The Gene Changing Discovery CRISPR

CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat is a new gene editing tool we all need to be aware of. 
Read more about it here: http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2014/crispr-a-game-changing-genetic-engineering-technique/

   In the future, cancer, aging and diseases could be ended. 

Scientists just started a trial of taking cancer cells out of patients, changing the genetic code and infusing them back into the patients.  This could be great, but what about other diseases like Huntington’s disease or Down’s Syndrome.   Shouldn’t those people be loved and accepted just the way they are?  Well, they aren’t!  90% of babies with Down’s Syndrome are aborted!  In my opinion in the hands of the right person this could be great.  But in the hands of Socialists, we could have our DNA changed for evil purposes. 

What Nature Means to me?

   Nature Gives Me Peace.

One of the best experiences I had in nature was while I was in California for Memorial Day weekend with my family.  I had a blast hiking in the San Bernardino Mountains and swimming in the ocean.   After our long drive we arrived at the beach and ran to shore.  

My little sister skipped around in the sand, where the tide chased her until she was on higher ground. I joined in the excitement and slowly walked toward the roaring waves on the wet sand.  I kept walking into the splashing waves until I could barely touch.  Then the tide came and heavy waves poured out hundreds of gallons of waters on my head.  I collapsed underneath the weight and was tossed and pushed as the waves wrapped around me like the air on the earth. 

Quickly I would roll back onto my feet and hurry to the shore.  If I wasn’t quick enough the waves would pull me back into deeper waters.  When I had my fill of fun, I sat in the sand and enjoyed the view.  The palm trees were so tall and the leaves were so big.  Looking at the palm tree, I was filled with courage and coolness.   I marveled that the tall, skinny tree could withstand the wind and the waves that would crash against it.  I stared out over the water and realized how small I was, and that the world was great.  So I thought God must be much greater and more beautiful.    As David Thoreau said, “My profession is to always find God in nature.”                                              

              I remember looking down and seeing a little crab in the sand and a small flock of seagulls walking a couple feet away from us.  I was so amazed.  Each seagull and crab was important in its own way.  It might be beautiful or ugly, but it does what it was designed for and tells us to remain strong, firm and calm.  I remember seeing the sea gulls soaring and swooping low in the wind, and seeing the sun set in the sky.  The sunset colors advanced from a few beautiful blues into an epic colorful masterpiece of crimson reds, dazzling gold, creamy pinks and oranges, and a few thin purple clouds.  We roasted hotdogs and s’mores on the shore.  When it was dark I walked back to the waves.  I stared up at the awesome grey and blue clouds and stars in the night sky.  A few white shimmers reflected on the water from the moon.  

After our week of adventures in California we headed back home.  We stopped by the Grand Canyon to see one of the wonders of the world.  We found a good lookout spot to see the view.  I stared out into the depths of the blue, tan and red Grand Canyon walls. 

I was filled with peace and wonder.  I thought about how the world could be without all the chaos and business.   I looked at the rocks.  They were so calm and wonderful and still.  I could focus all my attention on the beauty that was around me.  I was not focusing on myself and my problems.  I did not have to worry about other people or work.  The rocks were saying, “look how wonderful I am and how great your God is.”  Just like poet Sylvia Plath said, “I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery-air, mountains, trees, and people.  I thought.  This is what it is to be happy.”

Life seemed clear and I had a purpose.   When I looked at the huge Canyon I knew myself and I knew God.  I saw the divine creativity and the power of God.   He seemed closer and I felt so free.  I will take those sights and thoughts with me wherever I go.  I had to take those memories with me.  I had to remember them anytime I got too busy or started suffocating in the overcrowded city.

As Edward Abbey said, “Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.”   Imagine not having this necessity.  No wilderness, no exploring, no plant life, no flowers and no food.  I really wanted to stay in Arizona but I forced myself to leave.  Yet, I decided that I will return one day and hike down into the deep mysterious place below.

I found out that being in nature reduced my stress and anxiety about the future.  I was a just a small detail in the epic plan of life.   However, just like every crab, palm tree, or sea gull is important and part of a big picture, I am too.  Wildlife and its wonders refresh me by reminding me of my importance.   Nature gives me hope, strength, and mostly a lot of peace.

Deforestaion and Farming

                                           Illegal Deforestation Versus Sustainable Farming

In a day where population and businesses are increasing, these questions often arise.   Are we destroying our natural resources?  Are we cutting down too many trees?  Can our world really sustain us if we continue our non eco- friendly ways? 

On one side we have the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) which is an organization full of professors, businessmen and scientists that have a balanced perspective on issues like the environment.  They believe the world has sustained us for thousands of years and will continue to do so.   On the other side we have scientists like those at Yale school of Forestry and Environmental Studies who say “the earth is on track to run out of trees in 300 years,” and that we need to put much effort in restoring our nature’s health.

Let’s look at some different angles about this issue.    Farmers can get more land that was once occupied by the rain forests.   This is benefitting these countries’ economies.   For example, Brazil is the largest producer and exporter of beef.   Historically, Brazilians have not eaten very much meat, but they have been influenced by immigrant populations.  Now they are consuming more meat.   The herd size has been increasing every year and pastures are opened up from the felling of trees in the Amazon Rain Forest.  Beef exportation was a way for the people to make money.  Farmers cleared some forest land and the government has realized it’s time to cut back on all the cutting.  

