Atlantopia: The Insane Plan to Drain the Mediterranean

[@megaprojects9649]

Thank you Squarespace for sponsoring this video. Check out Squarespace: squarespace.com/megaprojects for 10% off on your first purchase.

[@MaverickBlue42]

Just saying, you spelled it At-LAN-toe-pea-ah....but you're saying it at-land-trope-ah.....they can't both be right....are there any videos where you say utopia for comparison? 😆

[@Rachel_M_]

I watched something about the plan to dam San Francisco Bay a few days ago... Simon: "Hold my pint"

[@gshaindrich]

4:13 why not let a computer read, it would too just read without thinking/realizing that areas are measured and reported in SQUARE-km (km²) or SQUARE-mile! Why have an editor when he/she doesn´t realize such simple things?

[@22steve5150]

The Med is slowly shrinking as the African and European plates are colliding. So in a some tens of millions of years it seems like we are in for some serious problems when the floor of the Med rises and the sea slowly shrinks

[@xxpyroxx1670]

that would be a good idea to train it it used to be lower in the past. just think of all the ancient structhers that would be uncovered if we drained it.

[@jessestaggs2136]

One problem with the idea of draining the Mediterranean Sea is that once done, all of that new land would then become one huge archeological site.

[@Thrillhou]

"Problem"

[@nolongerblocked6210]

That's the first thing I thought about too. Since the oceans were much lower thousands of yrs ago those areas would be amazing to dig

[@fireborn]

The Nazis would hust have burnt everything that did not prove their thoughts.

[@garretth8224]

A dust bowl from hell is what would happen.

[@mattm4600]

That's only a problem if they give a shit

[@ilajoie3]

Reminds me of an Aral sea disaster but on a massive scale

[@preppen78]

We could have ended up like Utah :(

[@ilajoie3]

@@preppen78 full of Mormons and unable to drink?

[@diogorodrigues747]

@@geraldh3932 It was unintended because every totalitarian regime is completely outdated. The Aral Sea disaster is after all a stupid decision made by Soviet officials that didn't care about anything than their power. This same problem in the regime also lead afterwards to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

[@diogorodrigues747]

@@geraldh3932 If the country had more civilian rights the Aral Sea project would never go on. Every single scientist would predict what happened after what was made there - the problem back then was that every person that contradicted the policies of the Communist Party was imprisioned or, sometimes worse, sent into the gulag. The existance of some kind of opposition is crucial to avoid these long-term and very predictible disasters, and that's impossible in a totalitarian country.

[@SkunkApe407]

@@ilajoie3 Magic Underpants for everybody!!!

[@Transilvanian90]

One other possible useful adaptation of the basic idea is to dam the Strait of Gibraltar, but instead of using that to drain the Mediterranean, use it to potentially keep its water level as it is now instead of it increasing if the Antarctic and Greenlandic ice sheets melt. Basically, keep the whole Mediterranean at its present day levels even if the Oceans rise.

[@PeasantByTheSouthernSea]

Until the levee inevitably breaks

[@Stettafire]

Define "useful"

[@Transilvanian90]

@@Stettafire You know... that has use. If the sea levels do rise, it could be a method to keep the Mediterranean as it is.

[@maxpower19711]

The Suez Canal would have to be blocked or else water would just flow in from the east

[@Transilvanian90]

@@maxpower19711 That's a far easier task, it's just a water canal that's 200 meters wide. A few locks would take care of that easy peasy. The Straight of Gibraltar with its 13km width is the true engineering challenge.

[@billkallas1762]

Imagine 1,000 dried up Great Salt Lakes blowing salt dust 500 miles in all directions.

[@comentedonakeyboard]

Or the (former) Aral lake in the former soviet union.

[@Chris-hx3om]

800 kilometres.

[@Kellethorn]

I'm already dealing with 1 great salt lake drying so please no.

[@reapersasmr5483]

And all the life and food gone from that area

[@comentedonakeyboard]

@@Kellethorn i know, it's a rather salty topic.

[@dewiz9596]

570,000 kilometers? Simon, Simon, Simon. . . Being sponsored by Squarespace does NOT allow you to neglect SQUARE Kilometers. . . 😉

[@rogaineablar5608]

Lots of errors in this video. Salt water is not 33% saline but rather 3%.

