Reclaiming the Deserts

Our deserts have been slowly expanding, consuming arable land and neighboring ecosystems. Can we push them back, or even turn them into lush oases and fertile farmland? We will investigate the available options, and consequences, with both modern technology and those which may emerge in the future.
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Credits:
Earth 2.0: Reclaiming the Deserts
Episode 159, Season 4 E45
Writers:
Isaac Arthur
Editors:
Alberto Imbrosciano
Daniel McNamara
Darius Said
Edward Nardella
Gregory Leal www.gregschool...
Jerry Guern
Keith Blockus
Matthew Campbell
Producer:
Isaac Arthur
Cover Artist:
Jakub Grygier www.artstation...
Graphics Team:
Jarred Eagley
Jeremy Jozwik www.artstation...
Ken York of YD Visual / ydvisual
Kris Holland (Mafic Studios) www.maficstudios.com
Sergio Botero www.artstation...
Narrator:
Isaac Arthur
Music Manager:
Luca DeRosa - [e-mail]
Music:
Denny Schneidemesser, "Across the Universe" / denny-schneidemesser
Aerium, "Drowned Holodecks" / @officialaerium
A.J. Prasad, "Dark Future" • Dark Future - Staring ...
Kai Engel, "Endless Story About Sun and Moon" www.kai-engel....

[@daddyleon]

Everytime I bring up these sort of idea people look at me like I'm crazy...especially when I'm not great at lowering my excitement at the prospects. I'm glad I found other 'crazy people' who like these sorts of things too. Even more so, who think up even more ideas. I love these sort of things so much! Thanks :)

[@Lattamonsteri]

Yea and it also helps me and hopefully other to realise that maybe people who sound crazy are really onto something :D It's so easy to laugh at someone for being "so stupid" that they believed this or that could happen BUT the world is ever changing and bringing new horizons to us :) Ps. These videos don't make me sleepy but whenever i go to sleep afterwards, i see the most amazing dreams :D)

[@daddyleon]

​@@Lattamonsteri Totally agree with that. And, what you have with these videos and your dreams...that's just so awesome...I wish I had that effect on my dreams!!

[@silverhawk7324]

You aren't crazy, there's just more crazy people than sane people.

[@sinjun1973]

Same here. If California had ad adequate aqueduct system all the spring melt water from the mountains could be used for crops and a general fresh water source but instead they go through flooding and run it into the ocean. You can look at the fact the paved the river in LA to divert it somewhere more convenient to them while not to helpful. All the money spent trying to control where rivers flow could be used much better if people just accepted the flood zone and live on the outside edge. Again, aqueducts could help turn more area green by using this overflow. We are advanced enough to know what to do when the planet decides to change things up but people are too stubborn or stupid to understand that we are not facing the end of the world. The sky is not falling. We are just getting new gifts. New challenges. Adaptation is a way of life and always will be.

[@voidremoved]

@@sinjun1973 Actual satanic people pull the worlds strings, so it is no wonder. They want you to say "bla bla" while you go out every day to contribute to destroying the planet. All so they can put it in a plastic bag, brand it and sell it back to you for the money they just paid you to do the job they gave you. The job where you destroy the planet and give it to people who brand it with plastic and sell it back to you... Kanye and sports are cool, did you hear the news? um.. what? just a sec im watching "Ow my balls"

[@hamentaschen]

In three years, your choice of topics has never once failed to capture my interest. Thank you so much for all that you do. Happy Arthursday!

[@frankmueller2781]

Isaac's vids are always top shelf!

[@doncarlin9081]

I've often read that soil fertility in deserts are among the highest in the world. It's the lack of water that's the biggest reason there's little vegetation. That's why oases are so rich in plant life, and they are real, I've seen them myself during our many camping trips in harsh deserts. My old man who got his masters in meteorology said a desert is simply a region that has a net loss of water annually.

[@johnstudd4245]

And you have figured these things out all by yourself?

[@moltendiamonds1567]

​@@johnstudd4245???

