Why scientists want to help plants capture more carbon dioxide

We are going to take a look at one of my favorite sessions from the ClimateTech conference last week, from a chapter called "Cleaning Your Plate."

Pamela Ronald is a plant geneticsist at the University of California, Davis. She has been working for a long time to help rice survive floods, and now she wants to use advanced genetics to remove carbon from farmland.

Plants and genetics.

There are a lot of tools scientists have at their disposal. We have more power than ever to influence what genes are used in crops.

It isn't new. Ronald pointed out in our interview at ClimateTech that most of the food we eat has been improved using a genetic tool.

Farmers have been breeding and cross-pollinating for hundreds of years. In the 20th century, researchers began using chemicals or radiation to cause random mutagenesis, which was beneficial.

Genetic tools have become more precise in the last fifty years. Specific genes were introduced into a plant. Scientists have been able to influence specific points in the genome.

Ronald said that they have a lot more tools.