[@WileyGunslinger]

Thank you

[@garretth8224]

@@rogaineablar5608 He said salinity which is between 32-35% in the ocean. Saline and salinity are different terms. Next time look it up before you try to correct someone, it makes you look foolish.

[@MarvinWestmaas]

@@garretth8224 Underrated comment

[@MarvinWestmaas]

@@rogaineablar5608 Overrated comment

[@rya3190]

There's a book named The Atlantopian Articles by Cody Franklin, from the Alternate History Hub. It's a good read, and describes an environment similar to this video, though it focuses on the ideologies of those who maintain that this is somehow a good idea...

[@zidini]

Oh shit, I didn't know Cody wrote books!

[@rya3190]

@@zidini It's the only one I know of as his, but it's pretty good.

[@BoMwarriorVlog]

​@@rya3190 I was going to mention his book! 😃 Cody from @AlternateHistoryHub is awesome!!

[@kafros13]

This definitely qualifies as the perfect scenario for a Gerard Buttler disaster movie

[@jimdigitalvideo]

This scenario would make a great movie.

[@DannyPhilipsen]

Or a Bond film

[@polreamonn]

Dam the Med!

[@LloydWaldo]

Gerard Buttler Disaster Movie: Gerard butler tries to do various American accents.

[@frankgesuele6298]

"This is Atlantopia!"

[@JonNogo]

Have you done a video on the scores of plans to alter New York city by blocking off numerous waterways? if not, could be a good one to follow this one up with!

[@megaprojects9649]

Will check it out, thanks!

[@JohnPritzlaff]

Even better is the plan to expand Manhattan by reclaiming more land from the water-the same way much of it was originally made.

[@ollaitsrealgood]

This video made my day because it contains a correct usage of the verb sublime.

[@deviildogg1]

Have you heard of the proposal to flood Death Valley in California? The proposal stated a lot of positives from the project as well as its potential to introduce a more temperate climate comparable to the Mediterranean in what is now desert. I would love to see a video on that topic and an exploration of the pros/cons. When I looked up the subject there wasn't much about it.

[@22steve5150]

Flooding Death Valley? I do know of a plan to create a sea canal system linking the Sea of Cortez with the Salton Sea, greatly expanding the size of the Salton Sea and making it as inhabitable as any saltwater body, along with creating a new shipping canal system to a new inland port city as well as side branches of the sea canals that feed multiple artificial lagoons in what used to be desert, with marinas and towns that would spring up around them and large solar power plants, making sections of the desert livable and making it easier to establish solar and wind power plants as well as desalination plants and brine recovery pond facilities in a part of the world there they would be most efficient but which is incredibly hard to logistically support via mere roads and air strips.

[@deviildogg1]

@@22steve5150 The proposal I'm talking about is specifically for flooding Death Valley. It called for pulling in water from either the west coast or sea of Cortez. It basically listed similar economic benefits tho like towns forming along the coast and such. What you mentioned would actually not be such a bad idea. There Salton Sea area is abundant in lithium which could become a thriving industry if a port were near by.

[@shaneabrahamson8732]

Why not, the Salton Sea worked out well. Maybe include an exclusive golf course and spa.

[@deviildogg1]

@@shaneabrahamson8732 the only reason that the Salton Sea became what it is today is because it's essentially a large pool. It was built accidentally by runoff.

[@craigb8228]

They're going to flood the Sahara first.

[@TheWtfnonamez]

I love the intro sting with the guitar music..... Its like nobody learned any stylistic lessons from 1990s television.

[@SkipsTinyBeard]

I seriously am starting to binge this channel more than the Discovery+ I pay for. Damn great content!

[@SkunkApe407]

The only downside is limited content. We need to solve the cloning issue stat. Fact Boi needs at least a dozen of those no-bellybutton freaks.

[@MaverickBlue42]

You pay for Discovery? There's another website for that pseudo-science/downright absolute fake garbage, it rhymes with "wire-it day"....if people stop paying for it, maybe they'll actually produce something worth paying for, like the content they used to make back in the late 90's early 2000's...

[@rogaineablar5608]

Just be advised their facts aren't 100%. Like in this video alone, he claims oceans are 33-40% saline, which is off by a power of 100.

[@matthewdopler8997]

Actually just off by a factor of 10.

