A bridge in the climate debate – How to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change

Watts Up With That? ^ | March 8, 2013 | Anthony Watts

[Rocky]

Every once in awhile, an idea comes along that makes you ask, “gee why hasn’t anybody seen this before?”. This one of those times. This video below is something I almost didn’t watch, because my concerns were triggered by a few key words in the beginning. But, recommended by a Facebook friend, I stuck with it, and I’m glad I did, because I want every one of you, no matter what side of the climate debate you live in, to watch this and experience that light bulb moment as I did. The key here is to understand that desertification is one of the real climate changes we are witnessing as opposed to some the predicted ones we often fight over.

It is one of those seminal moments where I think a bridge has been created in the climate debate, and I hope you’ll seize the moment and embrace it. This video comes with my strongest possible recommendation, because it speaks to a real problem, with real solutions in plain language, while at the same time offering true hope.

[SunkenCiv]

• The African Source Of The Amazon's Fertilizer
• Out Of Africa
• Detritus of life abounds in the atmosphere
• Wall 'could stop desert spread'
• World's deserts getting greener despite global warming
• Sahara Desert Greening Due to Climate Change?
• Millions 'Wasted' Planting Trees That Reduce Water
• On Top Of The World! Sensational Collection Of Satellite Images Captures Earth's Natural Wonders
• Desertification, dust 'global threats'
• Deserts set to expand (Climate Change barf alert)
• World's land turning to desert at alarming speed, United Nations warns
• The coming ice age [full-blown glaciation in less than 20 years]
• Strongest sand storm ever captured on satellite over the Sahara
• Kazakh Dam Condems Most Of The Shrunken Aral Sea To Oblivion
• Lost Civilization Discovered in Sahara Desert
• Fish Swam the Sahara, Bolstering Out of Africa Theory
• Lost Cities of the Sahara
• How Earth's orbital shift shaped the Sahara
• Stone Age humans crossed Sahara in the rain
• Is this the legendary lost Persian army
• Legendary Lost Persian Army Found in Sahara
• Looking for an Adventure in Undiscovered Lands? Visit These Once Off-Limits Nations
• Graves Found From Sahara's Green Period
• Graves Found From Sahara's Green Period
• US scientists find stone age burial ground in Sahara
• In Search Of The Lost Sahara
• Once Lush Sahara Dried Up Over Millennia, Study Says
• Sahara dried out slowly, not abruptly: study
• The Tassili n'Ajjer [Algeria] : birthplace of ancient Egypt ?
• Egypt's Earliest Agricultural Settlement Unearthed
• UN vandals spray graffiti on Sahara's prehistoric art
• Ruins of 7,000-year-old city found in Egypt oasis
• Dying Trade Of The Sahara Camel Trade
• Exodus From Drying Sahara Gave Rise to Pharaohs, Study Says
• Sahara Desert Was Once Lush and Populated
• Adventurer crosses sands that conquered a king
• Ancient lakes of the Sahara
• Stone Age Cemetery, Artifacts Unearthed In Sahara
• Prehistoric Desert Town Found In Western Sahara (15,000 Years Old)
• Scientists Explore Lakefront Property, in the Sahara
• Astronomy Picture of the Day 11-12-02
• African Ice Core Analysis Reveals Catastrophic Droughts, Shrinking Ice Fields, Civilization Shifts
• Geology Picture of the Week, June 23-30, 2002
• Geology Picture of the Week, June 23-30, 2002

[Democrat_media]

the news media tells us Earth's climate and temperature are determined by C02 a gas that is less than 0.039% of the atmosphere. However without the Sun the Earth would be -455 degrees Fahrenheit below zero so a person with a brain will know it is the Sun that determines the Earth's temp and climate. so the news media and democrats get the public to accept more government( less freedom) gov banning light bulbs, regulating and taxing everything and coming up with all sorts of save the world schemes to let government do them , save the world from a non-existant hoax called global warming. the earth is cooling : check out solar cycle 25, yes the Sun has a solar cycle (the media doesn't mention this)

http://arcana.wikidot.com/temperature-of-outer-space
Outer space is really, really cold. -454.8 degrees Fahrenheit (-270 degrees Celsius) cold. Brr… Well, that's not completely true. Only matter can have a temperature, nothingness doesn't. And space is mostly a big empty void of nothingness. However, most random objects floating deep in space will be that temperature or very close to it.

[SunkenCiv]

Now you’re just making sense. ;’)

Of course, carbon dioxide is only a few hundred PPM, and has nothing whatsoever to do with climate change; climate change is 100 percent natural 100 percent of the time; and having more water vapor coming off the Sahara would lead to more rain as well, transforming places like, oh, Arabia, back into verdant places as they were in early historical times, but particularly prior to Islam.

[Democrat_media]

It’s just another collectivist scheme (”we’ve got to do something”) to get us to allow the government to do something else as if they don’t do enough already. I just want the government and news media to leave me alone .

[cripplecreek]

Some deserts have been dry for millions of years and others have fluctuated with a shifting climate. Rain shadow deserts are another issue that have a physical barrier to rain.

Its all kind of pointless.

[tbw2]

Thanks for the link.

[Vigilanteman]

Interesting thread on this very subject from a 2007 forum is posted here. The Qatarra Depression in northwest Egypt is 7500 square miles with an average depth of 436 feet below sea level. Flood it and you create a huge lake while generating electricity on the short trip from the Mediterranean.

Huge lake = long shoreline near a body of water which creates evaporation and conditions necessary to make rainfall on the surrounding desert.

This isn't the only large area below sea level in the world, just one of the easiest to flood.

[hosepipe]

When someone mentions “GREEN” anything think “RED”...

[Vigilanteman]

Wow! That was some education. My father grew up herding sheep in the high desert. I always assumed when he told me many of the same things as Mr. Savory that his opinions were colored by his distrust of the government and what they had done to his people ever since the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains first begin to attract American settlers.

Now, I'm convinced more than ever that Dad was right.

[WVNan]

Animal population stops desertification by breaking up that top crust with their hoofs, so the water can get to the soil beneath instead of running off.

Freeper Carry_okie has a web book about this very thing. Ask him.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, that happens to me too. Not the herding part, the dad being right after all part. Of course, like everyone, he was wrong quite a bit too. ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure.

[Rocky]

Thanks for all those links. And for your positive take on Savory’s talk. I must say I was disappointed at the knee-jerk reactions of so many Freepers on this thread who seem to stop listening when the guy hits one of their “hot buttons” such as global warming. I think he has some important things to share, but that doesn’t mean that I support everything he says.

Desertification is occurring. He makes the point that it isn’t necessarily because of manmade global warming. He also isn’t saying that all deserts should be “greened,” only that we should stop the spread of deserts and try to reclaim some of the land which used to be fertile and now is barren. It’s a good thing, as far as I can tell. There might be something in his talk which is very important for us to learn.

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure.

Herodotus regarding Lake Tritonis
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1562135/posts?page=27#27
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1669466/posts?page=27#27

Libya’s Vast Pipe Dream Taps Into Desert’s Ice Age Water
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1089444/posts

interesting citation from blam:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1669466/posts?page=20#20