Scientists claim to have created rain in the desert. Is this progress, or should we not interfere with natural climates?

Because that would be to easy.

Well said.

I am all for permaculture. However, it doesn't work everywhere, unfortunately.

Humanure to the rescue.

How about chicken?

Biochar is the way to go.
This is how much of the South American rainforests were planted thousands of years ago so the latest research shows.

Are you sure it was raining cats and dogs and not blackbirds?

Just because the desert doesn't have good soil doesn't mean we can't truck it in. If we can spend millions of dollars a year shooting up sand from the sea floor then we can load up a fleet of trucks with sod and bring it to the desert.

OH, absolutely certain - blackbirds neither bark nor miew.

I have been to the Sahara - it does not consist of soil at all, it consists only of sand. How much soil do you think you would need to truck into the Sahara to make it possible to cultivate, have you any idea just how vast it is? Also, trucking soil into deserts would mean depleting those areas of soil from where you take the soil.

I will stick with chicken crap thank you.

heh. +^d

1. eco- nuts employed? lol but seriously....
2. what r u like.. 13? does science fiction make u happy and sad at the same time? do u like watching people get kicked in the nuts?
if you answered yes to all 3 question... u might be a juvenile.
( the obamma/ alfred newman was a giveaway too)

shh! grownups are talking!

nice one...

XD

just out of curiosity..do you lament every time you wipe your behind with toilet PAPER??

I use hemp TP.....
and throw it in the compost

I'm confused. Are you suggesting we plant trees in the desert with the intent of creating rain? If so, won't those trees need initial water to grow, and wouldn't rain be the easiest way? Especially since you've solved your problem of erosion by planting the trees and creating a base root system in the first place.

For the past decade China planted over a billion trees in deserts that were once forests and most died from erosion or lack of tending. They assumed you can just stick a sapling in the ground and let nature do the rest.
Check out JanforGore's excellent vid below on how to green the desert. It involves lots of loving labor to grow an orchard in burning sand.

Obviously you can't just stick some trees in some sand and expect growth. Which is why you lay down compost and grass first. Grass takes hold easily and lays down a complex root system, preventing erosion. And as far as lack of tending: duh. I thought the chinese were supposed to be smarter than that.

When you said over the internet I imagined someone clicking their mouse on a google map and a tree sprouting up at those coordinates. Awesome. Nice picture, too. But it's not just about trees, it's about sustainable farming. If moringa oleifera can survive in the desert then that's fantastic - but can you eat it? I could see using them as a starter to get the land prepared for farming. What I'm mainly concerned about is the high food prices, especially produce, and the starvation in places where the native people don't have viable farmland. If deserts can be farmed then those problems can be solved.

+^d

the resources expended by you simply turning on that computer IS destroying mother earth..

i don't see you bothered with that??

Then do us all a favor and turn yours off

awww, come on ksirys, I'm with you on the STFU, but I don't want him to kill himself...what would we do for comic relief?

I know... but i hear it from NY's all the time... lol.. not all NY's say it, but i know a group of girls that say it like it's nothing... so i meant it that like that, like disappear or go away.. but to actually do it? nah... i only wish that on people that abuse and harm kids and animals.

But you're right, we don need the comic relief! voted up!

How incredibly inspiring!

"We are stardust, we are golden,
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden."

"Scientists who sell out to commerce have forgotten what science should be about."

you are so true on that..almost creepy that you sounded like you know about that first hand LOL.

please tell me..how do you "work with mother nature"?

...I heard that song in my head when I read your words...sigh...

...We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil’s bargain
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden...

You quote my favorite version of the lyric from Joni's live Shadows & Light album.
What an amazing song writer!

Sometimes this song makes me sad because most of our generation simply gave up.
We don't know what we've got till it's gone.....

...I played this about 10 times this morning...

Yes, I find myself asking this question so much more: What happened? Even though those times were hard we still had our passion and hope.

When music was good.

weird.

i think it's bullshit. if we could manipulate weather we wouldn't be plagued by hurricanes. and don't tell me they were "testing" it with katrina because they could have tested it somewhere else. perhaps somewhere that didn't normally get hurricanes.

suspect

STOP MAKING SENSE ! ( oh well,......continue on . . . ) +^d

Problem with that: how do you create an isolated experiment that accurately predicts what putting rain in a desert will do?

Not trying to rain on your parade - see what I did there? - but you can't really test this kind of thing in an isolated area of desert, never mind on a small-scale. I mean, what kinds of impact would putting rain in a desert have on the rest of the world? would it deny water elsewhere in the world? Those things you can't test.

rude,............but , I agree.

I NEVER knew what that thing was ! Much thanks ! +^d