What is a desert in the making? it is the loss of topsoil
the foundational life system from which life springs
7 million square miles of the earth’s surface is desertifying
5.5 million square miles has already turned to desert
12.5 million square miles of earth’s 57 million square miles
or 1/5th the surface of earth
is a desert in the now or a desert in the making
Where are the deserts in making? We name them here
South and North Africa
The Southwest United States
The island of Australia
The Middle East
Central Asia
Southern Spain
North East South America
Along the edges of Chile and Argentina
Where are the deserts that are most quickly expanding? We name them here
The Gobi Desert known as the Yellow Dragon
the fastest moving desert on Earth
500,000 sq miles and growing
swallowing up over 1,300 square miles of land each passing year
causing 10 billion dollars in losses each passing year
affecting 400 million people, who face asthma and worse
The Sahara
the largest hot desert in the world
3.5 million sq miles, and growing 4,000 sq miles each year
matched in size only by the arctic and the antarctic
Southward expansion of the Sahara each year more the the last
and more to be named here..
We have 12 million square miles of arable land on earth
every year 40,000 square miles is lost
all will be lost in the next 300 years, or less
unless we design a counterforce at scale in the now
The same causes are found again and again in different configurations:
Tillage for agriculture, overgrazing and deforestation for fuel or construction materials, drought, changing climate
in one pattern and then another
how do we see through and past this ever repeating tale
The counter forces are many
rotational herding in the spirit of the buffalo,
the antelope, the wildebeest, the zebra
livestock move tightly through the landscape, never staying too long
deals are made between neighboring landowners
each gaining more then is lost
the cattle will weave across wider and wider areas
the fences redesigned to be permeable membranes
They can move amongst thick ribbons of trees and plants, that rapidly build soil
that can withstand the increasing heat, that can gift biomass back to the soil
these plants can be abundantly planted along the fence membranes
where a green wall is seen as a food forest, and food forest seen as a multispecies hyway
To supplement the rapid regeneration of soil, which is so needed
Biodigesters can make topsoil from the waste of those millions living in nearby cities
Systems can be designed to apply the rich generated humus to the edges of the oncoming desert…
to be continued…