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I used to dream of large scale solar and nuclear-powered desalination plants lining the mediterranean, solely for the purpose of pumping inland to create fresh

I used to dream of large scale solar and nuclear-powered desalination plants lining the mediterranean, solely for the purpose of pumping inland to create fresh water lakes to cool the local environment and perhaps stymie the increasing desertification of thre Iberian peninsula further north. Then I grew up a bit and realised how mind-bogglingly massive such a scheme would have to be :) These seems like a far more likely possibility, given the scale. Given we might be in part historically responsible for a lot of the desertification around the periphery of the Med, I don't personally have major qualms about geo-engineering 'mostly useless' spaces back into something a little more fertile and a little cooler.

pif 3y ago
> and perhaps stymie the increasing desertification of thre Iberian peninsula I think I get your point. I'm ready to take huge risks in order to support anything that may weaken the permanent African anticyclone.
- detritus 3y ago
  Hmm, where were you and your keen insight thirty years ago to pour cold water on my adolescent mental machinations around helping dissuade creeping desertation around where i lived?
  - pif 3y ago
    I was in Southern Italy, suffering for a weather that did not correspond to what I read in my school books, and learning to hate the words "Azores anticyclone". And later I switched to yearning for the comparatively friendly Azores anticyclone every time the damned African anticyclone came uninvited to the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, and made itself at home for weeks at a time.
    - detritus 3y ago
      My partner's from Marche, and boy do they have a bit too much water at the moment... :/
marcosdumay 3y ago
> a little cooler Hum... About this little bit, increasing low altitude humidity is almost guaranteed to make the place hotter, not cooler. Even if it adds vegetation.
kwhitefoot 3y ago
Sounds a bit like the Desertec project.

pif 3y ago

> and perhaps stymie the increasing desertification of thre Iberian peninsula I think I get your point. I'm ready to take huge risks in order to support anything that may weaken the permanent African anticyclone.

detritus 3y ago
Hmm, where were you and your keen insight thirty years ago to pour cold water on my adolescent mental machinations around helping dissuade creeping desertation around where i lived?
- pif 3y ago
  I was in Southern Italy, suffering for a weather that did not correspond to what I read in my school books, and learning to hate the words "Azores anticyclone". And later I switched to yearning for the comparatively friendly Azores anticyclone every time the damned African anticyclone came uninvited to the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, and made itself at home for weeks at a time.
  - detritus 3y ago
    My partner's from Marche, and boy do they have a bit too much water at the moment... :/

marcosdumay 3y ago

> a little cooler Hum... About this little bit, increasing low altitude humidity is almost guaranteed to make the place hotter, not cooler. Even if it adds vegetation.

kwhitefoot 3y ago

Sounds a bit like the Desertec project.