 plants surviving and the biomass production of those that did survive reduced by 40%-70% would mean the collapse of our civilization. At the very least, mass starvation.
More like the end of the world as we know it.
Donald,
The 10 ppm number is somewhat contrived for C4 plants, as the experiment started with higher CO2 contratrations and allowed the plants to consume CO2 until it was reduced to 10 ppm. The problem with low CO2 is that biomass can not be productive enough to feed world. I’ll bet that even at the 260 ppm at the end of the LIA (which apparently the IPCC considers ‘optimum’), agricultural productivity would not be capable of keeping up with the worlds current demand for food.
civilisation could collapse
For the dark greens, nothing less will do.
Ice-nine
‘This is the only climate technology which really frightens me.’
Seconded – I’ve been saying for years, the only thing that scares me about climate change is what people will try to do about it – especially since they’ve been made desperate by claims about the end of the world.
Call it FrankinAdvocacy to go with FrankinFood.
No doubt, especially since biology already sequesters CO2 at a faster rate than it can be replaced naturally. It’s a good thing that we are now replacing it. The unintended consequence of CO2 sequestration is the extinction of mankind during the next ice age, rather than one a little more distant in the future. Unless we start burning limestone in massive quantities, the destiny of life dependent on photosynthesis is to run out of CO2 and this will happen long before the Sun dies.
Did I read this correctly? She wants to make GM plants that fix more carbon in the ground, right? So, she’s developing plants to make more coal…….
85% of plant species live in symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus.
The fungus have only one source of food. Carbon based liquid exudes from plant roots.
So, the goal is to increase the availability of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus food.
If they can find a cheaper alternative to chemical fertilizer that would be a boon to mankind.
Over 150,000 farms in the US are experimenting with cover crops as a way to reduce fertilizer needs.
The USDA got in the act and recruited 5 farmers in South Carolina to do a formal test.
After 3 years of using cover crops they saw an 80% drop in fertilizer requirements.
I don’t know the study is continuing or not.
You can see the 5 farmers interviewed here:
https://www.farmers.gov/connect/blog/conservation/farmer-scientists-five-trials-managing-soil-health
/sarc-on
If the fear of a mega CO2 trapping Triffid plant goes rogue on planet earth, wouldn’t it eventually create an equilibrium? Once the CO2 levels drop below 150ppm, most plant life you die (long after us pesky humans). We just need to create an anti-Triffid plant that that kicks in massive O2 production at the 150ppm CO2 level.
What could possibly go wrong?
/sarc-off
For those unfamiliar with the Triffid reference (and previously noted above my post):
https://youtu.be/FqrLqg3w6AU
The full movie is actually on YouTube, I just linked the trailer here. I remember watching it on TV when I was a younger fella….
Another good one would be “Little Shop of Horrors”:….feed me, feed me!……..
I swear those funding this CO2-CAGW meme are out to kill us. Keep CO2 ridiculously low at “per-industrial” levels of 270 PPM then when the glaciation resumes and the oceans pull CO2 out we’ll get below 150 and that’s it for the majority of humans. Not them of course, they are too important.
Every time I see some wacky idea like this or other geo-engineering like shades & CO2 harvesters I can’t shake the feeling that somebody wants us all dead.
Brilliant idea, create plant strains that suck up all the CO2 from the atmosphere and propagate faster and farther than all natural varieties. That way you can reduce the CO2 level below photosynthesis shutdown and kill off all the plant life humanity depends on, thereby eliminating man’s Carbon Footprint by eliminating humanity. She’s a modern day Pandora.
“I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders,” she says, letting out a laugh. “It is a lot of pressure.”
It must be quite sobering to know that the fate of all mankind depends on you. The laugh is meant to throw you off from the fact that she is serious, in a self-important and very delusional way.
It could be the CO2 black hole in a box. Fire it up and see what happens. The start the invasive species eradication funding program.
So let me get this right: she will create a genetically modified plant (I thought that was eeeeevil??) that can go right on pulling CO2 from the atmosphere even in the depths of the next ice age, when CO2 will in any case come close to the point at which life on earth terminates. And this demon plant will be there continuing to suck out the CO2 while every other plant expires, shortly followed by all animals including us.
Yeah, right. Deranged. But sadly we live in a deranged world where the powers that be will actually do it.
“I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders,” she says,
anyway in the mood for letting out a laugh.