4 ms·
Is this a good thing? I mean it’s certainly interesting but as others have pointed out the desert is a natural ecosystem and it makes a lot more sense to refor
by headmelted 6y ago
Is this a good thing?
I mean it’s certainly interesting but as others have pointed out the desert is a natural ecosystem and it makes a lot more sense to reforest areas of previous growth than doing this. That’s not really my problem with it though.
Surely from a climate change perspective this is really just introducing a fairly large carbon sink that will eventually release the carbon in short order if the irrigation stops or political will blows in a different direction?
We’re way beyond the point of just planting more trees to combat climate change, although we definitely need to do that too, we need a plan to sequester greenhouse gases permanently, and I’m not sure this does that.
- nextaccountic 6y agoYes, it is. The Sahara was green some 15000 years ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_humid_period https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_humid_period
- headmelted 6y agoThat’s exactly my point though. From the link: “Even if humans stop emitting greenhouse gases today, these gases would still be elevated by the year 12000.” Creating a temporary carbon sink in the form of a desert forest helps in the short term, but is not negative carbon. It’s net carbon neutral. Genuinely being “green” in this instance requires sequestration of the existing gas from the atmosphere.
- Maursault 6y agoYeah, and it will be again in 10,000 years, but as per the wiki you site, this is due to Earth's orbital period [1], and it doesn't last very long. And during Green Sahara (if our species is still around to see it) we're likely to see deserts where we now have green. [1] https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/green-sahara-african-humid-periods-paced-by-82884405/ https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/green-saha...