Page 12 - Glowing Bunnies!? Why We're Making Hybrids, Chimeras, and Clones

Part 2 considers how we might help restore damaged ecosystems
and environments and even combat climate change by “de-extincting”
lost species or creating new animals to release into the wild.
Part 3 looks at the challenges facing agriculture and how to feed
ourselves without further harming the planet. Genetic engineering
could make agriculture more efficient and less polluting while also
improving the health and welfare of livestock.
Of course, we use animals in countless ways: to do jobs, make
products, and share our lives as animal companions. Part 4 considers
all of this but especially pets.
Finally, part 5 focuses on human health and medicine, or using
genetically engineered animals to help fight or eliminate disease, heal
people, and directly save lives.
If there’s any problem anywhere involving living things, you can
bet that someone somewhere is working furiously to solve it using
genetic engineering. Whether these efforts will succeed the way people
intend remains to be seen, but in ways large and small, people are
urgently trying to use genetic engineering to reshape our world—and
not just for our benefit but for the benefit of the entire planet.
—Hand waving in the air.—
That sounds great except for this: many people would say that
human impacts and tinkering with nature are what have caused most
of these problems—or at least made them worse. And given all the
messes humans have made over the years, it’s easy to conclude that we
aren’t very good at tinkering. What makes scientists, researchers, or
anyone think new tools will help us do any better? Shouldn’t we learn
our lesson and stop?
As it is, human impacts on Earth have become so extreme,
all-encompassing, and enduring that people struggle to properly
characterize them. Some geologists even suggest we rename the current
geological epoch after ourselves. Epoch names reflect the defining force
shaping the world, and over the last few centuries, as one essay notes,

10 GLOWING BUNNIES!?