PERSPECTIVES • March 15, 2023
A San Francisco-based biotech startup, Living Carbon, claims that its engineered poplars, having been shot up with undisclosed, non-tree genes, grow 50 per cent faster than wild poplars. Thereby, it is assumed, sequestering 50 per cent more CO2 in the same amount of time. It achieved this using genetic modification. Such is Silicon Valley’s boundless faith in technology, despite the glaring fact that it is technology that has unbalanced the planet and alienated us from it. Capitalists seeing a profit opportunity while saving the world from capitalists, has a certain simple circularity that might be attractive to…venture capitalists. But, they have failed to see that the business model is crap. Mother Nature doesn’t need help teaching trees to turn CO2 into O2 and wood. She’s been doing that for a long time. Nature needs us to stop destroying forests. The trees will work their magic, rebalancing our ecosystems, all by themselves. ~ Wade Graham