[@LilBearZen]

“Ideas only a mother could love” is now a permanent part of my vernacular.

[@EpicGamerWinXD69]

As someone who already saw the video from AlternateHistoryHub on this subject, it’s a good thing this didn’t happen.

[@kennedyngumba320]

I saw it there first too

[@clamum9648]

When I saw the video title, I thought of AltHistoryHub's book, The Atlantropa Articles, where the drained Mediterranian is part of the history.

[@missmishka8379]

This reply sent me down such a rabbit hole. I didn't know about AlternateHistoryHub last night, but now I've binged so much of their content. I had no idea how big the alt history genre is.

[@jackleg2007]

Read the first book, waiting for sequel.

[@BoMwarriorVlog]

​@@missmishka8379 Glad you could join us! 😁 I've long been a fan of Cody's (from @AlternateHistoryHub ).

[@Scilence23]

I can't tell where the beard ends and the shirt begins!

[@LordQuiche]

Real life Tatooine? I’m in!

[@piotr7805]

This is literally the most insane megaproject I have ever heard of. The scale of potential disaster is completely mind-boggling. Thank you for sharing this story with us!

[@KesselRunner606]

This story always reminds me of Mr Burns in The Simpsons, "Ever since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun."

[@michaellutes1057]

Hey Simon, or Factboy as you like to nickname yourself, since you mentioned Utah, and I am from Utah, I have a question for you. Will you make a video addressing the people proposing to refill lake Bonneville? Going over the pros and cons and possible costs of it.??

[@scottielambert9312]

You had me at Utah. The first white meat

[@Caleb1874ya]

Then where would Utes guys race??? You could go from fastest to slowest state real quick.

[@michaellutes1057]

@@Caleb1874ya I mean, if the lake were refilled it could become a race for amphibious vehicles instead of land vehicles

[@nithinkumar3839]

The literal LITERALLY the most insane The DOOMSDAY Ever Event.

[@aljawad]

The idea was adapted by Philip J. Dick in his alternate history novel “The Man in the High Castle”.

[@hobinrood710]

Amazing book. Haven't seen the show... Kinda want to.

[@Poseidon-1]

@@hobinrood710show was awesome for the first 2 seasons then it kinda goes off the rails

[@hobinrood710]

@@Poseidon-1 then I'll definitely take that into consideration when I watch it.

[@mho...]

@@hobinrood710 yeah its one of the better shows on the last years!

[@SL4PSH0CK]

My gamer friends recommended me this, haven't tried it yet

[@Skotchsholt]

Megaprojects is discovery channel level of production value.

[@martinstallard2742]

1:04 reshaping the face of Europe? 5:11 sponsorship 6:36 uniting the worlds 8:59 no way, no how 10:19 desertifying the world 13:56 just because you can

[@TS-jm7jm]

you legend

[@rudiboyrip]

How dare you spoil the unexpected ad

[@scubaskelly]

How?

[@matthewellisor5835]

Good fellow, that Martin.

[@scottielambert9312]

Nice work. Your awesome

[@ADEpoch]

Germany: Britain has a bigger navy then us, so let’s just remove the sea. That’ll fix em.

[@MattSmith-uw2pg]

have you watch drain the ocean on disney+ and do de havilland mosquito

[@macmaniac3080]

If this ever happened we would find soooo many answers to our past… most mediterranean bronze age civilisations were coastal and water levels were far lower back then… so many answers lie in the bottom of that sea…

[@benutzerdefiniertyt]

Ah yes. Whenever I actually feel the absolutely fondness of beholding Simon's fabulous beard. What a honor xD

[@krisgonynor689]

One of the old Star Trek novels mentioned this had been done in the 21st century as a way of stabilizing the climate and making cheap electricity for Europe. They only mention the pluses of those two things, along with finding all kinds of ruins and remains from prehistory. Obviously, this was before the discovery of the real history of the basin area. This was set in the the TOS era, but I don't remember which book. In the TNG era, there was mention, sometime after Picard was taken by the Borg and then saved, that someone asked him, while he was recovering on Earth (So around the time of the episode "Family", so maybe in the novelization of that story), if he wanted to become leader of the "New Atlantis" project, which intended, through geo engineering, to raise a new continent in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Pretty advanced planning, for the 23rd century.

