Frankenforests

Visions of the Rewilding Renaissance
#1

This is a new one on me… genetically modified forests. I found this rather alarming article in my in-box today from the Community Food Security listserv.

Frankenforests: GE Trees Threaten Ecosystem Collapse
http://alternet.org/environment/58477/

"Compared to crops that have been cultivated for thousands of years, trees are 'wild.' If a GE trait enters a forest species, the implications could be absolutely horrendous. We could see the ecological system weaken and collapse. Without the forests, we're sunk."

. . .

The risks, in fact, are numerous. Genetically modified trees have been engineered to exhibit unnatural traits such as herbicide tolerance, insecticide production, reduced lignin content, the substance that makes trees strong but must be removed to make paper, and finally, sterility.

-Paula

#2

Ah, but imagine if other engineered traits got out into the forests, such as rapid growth?

I know, I know, It’ll still be a disaster for the ecosystem, but I can just imagine frankentrees growing too rapidly for the cities to combat, tearing up the sidewalks…

#3

And then the townies would come after them brandishing torches, shouting “Kill the trees!!”

#4

Oh, I don’t know; the natural world doesn’t share our prejuidices. These genetically modified trees have simply started the same journey every new species embarks on: evolving and becoming native.

#5

Except for the sterile ones. It’s those I fear. Image a world where all the free-range trees are dead, and the only forests are those planted by corporations for harvest. That I fear.

#6

Lots of trees have seeds that are meant to last a long, long time. They wait for their moment, sometimes for centuries. If we’re talking about escaped, terminator-seed or sterile GM trees, then they won’t reproduce. As they die off, the seeds and even smaller bits of pollen lingering in the soil will start to grow as their moment arrives, and you’ll get a new growth forest. Same way that forests cope with fires or other disasters. And it’s not as if all the GM trees will die at the same time, either. So all in all, I’m not too worried. Ecologies are robust, adaptable things; GM plants don’t represent any kind of new or overwhelming threat for them. They’ll simply be incorporated like everything else.

#7

FEAR!

HATE!

DESTROY!

Luckily for ya’ll, hybrid populars are designed to die in 15 years. Not what I would call a survival strategy, or one to take over the world.

GMO populations fall apart in the wild because they are stripped of their equipment to have healthy relationships in the forest. Aggressive primary succession organisms make it their job to eliminate such pests. AS long as we get the air cleaner and the water even cleaner, then mother nature can CONTINUE to protect us from invaders. Think about how GMO works… These organisms are designed to thrive on chemicals within a sterile environment.

There is no threat. Repeat. There is no threat. Continue on with the air and water filtration projects…