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This would actually be the only sensible way I can think of to make enough CO2-removal, nothing man-made could do the job, only slow things down....think honeybees, and how bajillions of the little things make fruits & veggies for all of us.. what man-made thing could do that? (And yes, I read the "soap-bubble" stuff....crop-dusting over & over to sort of get the job done, bleh)

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Plants evolved to suck up CO2 and they’re really good at it. And they concentrate it, which no machine can do, and they make it into useful materials, like sugar. They suck up all the CO2, they fix it, then it goes back up into the atmosphere

Has she maybe got early onset dementia along with her Parkinsons.

Instead of explaining the process a bit and describing the consequences for the atmosphere, you delivered a personal attack. You destroyed your credibility.

@yvilletom Does that statement make sense to you then ?. What would be the point of breeding superplants to lock up CO2 if it goes back into the atmosphere

Moravian. Wow, not just nasty, but willfully ignorant, too...."fix" in this context means the CO2 is "glued" into the plant, which can then be made into sugar, vegan "leather", rope, anything made out of plants, and thus removed from the atmosphere permanently.

@AnneWimsey Ok I will give her the benefit of the doubt. She was probably miss quoted by the Guardian journalist. They are good at that.
Having worked most of my life in the forest industry I am well aware of the part plants play in the carbon cycle and how carbon is locked up in trees in particular, but to suggest that super plants are to save the world from the effects of climate change is at the loony edge of science.
Vegan leather, sugar, ropes ?. Come on you are having a laugh.

@Moravian before plastic, about 50 years ago, pretty much EVERYTHING was made from plants, learn something about the world!

@AnneWimsey Come on you are just being silly now. Of course it would be beneficial to get rid of plastics, especially single use plastic for several reasons but it is unlikely to happen'
I watched the old girl's talk on TED to get a proper grasp of her research instead of an ill informed Guardian article and her idea is that genetically modified plants would take more carbon dioxide out of the air and transfer it to a more active soil flora.
This could be achieved by modifying farming practices to previous ways of adding organic matter to soil instead of the modern practice of pouring artificial fertilisers on an annual basis.
Ask yourself, who is funding this research ?. Is it some philanropist like Bill Gates acting for the public good or is it a company like Monsanto who can see a profit.
She admits that the modified seeds will be more expensive and getting farmers to buy them may be difficult.
I am pleased to say that genetically modified plants are not allowed in the UK and you can keep them along with the chlorinated chicken and beef pumped full of antibiotics.

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Very interesting article! Thanks for sharing.

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Wow, this is exciting. I hope the scientist gets this done and lives to see the results.

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