On 10 August 1995, Bob Keeland wrote: > Richard Fox (rcfox@igc.apc.org) President of Global Resource > Consultants recently ADVERTISED a "remarkable technological > breakthrough" called "The Eden Device" on this list. According to > Richard this device will enable you to "grow trees in the desert". Trees already grow in many deserts. They are just spaced wider. We don't need any high-tech devices. There are plenty of low-tech ways to encourage native tree/vegetation survival in arid zones. > This scenario reminds me of a novel called DUNE by Frank Herbert. > Although I enjoyed the book very much (and the movie somewhat) I > questioned the ecological logic of what the natives of DUNE (the > fremen, I think) were trying to accomplish. Now I have to go re-read the book... > They were collecting all > of the water they could from the planets surface and storing it in > underground cisterns. Their plan was to someday, when they had > collected enough water, return this water to the surface to transform > DUNE from a desert planet to an Eden. During the time period of the > book, the planet's surface was so dry that the fremen had to wear > special suits to reclaim all moisture (such as from their breath, > sweat and excrement). They also recovered moisture from bodies (the dead and those killed in battle). > What has this to do with a device that allows you to grow trees in the > desert? If you capture water from the dry desert air you will create > even drier conditions downwind. Native plants and animals will > suffer, if not be eliminated. This could result in such trivial > things as, oh, say, a dust bowl. If the fremen return all of the > water they removed from the planet surface they will have about what > they started with (at best). > I cannot understand why so very many people want to go to the desert > and try to make it into a lush, green Eden Homo colossus abhors a lawnless environment... > Supposedly a lot of people > move to the desert to take advantage of the wide open spaces and clean, > dry air. If you visit the wide open spaces with clean air you will > probably not see very many people. That is because 99% of them live in > big cities like Phoenix or Salt Lake City which have anything but clean > air (have you seen the yellow brown muck that hangs over Salt Lake City > lately). I would think that the pollutants would outweigh the dry > aspect of the air. If you don't want to be in a desert then go > somewhere else to live or grow trees. The desert is a wonderful place, > but it can only sustain a limited amount of use. Perhaps if the American taxpayers stopped subsidizing the "desert dwellers" profligate use of water (stolen from rivers elsewhere or tapped from overdrawn aquifers) and electricity (generated by hydro dams and other federal boondoggles), they would pack up and leave for climes more suited to human habitation. Or, they might, just might, learn to live like the original human inhabitants displaced during the takeover by Homo colossus. > One possibly appropriate application of such an "Eden device" would be > in areas being subjected to desertification, and then only to > reestablish native vegetation and not to support tree plantations. Amen. > Someday humans will have to admit that they cannot control the weather, > hydrologic cycles, etc. Unfortunately it will take a major catastrophe > in a (or several) well developed country(ies) to get that point across. > When are we going to wise up???? "They know the worth of water when the well's dry." --Benjamin Franklin Donald Mansius Augusta, Maine former dweller in (and restorer of) the Sahel, desert rat. Donald Mansius Augusta, ME
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