Lots of people are excited about the idea of using plants to help us draw down some of the excess carbon dioxide we’ve been pumping into the atmosphere. It would be nice to think that we could reforest our way out of the mess we’re creating, but recent studies have indicated there’s simply not enough productive land for this to work out.
One alternative might be to get plants to take up carbon dioxide more efficiently. Unfortunately, the enzyme that incorporates carbon dioxide into photosynthesis, called RUBISCO, is remarkably inefficient. So, a team of researchers in Taiwan decided to try something new—literally. They put together a set of enzymes that added a new-to-nature biochemical cycle to plants that let it incorporate carbon far more efficiently. The resulting plants grew larger and incorporated more carbon.
deleted by creator
Believe it or not, I am right there with you on this. There is little to no way that I can see to do this without leaving most plants facing more competition than they can possibly cope with. Maybe start with islands that already have low plant biodiversity, and try to splice as many of each variety of plant there as possible at once? … but that’s all I’ve got.
Spliced Oceanic Algeas would probably just fill the oceans to the point of killing everything else in them.