[@karlharvymarx2650]

I can't remember where, but I recently read that shade from solar panels in a field doubled the biomass and nutritional value of grass(?). Nothing special was done when installing the solar panels, the effect was accidental. If I remember correctly, they found the shade kept the soil cooler which helped it retain water longer. Shade plus more available water balanced out to plants growing more slowly but for an extended season. I think it might have been on a university campus in a semi-arid area of Oregon. Using land for grazing and solar isn't a new idea, but maybe it would make sense to do it on desert margins. I wonder if it were done on a large enough scale if a sort of reverse urban heat island effect might de-desertify unused land on the desert side of the farms. Maybe with TLC there, trees could grow more shade to further widen the cool island.

[@LetsFindOut1]

this is why the "blight" from Interstellar never made sense to me. Its like ditching your car to go build a new one because the transmission broke. Great topic Isaac. *thanks for teaching us how to rebuild our transmission! 🙏

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Yeah, it's an established trope, "abandon your sick world for a new one, hope not to repeat history" that always ignores that even if literally nuked Earth so hard we blew off the whole atmosphere and evaporated the ocean, it would still be easier to re-terraform the radiation-soaked carcass than any other planet, even ignoring that the various damage scenarios typically leave Earth with it's workforce and industries intact at the time of exodus. :)

[@fringelife]

@@isaacarthurSFIA Yeah I keep asking a similar question as to why we don't colonize Antarctica or the deserts as you presented here before moving on to other planetary bodies. It would help teach us how to live in harsh environments before moving on to much more challenging environments millions of kilometres away from the resources we already have on Earth.

[@MyKharli]

Its why I doubt we will. And I suspect the climate instabilities in the pipeline will mean a very nasty downward trend in humans reality. Already the case for a billion people. Its not looking good already with nationalism on the rise everywhere and the shit aint even hit the fan yet ! I love this channel ,but for me its a what we could of done channel if we only realised what we could really do, instead of being biologically hardwired to be chimps with guns .@@fringelife

[@Blowfeld20k]

@pete lewis Please site your factual sources for the "doom monger" scenario you outline?? So sick of ignorant and self indulgent individuals claiming every trend on the planet is negative, actual FACTUAL evidence states the EXACT opposite. Wars are at an all time low Extreme poverty is at an all time low number of nuclear weapons systems is lower than any time in last 30 years pollution from western nations is at an all time low etc, etc, etc Please take a look at this video and actually absorb the info contained, then please stop spreading FALSE gloom. I don't care how you FEEL about the world hard FACTS tell a completely different story. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3TQaoGdZceVe7M All that ignorant and inaccurate doom mongers like yourself help to do is falsely convince other people without enough knowledge of the ACTUAL true facts that making a effort to do better is a pointless endeavour!!

[@fringelife]

@Brian Holdren Yeah that whole trip was pointless aside from the info that Cooper was able to extract from the black hole. Kinda felt like they were sent on a wild goose chase only to solve an equation.

[@alex80121232]

Was looking for videos about this topic. My luck that the great Isaac Arthur picked it up for elaboration.

[@yogsothoth7594]

Yes but where would you get your spice from then?

[@Daimon-X]

Spice must flow

[@Horesmi]

*spoilers for Dune God Emperor* You turn into a worm, prepare huge ass deposits of spice and restrict space travel so hard that it lasts for a few thousand years. Then you die and the worms from your body eat up the water to make Arrakis Dune again.

[@Horesmi]

@Ian M Duncans within Duncans...

[@merrittanimation7721]

Make your own in your most definitely completely benign axlotl tanks. Nothing creepy about them at all. Definitely not.

[@ronschlorff7089]

Yog, I just buy it from Mc Cormick :D

[@webchimp]

There was a plan proposed to build wind farms of the coast of northern Africa where the prevailing winds were onshore to pump a spray of sea water high into the atmosphere. The salt would settle out to fall back into the ocean and the water mist would be blown inland to form clouds.

[@kingbyrd.1512]

Arthur provides me my weekly dose of optimism. He keeps me from turning into a fat neckbearded edgelord. