We Need Biology in the Fight Against Climate Change. But Are We Ready To Use It?
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Loading... - Morowa Sowah
- 26 Aug 2022
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Unless we act, climate change will cause untold suffering. Biology is one of the most powerful technologies available and could play a huge role in the fight. But our ability to work with it falls short. What can we do about it?
We’re often given advice that we should be doing more as individuals to help save the world. Turning down plastic straws, switching lights off, using less water and donating to plant trees. All good things, but it feels like we’re trying to stop a tidal wave with a paper umbrella. While we mean well, the temperature keeps rising; what good is a plastic-free straw when the world is on fire? The size of the challenge can be paralyzing, but we must find a way to graduate from these comforting placebos.
Here is my belief: we can’t even rely on business leaders or governments to make enough change to stave off disaster, let alone individuals. The sort of climate change impacts that would force urgency on these groups will only happen once it’s too late, once too much CO2 is in the atmosphere.
Our surest bet in the climate fight? Transformative technological solutions. For many, this means wind, solar, electric vehicles, nuclear fission, and—someday—fusion. But there’s a sleeping giant we’re not talking about. It’s one of the most powerful phenomena we know of: it can bridge the nano to the macro, spin great trees out of gas and light, and coordinate enormous flows of energy and matter into the incredible variety of life that we see on our blue planet. With it on our side, the odds change in our favor. But we don’t know how to use it. Not yet.
This sleeping giant? Biology.
Problem 1: it’s not easy to store energy
The story of climate change is a story about energy. Truly renewable energy needs efficient storage. For biology, this is simple: it can cram energy down into dense packets of carbon-carbon bonds just by being exposed to sunlight. While renewable energy is better than non-renewable energy, the best places to make that energy often aren’t located where people need that energy. There’s a lot of sun in the desert, but not many people.
But imagine a world where renewable electricity is stored in hydrocarbon-based biological systems. Compact and emission-free, they could be shipped wherever they’re needed. Picture a teeming forest supplying all the jet fuel we could possibly need or a living, floating island that heats homes far away in the deepest tundra.
Problem 2: current energy consumption is far too high
Humans do a lot of energy-intensive things. After energy production itself, agriculture is the next biggest carbon emitter. Producing meat is especially bad, but cultured meat or meat substitutes would be an improvement. Making nitrogen fertilizer tells the same story, but if we created crops that could fix their own nitrogen, this would be transformative. Read More...