In the article “Did Ranchers and Slaughterhouses Respond to Zero Deforestation Agreement in the Brazilian Amazon?” there are some sad facts but also good news.  Para State in Brazil is responsible for 40% of Amazonian deforestation.  The government made a zero deforestation agreement with the slaughter houses and meat packing companies to never buy meat from a deforested area.   The beef ranchers registered their land in an environmental registry, and now meat packing companies avoid buying beef from deforested properties.  “In 2009, both the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Pará state (Ministério Público Federal MPF-Pará) and NGOs pressured the beef and leather retailers and meatpacking companies, which own and operate slaughterhouses, to reduce deforestation associated with cattle production. The MPF-Pará sued ranchers who cleared forest illegally and the slaughterhouses that bought from them.” (Baretto and Silvio)  The government has helped deforestation rates to slow down.
   

Logs are another export of Brazil.  America is an importer of their lumber.  There are efforts for sustainable logging.  Sustainable farmers cut down old trees.   The older trees are losing the carbon inside of them as they produce oxygen.   Therefore young trees consume more carbon and produce more net amount of oxygen.  Cutting down old trees makes more room for young trees.     Big logging businesses aren’t doing this unless they are forced too. The government is having a difficult time regulating timber exports.  

Private farmers only make up a small percentage the illegal foresting.  Another study done in Para Brazil, shows that it’s hard to stop illegal loggers.  The Green Peace organization did a report about the Amazon.  There investigation showed that huge amounts of trees are getting cut down illegally.  Government officials and prosecutors were interviewed about the log exportation.  The Brazilian government isn’t strong enough to enforce regulations and that there aren’t always government agencies in the areas where deforestation is happening.  They explained that it is very difficult to track illegal loggers.   They explored 157000 hectares from 2011 to 2012.  In Para 78% of the forest had suffered from logging.  (logging, greenpeace)

                 The people who live by the rain forest seem to care about the land.  Some people are upset with illegal loggers who are taking away their trees.   Farmers can use the land if they care about the plants and animals and reproduce the vegetation and beauty instead of leaving it destroyed.   Those that have respect for future generations as well as believe in a Creator don’t want to use up everything He has given us.   Deforestation leads to less oxygen and more green house gasses.  Cutting down trees carelessly is not a liberty our world can afford.   

                A lot of tropical countries have deforested their land for uses like palm oil, paper, and tobacco. For example Indonesia is losing its rain forests at a higher rate than Brazil is.  Can we blame them?  America has been cutting down their trees to build cities.   Brazil is a developing country and should be able to use the trees and land, says David  Rothbard and Craig Rucker from CFACT, in the article “Facts Lost in Deep Dark Jungle of the Rainforest Issue,”   

Alternatively, the Amazon has special trees, plants, and animals that can’t grow anywhere else besides in that rain forest.  It would take a lot of work to plant another rainforest and inhabit it with other animals.  Also, there aren’t just private farmers cutting down trees.  There are loggers destroying lots of trees with money chief in mind -not the environment or even farming.  It is a fight to protect the forests explains Amy Moas in an article “Caught Up in the Battle Against Congo’s Irresponsible Loggers”. (Amy Moas)    

Rain forests also provide land for palm oil.  Palm oil is more sustainable than canola oil because
“their fruit, which contains 50 percent oil, has much higher yields than other vegetable oils. Farmers can produce five to eight times more palm oil for a given area of land than its vegetable oil competition says, Calen May Tobin.  Small farmers can also harvest fruit a couple years instead of cutting a whole tree down and using the fruit once. Farmers in Indonesia, Malaysia, North America and South America as well as other countries harvest huge amounts of oil from their palm oil plantations.       

This also gives farmers more jobs and benefits their economy. Palm oil business can be certified to ensure that it’s eco-friendly and not destroying ecosystems.  If palm oil was banned the need for way more land would increase in order to produce other oils.  Palm oil is also healthier than other vegetable oils.  “Highly saturated tropical oils do not contribute to heart disease but have nourished healthy populations for millennia.” (Said Mary Enig, PhD, and Sally Fallon)

                A lot of the world’s forests have been destroyed, sometimes for the benefit of the people.  There are efforts being made to fix the destruction and become more sustainable.   India, China, America and other countries are working on reforestation.  Our forests are and will continue to make a comeback.  Developing countries near rainforests have hard decisions to make as they consider the negative and positive effects they are creating as they clear the land of beautiful forests.   

Works Cited

 Dennehy, Kevin, “Seeing the Forest and the Trees, All 3 Trillion of Them.” yale, 2 Sep. 2015, http://news.yale.edu/2015/09/02/seeing-forest-and-trees-all-3-trillion-them.

 “Did Ranchers and Slaughterhouses Respond to Zero Deforestation Agreement in the Brazilian Amazon?” wiley, 12 May 2015, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12175/full.

Enig, Mary PhD, and Fallon, Sally) “The Truth About Saturated Fat.” Mercola, Aug. 2002, http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/08/24/saturated-fat3.aspx.

Logging: “The Amazon’s Silent Crisis.” greenpeace, 19 Sep. 2003 http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/legacy/Global/usa/planet3/PDFs/SilentCrisisTimberReport.pdf?x14568.

 Moas, Amy, “Caught Up in the Battle Against Congo’s Irresponsible Loggers.” greenpeace, 13 Nov. 2014, http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/congos-irresponsible-loggers/.

 Rothbard, David and Rucker, Craig, “Claims That the Rain Forest Are Being Destroyed Are Exaggerated.” Rain Forests, edited by Stuart A Kallen, Green Haven, 2006, pp. 18-23

“Tobin, Calen, “Is It Possible to Produce Palm Oil in a Sustainable Way?” ucsusa, Feb. 2014, http://www.ucsusa.org/publications/ask/2014/sustainable-palm-oil.html#.WBdQqiT-SzE.