EDITING
NATURE
Integrating biotechnology and collective wisdom to heal our planet
Editing Nature stands in solidarity with Black people protesting their right to life. Their right to live free of fear, discrimination, and violence. Their right to health. Their right to justice. Their right to clean air and water. Their right to be heard.
Our mission at Editing Nature is to create fair processes that empower all voices so together we may create a most just and healthy future. We vow to do everything in our power and privilege to fight alongside Black people of America and around the world to dismantle white supremacy and the racialized structures and systems that are killing Black lives, our democracies, our environment, and our collective humanity.
Genetic engineering of wild species could solve some of our world's most pressing challenges.
Irresponsible use of this technology - or a refusal to explore its potential - could imperil both human and environmental health.
OUr Approach
Editing Nature is a platform that enables collective guidance of environmental genetic engineering.
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Inform by providing access to comprehensive and balanced data, stories, and expertise.
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Convene by creating community and cultivating conversation across disciplines and cultures.
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Advocate for responsible technology development and effective and equitable policy.
Dinny Nolan Tjampitjinpa - Water Dreaming at Mikanji - 1988
Courtesy of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
What & WHY
THE OPPORTUNITY
New genetic technologies like CRISPR gene editing and gene drives are changing how we alter the environment. Environmental release of gene edited plants and animals may provide long sought-after solutions for public health, environmental conservation, and sustainable agriculture. Around the world, projects are underway to genetically suppress, restore, or transform wild species and, by extension, the ecosystems and human communities they are part of.
Public Health
reducing insect-borne diseases
Environmental Conservation
elimination of invasive species
Climate Change Adaptation
resiliency for threatened species
Sustainable Agriculture
chemical-free pest suppression
THE Challenge
The complexity of these technologies demands diverse expertise. Technology design often doesn't integrate across disciplines and perspectives.
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Deployment decisions will be made in uncertainty. Most risk assessments aren't transparent or broad enough.
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Local communities have a right to how these decisions are made. Existing regulation doesn't acknowledge that right.
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These organisms are likely to cross international borders. No global oversight exists.
OUR Approach
Editing Nature integrates scientific rigor and diverse cultural perspectives to inform wise decisions.
INFORM
CONVENE
ADVOCATE
OUR IMPACT
Editing nature: Local roots of global governance
Policy forum in Science
02 Nov 2018
Gene drives: yelling match drowns out voices
By Natalie Kofler
Correspondence in Nature
02 Jan 2019
Ethics in Environmental Gene Editing
Think Out Loud
Oregon Public Radio
20 Dec 2018
There needs to be a global policy to govern gene editing, says molecular biologist
The Current
CBC Radio
15 Nov 2018
Natalie Kofler asks: What role should humans play in editing nature?
When We Talk About Animals
20 Nov 2018
Editing Nature: A Call for Careful Oversight of Environmental Gene Editing
Yale News
02 Nov 2018
