Was there was a desert here?
I bet you thought the biggest desert the world was the …Sahara. Sorry it is number 3 by area… But numbers one and two are covered with ice and snow and that is probably why you did not think of them. You probably also thought that every desert, especially the Sahara, was just a vast half continent of sand dunes and you are also only partially correct. In the late 1900’s some folks asked why that Sahara desert could not be reclaimed. Some of the governments dug up a technique that had been used in antiquity to wring sparse water out of the desert, much of which gets moist winds from the oceans. Several countries took the money and made the effort in various scattered ways.
At last, in 2007, 11 African Desert states signed up to the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) in an effort to restore degraded land and hold back encroaching desertification. One of the key methods for wringing the water out of the Spring rains and the wind is by digging half-moon shaped holes. Yep, it turns out the ancients that lived in the area discovered this trick and used it way back then. Fortunately, the modern folks listened to the locals and tried the special shaped ditches again and they worked. The video below describes the details of their construction, The gist of it is by using these manmade ditches and cultivating the water they collect, the Sahara is getting green around the edges.
A crude line across the Southern Sahara has turned green. A little scavenged water turned to grass. The grass allowed small animals that brought the seed of bigger plants and the trees brought shade and more wind wringers. The countries then added commercial farming. So that there is now a green border along the southern edge of the world’s best known desert. That green ring is growing wider, with intentional professional cultivation. The whole process has been boosted by the slight increase in the atmosphere of CO2. Carbon Dioxide is the breath of life for plants and even minor changes can help plants grow. Ask the greenhouse owners along the South shore of Canada. Satellite images confirmed reclaiming the desert was working. Estimates revealed that the pace of restoration will have to increase as much as four-fold to hit the 2030 target. BTW: Peru wrings water from the winds of the Pacific Ocean for local water supply in their mountains. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rQ5aHAnuE
Desert Sand traps:
A male contestant qualifying for an “Are you smarter than a fifth grader” type contest took an entry exam. One of the questions was: “What is the oldest desert in the world?” His answer was
Apple pie.”
What do you call a sorceress living in desert?
A “Sandwitch.”
I have this recurring nightmare where not only am I forced to become Vegan, I’m then stranded alone on a desert island….
and there’s nobody to tell.
The cast of Friends got shipwrecked on a deserted island…
Monica, Joey and Chandler were left behind because in real life David is a Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow.
September 15th Birthdays
1989 – Chelsea Kane, 1890 – Agatha Christie, 1986 – Heidi Montag, 1988 – Chelsea Staub
1978 – Tom Hardy, 1947 – Tommy Lee Jones, 1940 – Merlin Olson, 1789 – James Fenimore Cooper