[@geoguy001]

novelization of Star Trek The Motion Picture by Allen Dean Foster

[@russellholmes3187]

Good vid, ta for the work you put in. How about that mad-cap scheme to do the same from the Netherlands all the way down to France, sealing off the North Sea?

[@russellholmes3187]

Or is here where I saw that? bad memory - sorry

[@perrymaskell3508]

How is it that during a World War, Germany had all these plans, and actually executed some of them. I know the development of military equipment happens fast and gets put into effect quickly because there is a massive need and huge turnover, but all these other infrastructure things. Am I missing the long term view of the leaders at the time (i.e. the War was a temporary irritation compared to the decades and more view when the War was over), or the fact that 'back at home', things were normal compared to the front line, or that 6 years ('39 - '45) is actually quite a long time, or something else?

[@charlesrovira5707]

You do know that this is not the first time the *Mediterranean* has been drained. The passage between *Morocco* and *Spain* has been blocked by an expanding/shrinking *Gibraltar* on at least one other occasion, and possibly more than that. There are whale carcasses found in the *Sahara.*

[@russellfitzpatrick503]

Completely bonkers from start to finish ........ Yep, you've sold me on this one Simon

[@patrickdurham8393]

The best laid plans of mice and men are often best left on the planning table.

[@ms3862]

Handful of deterium and a few lasers: I'm about to end this whole man's career

[@gearjammer3688]

Never give an idiot a child's atlas, pen and time to think.

[@toxicmustardwasabi]

"Again, we know this because...this is what happened, when it happened before." LOL.

[@annehersey9895]

Simon, your comparison to Utah is spot on. I lived in Utah for many years and the Great Salt Lake is a product of something similar done not by some Eurocentric racist Nazi but dear old Mother Nature herself. Utah, and parts of Idaho and Nevada were once underwater in the huge Lake Bonneville (hence the Bonneville Salt Flats home of most land speed records). That's also why it's called the Great Basin-the basin is the old bottom of Lake Bonneville. Lake Bonneville dried up because there were no longer any feeder rivers, Lake Bonneville dried up, no fresh water came in and the lake had no rivers going out and it became the Great Salt Lake because the evaporation left more and more salt as the lake gets smaller and smaller. Even in my 70 years of life on this planet, the Great Salt Lake has gone from a fun place to swim where the salt keeps everyone from drowning to now when it is no longer swimmable at all because of the salt that will corrode your skin like a burn!

[@TheExciteMike]

Cody Franklin (Alternate History Hub) actually wrote a whole novel about this! It's pretty wild...kinda like cyberpunk Dune.

[@htchd1htchd149]

Um when the Sahara was a forest water levels in the med were way lower if not cutoff at gibraltar

[@motomuso]

Some people drop the volume of entire phrases or whisper the important words to make a point. Problem is, these words and phrases which are being thrown away are simply not heard.

[@truemoayyed8482]

Hello and Good Morning Simon

[@tomfuller4205]

It will be a large muddy plain.

[@MrBurndan]

Always great videos with tons of knowledge. You are by far my favorite narrator on KZbin!

[@Lance.West4]

Act like they are talking about the weather last week when talking about the weather 2 billion years ago. Those geologists & scientists are just so smart. They must have a time machine to know so many details with such confidence...

[@JamieTheSassenachLass]

Damn! The dam was damned! DAMMIT! 😂😂😂❤

[@hellequin.303]

There's one car that will always find it's target 😂

[@greypilgrim6157]

Not sure if any of you out there are familiar with the Quantum aka Mandela Effect, and remember when the Straits of Gibraltar we’re a rock island sitting between southern Spain and North Africa, and not the drive-up peninsula it is today. Yeah….older war buffs…remember that? Or perhaps you also then remember the famous allied air-drop exercise, when British troops, holed up on the island with little hope of escape after being encircled by German forces, we’re relieved with food and fresh water and other supplies by allied planes? I’m sure some of you do remember the this, and some of you will insist this never happened and the Mandela Effect is a confabulation of memory or some sort of mass-delusion, and the rest of you would not recall either way. The reason I mention this is not to spark another one of countless arguments about the reality changes brought on by the controversial phenomenon. Although undoubtedly it ultimately will, and must. But I bring all this up to point out that, for those who remember these events in the tribute into a now fractured timeline that many or all of us once belonged to, the plan to dam the water between the Straits Of Gibraltar and it’s adjoining landmasses may not have been as overly ambitious or completely impractical location as it would be with the current location of the streets are Gibraltar being attached to Soain, rather than being an island occupying, the most narrow point between Africa and Europe, where the Atlantic Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea meet, which would have shaved a number of kilometers off of the damn, perhaps making it a more achievable task, or at the very least seem a little less nuts.

