It is never a good idea to place all of your focus on one plan.

Rather, having
contingencies and working to make them possible is always important. Climate change is
no exception. Ideally, we would want to stop and reverse it, but that is only Plan A.
Should that plan fail, we need a plan B, and we need the groundwork to make it a reality.
I believe that working towards the implementation of a backup plana safety net for
humanityis where my skill set can be best utilized.
Two of the common concerns that you hear associated with climate change are
hunger and health. The concern with hunger stems from a loss of viable land for
agriculture as climate changes and areas that were suitable become too hot and dry or
otherwise unusable. Health concerns grow with climate change because of heat-related
conditions such as malaria (which is prevalent in warmer climates where carriers thrive).
Health problems hit less-developed countries even harder, but all are effected, and many
diseases which are carried by organisms that require warmth could spread to a larger
portion of the world as more of the earth reaches the temperature threshold for the
organism to survive. Both of these problem could be solved by stopping global warming,
but if that cant happen, then I believe that geneticsthe sector of science which I am
most passionate aboutcould provide an answer.
Using genetics to solve agricultural problems is a highly contentious subject.
Many who are unfamiliar with the science condemn it because they do not understand it
and worry about problems it could cause. At one point in time, this was valid. The
original techniques used in genetic engineering required bacteria or viruses as
intermediates which resulted in low specificity, risk of contamination, and risk of
mutation. As a result, it was possible to create unexpected changes when altering an
organism. However, with the introduction of new gene-editing toolschimeric
nucleases such as CRISPR-Cas9 in particularthe highly specific and controllable
alteration of an organisms genetics is now possible. This means that we can identify a
plant that thrives in a warm climate, identify proteins that help it to survive there, and, in
theory, add the genes for these proteins to another plant from a cooler climate. The risks?
Minimal. If this is done using a tool such as CRISPR-Cas9, then there is no chance of
unexpected proteins being created, only the proteins from the cool-climate and warmclimate plants that were started with. In fact, in the last year, a browning-resistant
mushroom was created using this technique, and the FDA, after initial testing, determined
that there was no need for further regulation because there was no chance of unexpected
resultsit could be sold like any other mushroom! There have been claims that genetic
engineering can lead to less nutritious products, but there have actually been projects in
which these same techniques have been used to increase the health value of plants. Given
enough education, I believe it is possible to combat the fears associated with GMOs and
use them to solve the worlds hunger problem even if climate change continues, and that
is something that I could see myself doing.
In the realm of health, there have been a number of attempts to combat infectious
diseases such as malaria which thrive in warm climates which grow as global warming
continues. From creating genetically modified mosquitoes which could outcompete the
existing mosquitoes but could either not carry the diseases or could not reproduce, to
attempting to alter the diseases themselves, to creating new treatments for these diseases,
there are numerous different ways in which genetics can help combat health problems. It

could even be used to create an organism that helps to clean water or harness energy from
waste.
The techniques described above do not only apply to plantsthey can be used
with any organism. While genetically altering humans seems too controversial for
anything but a post-apocalyptic last-resort situation, genetic engineering could be used to
alter insects or viruses to limit a problem, it could be used to alter bacteria or yeast to be
helpful instead of harmful, or it could help to maintain and restore biodiversity in a world
that is changing too quickly. In short, if climate changed cant be stopped, there are
backup plans being formed. Genetics is one of those, and its where I believe I can do the
most good and where I plan to focus my education as I attempt to understand and aid the
vast web of influences that we call society.