How evolutionary principles could help save our world

How evolutionary principles could help save our world

The age of the Anthropocene--the scientific name given to our current geologic age--is dominated by human impacts on our environment. A warming climate. Increased resistance of pathogens and pests. A swelling population. Coping with these modern global challenges requires application of what one might call a more-ancient principle: evolution.

That's the recommendation of a diverse group of researchers, in a paper published today in the online version of the journal Science. A majority of the nine authors on the paper have received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

"Evolution isn't just about the past anymore, it's about the present and the future," said Scott Carroll, an evolutionary ecologist at University of California-Davis and one of the paper's authors. Addressing societal challenges--food security, emerging diseases, biodiversity loss--in a sustainable way is "going to require evolutionary thinking."

The paper reviews current uses of evolutionary biology and recommends specific ways the field can contribute to the international sustainable development goals (SDGs), now in development by the United Nations.

Evolutionary biology has "tremendous potential" to solve many of the issues highlighted in the SDGs, said Peter Søgaard Jørgensen, another Science author from the University of Copenhagen's Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate. The field accounts for how pests may adapt rapidly to our interventions and how vulnerable species struggle to adapt to global change. The authors even chose this release date to coincide with the upcoming meeting of the UN General Assembly, which starts September 24.

Their recommendations include gene therapies to treat disease, choosing drought-and-flood-resistant crop varieties and altering conservation strategies to protect land with high levels of genetic diversity.

Interesting process but hey if it works & can do good on the many different levels they are talking about, than right on.

I disliked how they are recommending drought-and-flood-resistant crop varieties be used, that means they support GMO. Aquaponic food farms are a million times better than drought-and-flood-resistant crops. I was reading an article a while back that was talking about how right now, the drug-and-flood-resistant crops that have been Genetically Mucked up, don't work. They are still susceptible to floods & droughts. ((I can't find the article now, go figure))

a reply to: Sabiduria

most GMOs are created to be herbicide and pesticide resistant.

So i mean if we kinda veer away from that path and leave the space for more important proteins then i could imagine it being viable.

The problem is GMOs are being created to excrete poisons or be resistant to them *containing trace ammounts* with these poisons believed to be non-harmful to us and the enviroment when they were chosen to kill organisms.

it's no wonder A lot of these GMOs are failing at reproducing the proper nutritional values. It's like eating plants containing nicotine which is also another form of pesticide and slowly overtime being killed by it.

a reply to: Sabiduria

indoor hydroponics. No need for pesticide, 100% organic, no wasted water, no need for GMO, no soil needed, can be built anywhere.

It's time we stop thinking about money, and start thinking about the best, most environmentally sound way to feed 7 billion plus people.

Add solar and LED lights we could have off grid food production anywhere the sun shines.

Well, the Anthropocene period will go down in history as a very destructive time in this world. Not often did a species by itself do so much damage and environmental change on such a wide area.

a reply to: sacgamer25

I hear Aquaponics is technically better for the environment. I can't quite recall why but I think it had to do with Hydroponics having a harmful chemical or something of that nature. I would have to hunt around, when I have more time, on ATS forbthe article where some members were talking about it

a reply to: Sabiduria

Hmmm. Applied evolutionary biology. Have to see where they're going with this one, but I'd say human activities have definitely accelerated contemporary evolutionary processes. Off the top I do not trust them to do it right.



Good find. F&S

a reply to: Sabiduria

Yep! Bring out the progressives in every field of science and human relations. Surely, something good will come of destroying the old ways, right? --Can it get any worse?

Maybe.