[@the_str4ng3r]

I like how 7:36 labels Ukraine as the *Goth District*

[@leoschenk2118]

The ostrogoths were supposed to hail from about that area, and so as they spoke an east Germanic dialect, the nazis liked to use them for naming after the theoretical "clearing" of the slavs

[@alfredorotondo]

Heydrich had plans to genocide all the slavs there and replace them with germans and goths

[@DJL78]

Nice blazer Simon. 👍🏻

[@folkthat3720]

I can't see your beard in the square space ad! As a fellow beardian I think you should know.

[@lyrapsi]

I think I would have answered the loon, "How about this instead, and hear me out, instead of farmable lands we create a giant fish farm that is accessible to several countries over great distances because fish is also a very important food. Oh wait, we already have one, it's called the Mediterranean." Then slapped him in the forehead.

[@markpoole5854]

I was put off the idea of starting my own web sight when I realised I would have to change my jacket!

[@stevebrown8163]

Thank you

[@mololabo]

as a mostly German person, every time I watch a Megaprojects episode that starts with "A German engineer/scientist/political figure", I start massaging my temples, asking myself what we attempted to fuck up this time again.

[@korimiller379]

The answer is, apparently yet again, the whole world. The knock on effects Simon laid out were... ouch. But hey, more proof that spreading Nazi ideals is the same as ending the world.

[@Nisus_Wettus]

As an american i feel your pain lol

[@graemeking7336]

Once upon a Reich there was a mostly German from Austria named Schicklgruber...

[@benitopussolini544]

By 2030 you will own nothing and be happy.klaus Schwab,the great reset.

[@skawesomeone]

weird, i just read about this yesterday

[@cocacola4blood365]

Cody Franklin, author of Alternate History Hub, wrote a novel about this: the Atlantropa Articles.

[@giroromek8423]

A terrible idea and not only on the environmental issue

[@DankTheGank]

Seems legit. Let's do it!

[@Dave5843-d9m]

Gadaffi drilled the Sahara for oil but actually found huge aquifers of sometimes fresh water. More often he found huge aquifers of salt water or brine. Is this yet more dried up Mediterranean salt since hidden by Sahara sandstone?

[@irenezettler9585]

Or water from the Atlantic. There is evidence of a greater deluge that spawned in the Atlantic, blasted across North Africa, hit the Mediterainian (possibly further) and then receded back to the Atlantic.

[@GustavSvard]

Speaking of massive unbuilt projects ment to alter the seas of the world: Please do a vid on the Russian/Soviet idea/plan to redirect rivers in Siberia to the Aral Sea!

[@antpearson9676]

Simon. Whistler gets where a breeze wouldn't. He pervades all aspects of life. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and delivers in mellifluous tones Maybe he should become Pope. Or a wok in McDonald's, they are everywhere just like Simon Ant p uk teacher retired

[@stimihendrix3404]

atlantopia sounds like a strip club in atlanta😂

[@walkingcontradiction223]

It is, you haven't been? Damn!

[@MrMuz99]

Atlan-tits does it for me.

[@jochenstacker7448]

I'm German and I find this idea too German.

[@kennyteeology3526]

Just need the magical Dam/Wall of Ice from Game of Thrones.

[@76ludlow]

It is a really nutty idea, which seems to overlook where exactly would all the water go?

[@brianjuelpedersen6389]

Evaporate. He literally said so. It would leave behind a HUGE layer of salt though.

[@76ludlow]

@@brianjuelpedersen6389 Evaporate to where? It has to go somewhere, most likely into the oceans, raising world sea levels.Evaporate doesn't mean disappear out of existence. The atmosphere could not contain such an amount of vapour, so it will come back to the ground, and flow back to the sea.

