[Coral-List] "assisted evolution"

[Steve Mussman]

Hi Doug,

Interesting article and a fascinating topic.

I’ve often wondered if the coral science community has given ample consideration to the possibility that “assisted evolution” could do more harm than good. Seems to me that all the momentum favors moving forward for as the article points out, “as the border between the natural and manmade blurs, gene editing animals to protect them may become increasingly appealing”- making the question you raised, (how far should we go to help species adapt?) both a crucial and precarious one.

Regards,

Steve Mussman

On 2/15/21, 4:12 AM, Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

Assisting evolution: how far should we go to help species adapt?

https://e360.yale.edu/features/assisting-evolution-how-far-should-we-go-to-help-species-adapt

The article talks about corals but also other animals and plants.

Cheers, Doug

--

Douglas Fenner

Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor

NOAA Fisheries Service

Pacific Islands Regional Office

Honolulu

and:

Coral Reef Consulting

PO Box 997390

Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799-6298 USA

Social cost of carbon emissions much higher than previous estimates

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/01/trump-downplayed-costs-carbon-pollution-s-about-change

A German initiative seeks to curb global emissions of a climate

super-pollutant

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30122020/chemical-plant-nitrous-oxide-climate-warming-emissions/

The toxic effects of air pollution are so bad that moving from fossil fuels

to clean energy would pay for itself in health-care savings and

productivity gains

—

even if climate change didn’t exist. In the US alone, decarbonization

would save 1.4 MILLION lives in the US alone. And save $700 Billion a year.

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/8/12/21361498/climate-change-air-pollution-us-india-china-deaths

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