Could we solve global warming with GM trees?
Scientists working outside the GM industry have been warn of the dangers of GM for some time while it is possible at the moment to make many things like glow in the dark monkeys and super large trout we were assured things like bug resistant canola wouldn’t be able to get into the environment, the first thing GM canola did was spread to none GM field. Deniers like to talk about how complex the climate is and how hard to understand it is, DNA combinations and mutations make the climate look like kids toy blocks.
GM something may help produce a solution but I doubt it will be trees. Try GM algae they grow faster and there is a lot more ocean out there than land for growing trees. If we increase the amount of biomass in the food chain then this reduces the amount of carbon elsewhere. This idea is probably more dangerous than the GW itself. The only way a tree removes carbon from the air is by building it into sugars and cellulose, but all the leaves etc that fall off it during its life decompose and release all that carbon back to the air. Eventually the trunk is rotted or burnt again the carbon is back in the air. You could do the sums, you would need a rather large warehouse to house and protect all the logs needed to store the mega tonnes of carbon that needs to be removed or that we add from fossil fuels! A not so risky GM idea towards a solution is to boost the conversion of cellulose to ethanol by microbes that currently do it, but very slowly. If we did that then we could convert a lot of
Growing more trees even using a GM variety will only provide a partial offset for the Carbon dioxide we pump into the atmosphere. For one, a very large amount of land is required to plant these trees and not just any land. Land is at a premium. Also it has to be supplemented with other resources such as water and soil nutrients. This will compete with the desire to intensify or expand agriculture. Second, where should this land be? The further you move away from the tropics and also in regions with seasonal rainfall, the more likely you are to find distinct growth seasons. This will make carbon uptake less efficient. Third, higher levels of carbon dioxide does not ensure faster growth rates of trees. It depends on the resource which is most limiting. Say, carbon dioxide as of now may be a resource which is in short supply for tree growth. If we introduce more of it, there will be an increase in levels of growth but this will stagnate once a different resource is in short supply (a limi
