Genetically Engineered Trees

Sierra Club ^ | 08/15/03 | Staff Writer

[Baseballguy]

They need to reach a speed of 60mph. No need for shoeing. They have pads on thier feet for pavement or off road. Have backs that could carry luggage. They need to see in the dark and have a GPS so they take you to your destination with out you having to guide it. They will know all traffic laws. They wont roam away when parked. Thier consumption would not be on a regular basis only when needed.

[Prodigal Son]

Much of this is already solved. Zebras, for example, don't know any traffic laws but seem to get from A to B just fine. Cats and owls can see in the dark. Cheetahs can run in excess of 60 mph and other animals can run in the 40s for exteneded periods easily. Camels, horses, elephants, donkeys, mules etc can all carry large amounts of cargo. It doesn't matter if it roams away when "parked" as long as it comes quickly when called. The computer would handle the GPS, navigation, internet and other functions. No need to run on pavement when a mountain or an open field look the same to the creature as a long flat road. Horses eat a fair amount when you're not using them too.

Keep in mind too- this is a flight of fancy- ie imagination.

[HenryLeeII]

Yes, and I'll take a Walking Tree of Dahomey! [Obscure M. python reference alert!]

[Prodigal Son]

Plus, even a car needs shoing regularly.

[HenryLeeII]

Let's go one step further and have trees that grow in cord piles.

[RightWhale]

The stove trees should grow easy-starting kindling branches on one side and long-burn duration [8-hour] branches on the other. And a few 10-hour branches for weekends when you have a chance to sleep in.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.

[HenryLeeII]

The scary/exciting thing is, we're not that far from doing just that! Perhaps having stove branches with different flavors (hickory, maple, etc.) on one tree would be pushing it though, huh?

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[Wonder Warthog]

"Huh? Are you trying to say that because we use more paper, we grow more trees, which reduces CO2? Or that we should simply remove the carbon from the system, via a landfill."

Both, actually. Recycling ANY carbonaceous material that comes from a plant is "bass-ackwards" from the perspective that we want to "reduce the greenhouse warming effect" (not that I believe that the current warming has anything to do with a human-induced cause--I think changing solar intensity, epicycles in the earths orbit, and the newly discovered contribution from cosmic rays explain it handily).

To do that, we need to 1) use nuclear power far more intensely, 2) move to a hydrogen-based transmission and storage system, and 3) STOP recycling paper and cardboard.

[Baseballguy]

Or is it! Come on they are already cloning endangered spieces. To take a science for the benifit of mankind would help the whole world. They do it with our food now.

Put me a butter and salt flavor in that iodine rice for me.

[blackie]

Stealth Technology ... Bump!

Let's Roll!

[Little Ray]

Don't get me wrong, I LIKE genetic engineering... But what the enviro-fascists are complaining about is technically called TRANS-genetic engineering, that is the introduction of genetic material from other species into into whatever it is you are working on.
The examples you give are better described as eugenics; the changes were made by selecting features that already existed in the species and reinforcing them through selective breeding. For example dogs are, in may ways, wolf cubs that never grow up. In contrast, all the selective breeding in world could not introduce retractile claws (like cats have) into canines. You would have to do some gene-splicing, trans-genetic engineering, to pull that off.
Thanks to Adolf Hitler and his perverted politics (and racists in general), eugenics has a bad name, despite its proven effectiveness. However, IMHO (donning asbestos underear), I think it is pity that we don't take as good care of the human genome as we do, of, say, dogs, horses, or cattle.
What the enviro-fascists don't realize is that world is always changing, and there is every reason we should try to change it to better meet our needs.

[Vince Ferrer]

Excellent. Maybe they can resurrect the American chestnut.

Check this place out: Bagersett They make hybrids of chestnuts and hazelnuts

[PeaceBeWithYou]

We would also point out that the United States is using twice as much paper per capita as other highly civilized nations (Europe, Japan). Let us not ask genetic engineering to do what could be accomplished by lower-tech means like putting a surcharge on junk mail.

You can easily feel the hate seething from this paragraph that Club Sierra has for America. Not to mention that, if you've ever been on Club Sierra's mailing list you know they are as prolific, if not more than anyone else, perhaps even the DNC.

Freaking Luddites!