[DIYbio] Re: What is your biggest problem?

Speaking for myself, I have been pushing for the most meaningful projects in the last years. But it gets quite frustrating. 

The more sophisticated it gets, like producing plants that have higher photosynthetic efficiencies and thus grow faster and sequester more CO2 (yes, that actually works https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/genetically-engineered-tobacco-does-more-efficient-photosynthesis-65286 ) the more regulation you have. Deregulation costs you a hefty 200 million dollars and 15 years of approval processes and testing. While you can irradiate plant seeds with gama rays and induce thousands of unwanted random mutation and that requires no safety testing. 

There's certainly no business model for safing the planet (under current regulations definitely not) and hence we'll see Florida and the Netherlands under water within 5-10 years, more and longer droughts due to less powerful jet stream (you need the temperature difference between poles and equator that drives atmospheric circulation, and climate change disproportionally heats the poles) and even more dead zones than we already have in the oceans due to the decline in thermohaline circulation. Once the oceans get anoxic enough, they completely tip and release toxic hdrogen sulfide (easily digestible form: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event#Hydrogen_sulfide_emissions ~ https://wileyearthpages.wordpress.com/2005/06/01/hydrogen-sulfide-and-mass-extinction/ ). Reading tons of actual primary literature on this, I think we have somewhere between 20 and 100 years left until the planet becomes euxinic and every mammal and reptile dies. The oceans will be empty long before. 

Hope this hasn't become off-topic too much but it's what came up to your question

On Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at 3:48:13 PM UTC+1, Seth Donnelley wrote:

After starting this thread, I have been thinking some more. Now, I have a serious question for everyone who reads this.

As someone in the DIYbio community, do you have a desire to pursue socially impactful projects, or is this more for fun?

Most people I've met make me think they are in the "for fun" category, but how many are really serious about changing the world?

Seth