Dr. Franken-Tree, I Presume: Using Biotechnology to Battle Extinction — forbes.com

In thirty years of covering (as an author/journalist) and working on (as an entrepreneur/activist) both ecological issues and technological breakthroughs, I’ve come to the conclusion that the greatest environmental threat we now face is the sad fact that, for the most part, environmentalists and technologists refuse to speak to one another. This has long made me crazy. One example comes to mind.  When I was researching Abundance, I was on the phone with one of the world’s leading experts in water. He told me that no matter what happened, no matter what technology was utilized, Sub-Saharan Africa was still totally screwed. “Totally screwed?” I replied, “What about vertical farming, which can grow crops with 80 percent less water, or in-vitro meat, I mean, half the water in the US goes to grow grain that feeds cattle.”

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