Forestation of the desert, and general terraforming thread

[realpolitic]

Forests reduce the CO2. Based on that alone, they're a good idea. It's been this summer.

[Az]

Worhtless fact:

Each year More people are killed by coconuts falling out the tree than are killed by sharks.

That's indeed a worthless fact. You want me to bring you car crash statistics.





MrFun: you're getting better, ALL THE TIME.

[Provost Harrison]

"I remember when all this was fields...now it's all forest!"

We've got barely any forest left over here now, although this island used to be covered in it...there should be more replanting as we certainly have no problem regarding food output and it makes great places to walk. I feel very at ease in a forest...

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Azazel
[q]

MrFun: you're getting better, ALL THE TIME.

thanks for the sarcasm smart-ass

[Odin]

2000 years ago the area around the Mediterranian was wetter then it is know, it was open woodland, not the semi-arid scrubland it is today.

BTW, Europe needs its forests back, especially in the UK! I want BIG yews and cork oaks over there again!

[Urban Ranger]

Deserts are alive

They do expand and eat away at previously habitable land, so it is a good idea to ring them with trees to prevent desertification. However, doing so is not enough. You have to bring in comprehensive measures to prevent such things as excess draining of ground water and deforestation.

[Az]

2000 years ago the area around the Mediterranian was wetter then it is know, it was open woodland, not the semi-arid scrubland it is today

Why people always forget about the southern parts of the med? We're worthy of mentioning, too.


UR: ground water doesn't affect desert expansion me thing. aquifers do need to be preserved, no doubt, but that's a different issue.

[Dis]

you can't forest the desert!!

you go ahead and try that in the desert southwest U.S. and see what that gets you.

Dry rivers- that's what.

[MrFun]

Maybe we just need an asteroid to smash into Earth and see what happens.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Azazel

Az - you have a bronze age pic of the road to Jerusalem??? Flabbergasting!!!

I was talking about the beginning of the century.

End of bronze age - circa 1200 BCE.

yes, and that was approx. the time when the population in the area has significantly dwindled, though the terasses were already constructed on the hills ( which hold on to this very day, and were one of the earliest in the world!! ).

But this is irrelevant. the forestation was more of a dense bush, and not of a dense forest.

VetLegion: in many desert areas, the limited rainfall is actually quite enough to sustain a forest!

this is not the case in the U.S. If rainfall could sustain a forest, we'd have forests!! Look at SW Colorado. The higher elevations do have higher rainfall, thus they already have forests. But lower evlevations in NM and Arizona do not have higher rainfall, and thusly do not have forests.

[Dis]

I'm sorry, but the deserts in the SW U.S. cannot be forested. Even if you drained the Colorado river completely and the Rio Grande.

If we had enough rainfall to support a forest- we'd already have forests The seeds get spread around by the wind and such. They just can't grow in the desert .

What happens is when you get closer to 6000 feet elevation you have more rainfall and you see treess such as bristlecone and pionion pines. Also you can see aspens and such.

The best way to see this is to visit both the Northern and Southern rims of the grand canyon.

[Az]

Not always you have the right species that is suitable for the conditions. Sometimes they have to be imported.

These are facts, dissident. In Israel, many areas, previousy bare, are now covered with forests.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Azazel
UR: ground water doesn't affect desert expansion me thing. aquifers do need to be preserved, no doubt, but that's a different issue.

You sure? Where Iraq is now, you know, was called the Fertile Crescent?

[Vesayen]

I'd just like to note that the last time I went to Israel I planted 20 trees in one o fthose forest-look over the horizion and seeing the ones planted years early growing high in every direction was quite a site.

[chequita guevara]

Should they re-introduce lions to the Mediterranian?