[@alfredorotondo]

@@76ludlow probably would just rain or snow in northern Italy, spain and the balcans, like it does now Possibly would increase rainfall in Algeria, france and tunisia too but I don't think of a lot So most probably would address the water problems of southern europe and clean the new salty land there Plus with lower land the snow line would recede a bit and thus make the glaciers bigger, but I'm not sure about this point And at the end, sorgel wanted to make the chad lake greater so it could have finished there too (via partial diversion of the congo and mali rivers)

[@76ludlow]

@@alfredorotondo Yes, but the question remains, where would all the water go? It would certainly cause a massive sea level rise worldwide. A certain amount of the water would also fall as rain back into the Mediterranean Basin,. Another question to be considered is the River Nile. Presumably it will sill flow.

[@alfredorotondo]

@@76ludlow yes according to sources the sea level would rise by around ten meters, a bit less if the megachad and megacongo lakes were to be made Plus the nile isn't a problem because the Mediterranean is already an evaporative sea (a lot of water enters from the Black Sea and the Atlantic Ocean but still water level is lower than it should be)

[@Lacteagalaxia]

Oh entonces no vendrían guiris a las playas de España ; me encanta!🤣👍

[@kookyjoeb5524]

Looks like the waters are receding now. Abnormally low tide since Saturday.

[@deathsicon]

Well, the ice age portion of the fallout from this plan sounds like a good side effect, not sure I wanna wait for it to go desert first though

[@pawelmatus]

Hair on top and Simon looks like Messi. Minus the frames, of course.

[@malikblake972]

This similar project was in the man in the high castle

[@jackwilliamson6018]

simon? have we perchance done a show of the f-22? if so i cant fi nd the miserable beast, if not can we get one please? nobody does these things like you. big fan, here!

[@bradlevantis913]

Absolutely crazy. But I have to admire the audacity of it

[@dimex3362]

I was with you till you started to tell us what the climate would be like should all of this happen, when the local weather station can’t even accurately predict tomorrows thunderstorms

[@Brinta3]

@Dime X Climate and weather are two very different things.

[@marcuscarberry218]

I have a few hypothetical questions i really want answered. 1.What would happen if all the fault lines of Japan have a 9.7 earthquake all at the same time. 2. If the Wan du fuca and San Andrea plate had a 9.8 earthquake. Is it possible that Canada and USA could split apart 3. What would happen if 2 Magentars collided with one another?

[@Mark_Bridges]

1. A bad day for Japanese people and aid pouring in from other countries. 2. You realise Canada and USA are 'joined' all along their border to the Atlantic coast, while these plates only join on the Pacific coast? Expecting an earthquake in one place, or along one relatively short fault, to affect the whole border is ridiculous. 3. Probably a bigger magnetar, however if the combined star has enough mass then a black hole will form.

[@Transilvanian90]

Canada and the US wouldn't split, but British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California might become a lot smaller.

[@TheJediCaptain]

I just heard a segment on a new spaceport in Cornwall on BBC Newshour. Is this Mega enough for a video?

[@williamfahey6066]

I love your Videos, Simon and I Love you too! You are amazing. Happy New Year! Jeff

[@hherpdderp]

Reminds me of another video on a plan to dam San Francisco Bay

[@peregreena9046]

Someone made an error on a magnitude of 1: the salinity stated at 1:40 is ten times too high. (Prolly converting g/l into percent)

[@kieronparr3403]

I thought that sounded a tiny bit high

[@phizc]

Probably written as 40‰ (per mille).

[@coweatsman]

Simon inadvertently comes across the solution to Fermi Paradox.

[@michaelhowell2326]

Seems like the juiciest target in the history of warfare that would be all but impossible to defend.

[@invisiblue3212]

I really appreciate the subtle instrumental music in the background. It rounds out the listening experience👍

[@jussikankinen9409]

People who built cities and and roads and dammed rivers and built canals, after war, 1950, believed god created earth for humans

[@sharlharmakhis280]

3:42 'arable' might be a stretch, with all that salt 🤔

[@kinglouis6974]

I actually like this idea

[@danielhale1]

Thank heaven something like this was too hard to even try. Deep plowing and other disasters from short-sighted, raving ideologists would have paled in comparison to this error.

