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> Big bold projects by African dictators to leapfrog the economy has a truly atrocious track record. Perhaps, yes. But the Sahara is expanding and reducing the

> Big bold projects by African dictators to leapfrog the economy has a truly atrocious track record. Perhaps, yes. But the Sahara is expanding and reducing the livable area of land in those countries. That can only add to economic strife. On the other hand, building a green wall reduces or eliminates the expansion of the desert and also increases the amount of food available to those countries. I believe that would help reduce the strife between those countries. Yes there's risk of abuse but I think everyone wants to be self-sufficient and anything towards that is laudable. > UN involvement makes it even worse. Can you explain that further? The U.N. is terrible at directly preventing conflict (just look at Ukraine) but I think it has a decent track record of helping countries build their infrastructure. > I'm glad that it's still possible to destroy an ecosystem What? You think building green savannahs is destroying an ecosystem? > That would never fly in the US. I don't know about never but I do think it'd certainly be difficult. > We also have no need to produce more food I disagree. I think we have no appetite to produce more food right now, but the way we're currently growing food is rather asinine. > and our deserts are mostly beloved natural wonders. Mostly, yes. But I think there's plenty of deserts that aren't quite natural wonders.

rayiner 2y ago
> Can you explain that further? The U.N. is terrible at directly preventing conflict (just look at Ukraine) but I think it has a decent track record of helping countries build their infrastructure Some UN agencies are very effective, particularly the ones that are basically run by Americans, such as the World Bank. The more third world countries participate in any given agency, the more of a tire fire it is.
- MomsAVoxell 2y ago
  Could you be more imperialist? Let’s see some examples of well-run UN agencies ‘staffed by Americans’. I guarantee you they are a cesspool of corruption and bigotry.
  - rayiner 2y ago
    Incorrect. Source: am a third worlder, my dad was exiled from the third world for being too conscientious and punctual and spent his career working with UN agencies.
- inetknght 2y ago
  > The more third world countries participate in any given agency, the more of a tire fire it is. I don't know about other U.N. agencies. But I find Andrew Millison's youtube blogs [0] to be quite interesting on the subject. His blog about refugees [1] for example. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/@amillison https://www.youtube.com/@amillison [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfiH9T-iR3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfiH9T-iR3E
Xorakios 2y ago
The Sahara has generally been contracting for the last few decades as the "greener" Sahel band expands north due to higher average rainfall (individual years vary, and the effect is stronger in the west than the east). A Google search will likely list articles citing the 2018 study from UofMaryland that showed approximately a 10% increase in the Sahara's area from 1902-2012, ignoring the portions of that study that said that breaking down by decade showed a reversal in the 1980's. https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/31/9/jcli-d-17-0187.1.xml https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/31/9/jcli-d-... Google maps timeview has a fun animation if you search for Sahara Desert. https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/ https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/

rayiner 2y ago

> Can you explain that further? The U.N. is terrible at directly preventing conflict (just look at Ukraine) but I think it has a decent track record of helping countries build their infrastructure Some UN agencies are very effective, particularly the ones that are basically run by Americans, such as the World Bank. The more third world countries participate in any given agency, the more of a tire fire it is.

MomsAVoxell 2y ago
Could you be more imperialist? Let’s see some examples of well-run UN agencies ‘staffed by Americans’. I guarantee you they are a cesspool of corruption and bigotry.
- rayiner 2y ago
  Incorrect. Source: am a third worlder, my dad was exiled from the third world for being too conscientious and punctual and spent his career working with UN agencies.
inetknght 2y ago
> The more third world countries participate in any given agency, the more of a tire fire it is. I don't know about other U.N. agencies. But I find Andrew Millison's youtube blogs [0] to be quite interesting on the subject. His blog about refugees [1] for example. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/@amillison https://www.youtube.com/@amillison [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfiH9T-iR3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfiH9T-iR3E

Xorakios 2y ago

The Sahara has generally been contracting for the last few decades as the "greener" Sahel band expands north due to higher average rainfall (individual years vary, and the effect is stronger in the west than the east). A Google search will likely list articles citing the 2018 study from UofMaryland that showed approximately a 10% increase in the Sahara's area from 1902-2012, ignoring the portions of that study that said that breaking down by decade showed a reversal in the 1980's. https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/31/9/jcli-d-17-0187.1.xml https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/31/9/jcli-d-... Google maps timeview has a fun animation if you search for Sahara Desert. https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/ https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/