Prologue to IOBB China

[Li Kangmin, CN]

Chinese Academy of Sciences solemnly celebrated the 100th Birthday of
Dr. Tong Dizhou in 2002. Tong was a brilliant biologist in the world.
In his 50 years academic research he was engaged in cell and
developmental biology over a long period of time, firstly creating
nucleus transplanting between different species, and might be rated as
a "cloning pioneer"in the world.
"When the movie Frankenstein came first to the screens, the dangers
of erratic science became obvious to the public at large. Though,
Frankenstein was nothing more than a fantasy. He never existed, and
never will. Dolly, on the other hand, does exist, and unfortunately
this first genetic manipulation of a sheep has the looks of a real
animal. Therefore Dolly does not call for reactions of horror amongst
the public at large. Thanks to the creation of clones like Dolly,
biotechnologies are popular, debated, and only a few dislike her, only
a minority vilifies her. Reality is that the opportunities embedded in
biotech are vast, and the stakes are great. New industries are about to
emerge, fortunes are about to be made, patents are registered and
monopolies are about to be granted. Our life and life style is being
shaped in a way we never imagined possible. Mankind is at
crossroads." -Gunter Pauli
We were facing a lot of problems as World Watch showed to us in past 30
years about shrinking forests, expanding deserts, eroding soils,
deteriorating rangeland, and disappearing species. Now we are worried
about collapsing fisheries, rising carbon dioxide levels, falling water
tables, rising temperatures, river running dry, stratospheric ozone
deletion, more destructive storms, melting glaciers, and rising sea
level as Lester Brown has shown. In the future we are projecting
population growth, food shortage, and energy crisis. We must change our
world view, putting ecology before economy and follow the path of Plan
B instead of Plan A the western economic model---the fossil-fuel-based,
automobile-centered, throwaway economy.
How to deal with all these pressing problems are based on The Five
Kingdoms of the Gaia Hypothesis. The 21st century is the biotechnology
century. We must respect nature and imitate nature in developing
biotechnology because the planet we inhabit is a living earth. We must
promote, not interfere the co-evolution of all the living creatures on
earth in cooperative and competitive processes. As is well known, there
is no waste in nature. Let's look at photosynthesis process.
Apparently CO2 is the most important raw material. Today the harmful
substance we think is the food of plants. It is the principle of
photosynthesis. From the viewpoint of the Plant Kingdom rising carbon
dioxide level is not a disaster, but abundant food. In the history of
earth there really were several geological periods such as the
Carboniferous Period 280 million years ago and the Permian Period 230
million years ago when flourishing forests existed everywhere on land,
more dense than present forests. Why? The main reason was that the
carbon dioxide level in atmosphere then was 2-4 times present time. If
we can sequester and provide sufficient CO2 on spot as water to plants,
perhaps the food production will have a new growth point. If we can
breed some carbon-philous cultivars, which can positively respond to
higher concentration of CO2 than 2-3 fold CO2 level in atmosphere, how
can we worry about food for human beings? If we can produce large
amount of biogas, bio-fuel, and bio-diesel, how can we fear when coal
mining depletes, natural gas and oil fields drain away?