[@TheCorpsehatch]

Megaprojects: Brain Blaze Edition

[@richardrose7382]

One crazy mega project that I never hear mentioned these days; create a new, wider and deeper replacement for the Panama canal by drilling down to a certain depth, forming a string of such holes along the route, setting off a series of atomic bombs. The land would subside along this route and wonder of wonders; a new canal could be formed. As a way of getting rid of old bombs as well as creating a new canal…almost instantly. No idea if it would irradiate ground water, but then I imagine a lot of sea water would rinse through the new canal

[@silverbackag9790]

And this is how we get the new Siberian Traps. Panamanian Traps I suppose.

[@scottdoesntmatter4409]

gee, what would you do with the radioactive fallout? Bathe in it? That's spectacularly stupid!

[@FectacularSpail]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this idea was studied and rejected because basically all of the material you're displacing gets turned into fallout. Less than ideal.

[@bennyfloyd2375]

That was discussed as part of Project Plowshare, an effort of the Atomic Energy Commission to find "peaceful uses of atomic bombs. IIRC the only actual bomb they set off was to cause fracturing in a natural gas field owned by El Paso NG co. They also had a plan for a canal 300 feet deep and 600 feet wide along the border with Mexico to shorten shipping lanes.

[@mikmik9034]

Like Biden said Miners can become programmers, The Mediterranean Fisherman can become farmers, yes? I thought the Quatre Depression would be flooded?

[@wwoods66]

A canal linking the Qattara Depression to the Med is worth exploring. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qattara_Depression_Project Also, there's a potential project to deliver water to the Dead Sea. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sea%E2%80%93Dead_Sea_Water_Conveyance

[@paulgrant285]

"If the ex prince Harry had used my sponsors product" Is how you should of opened!

[@davidsmith-ws4bz]

Makes perfect sense, along with all the other Madness,going on

[@MinionofNobody]

One should never let reality get in the way of a big idea.

[@notthemessiah9243]

Whoever built the land bridge to Sri Lanka must have built the dam that was across the Mediterranean when seal levels were lower. Imagine a damn that size over topping

[@jimpierce2899]

Just came across a proposed project to dam San Francisco Bay area off from the ocean. The plan was to turn the bay into a fresh water lake and to test it the corps of engineers built a giant scale model to test it. Might be something you want to do a vid on

[@varrantgreen4259]

Could cover the meditrainin sea with solar panels to prevent evaporation mabe the meditrainin can be tuned to fresh water

[@peterjames1088]

I think a better idea is for people to slow down breeding for awhile or nature will do it for us. I think depopulation is a cure for every long term problem. We are running out of resources and the physical properties that sustain all living things including us is breaking down. Any large scale change and the whole system will fall apart leading to war, starvation, and death on a scale unimaginable. I think we need to stop messing with a tested 4.4 billion years evolution of our planet and life and focus on slowing things down.

[@SLagonia]

"Who continued to promote the project until he was hit by a car..." I have this wonderful image in my head of this guy just not shutting up about his project and someone calling out for anyone to finally silence him, and the revving of an engine in the background...

[@BunjiKugashira42]

Reminds me of the plan to drain the north sea. If I remember correctly, that plan was presented as a cheap way of dealing with rising sea levels. At least cheaper for the bordering countries than saving every island and shore individually. Though this entire plan could just be a ruse by the Dutch to enjoy their favorite two pastimes: Building dams and planting tulips, as draining the north sea would make the Netherlands a lot bigger.

[@neuralnetwork17]

As a kid, in the Netherlands, I thought draining the North sea was a great idea. And my favorite thing to do on the beach was building dams. You might not be far off.

[@medler2110]

We'd get Doggerland back though, at last somewhere for all the doggers in Europe to meet. 😁

[@ajstevens1652]

​@@medler2110 Maybe it's for the best it sank

[@abdulgafoordangor2312]

Hi Simon. When are you doing a video on the consequence of setting off a nuclear weapon in the upper atmosphere causing a Electro Megnetic Pulse laying waste to electronics that are not hardened. I read a book called One Second After that tells a story of what could happen ?.

[@Т1000-м1и]

Just wait for the internet to make the memes

[@kinglouis6974]

This would make a good film Like a mad max style film

[@geoguy001]

The novelization of Star Trek The Motion Picture from the late 70s mentions this project was carried out by the 23rd century.

[@mwolkove]

I would've thought I was watching science of science fiction, if the editing didn't give it away already.