Terraforming in the real world
Terraforming is a familiar concept in science fiction and refers to the process of changing an alien planet to more closely resemble our own Earth. But in Africa, simple physics and people power are already changing dead land into ‘livable’ land.
This incredible, terraforming effort is occurring just south of the Sahara desert, in a region called the Sahel.
The Sahel is like a buffer zone between the Sahara to the north, and the more lush, arable land to the south. Unfortunately, the Sahara is creeping further and further into the Sahel, and one day all of northern Africa will be a dead zone.
The reasons for the desertification of the Sahel are complex but essentially boil down to climate. Nine months of the year, the region receives no rain, the soil cracks and the top soil blows away. Then for three months of the year, the Sahel gets a Wet, but because the soil has been so degraded, the rain can’t soak in. Instead, it floods and washes away whatever managed to survive during the last Dry:
This cycle of Wet and Dry is slowly turning the Sahel into an extension of the Sahara. To combat this desertification, and to allow the people of the region to feed themselves, a mammoth project is creating a Great Green Wall in the Sahel. And this incredible terraforming project is being done using simple physics, and people power. Lots and lots of people power:
The technique described in the video involves digging thousands of small, half-moon shaped ponds, surrounded by small ‘sink holes’, to catch and retain the water that scours the land during the brief Wet:
And each half moon is dug by hand, using the most basic of tools.
The result of all this effort is that roughly 500,000 people no longer need to be given food in order to survive. They have created a green zone in which they can feed themselves. This is one of the most amazing feats of human resilience and determination I have ever seen, and it’s a lesson other countries need to learn. That includes my own country, Australia.
Aussie farmers have to stop treating the land as a resource and start treating it as if it were one of their livestock. No farmer would willingly allow their livestock to starve, yet every time they cut down a stand of trees, they are effectively starving the soil. When the soil starves, the smaller plants die too. Their roots shrivel up and can no longer hold the top soil in place. Then the winds come, or a big flood, and that loose soil is washed away, paving the way for real desert to take over.
Most Australians live in the lush green strip of land around the coastline of this island continent, but we know what the middle of the country looks like, and it’s a lot like the Sahel. In spots, it’s just like the Sahara.
This is the Painted Desert in South Australia:
Not all of Australia looks like this, and not all of the world is covered in desert, but we humans are definitely having an impact, and most of the time, that impact is destructive.
If we want to keep living on this planet, we really do have to stop shitting in our own backyard. Happy 2025.
Meeks
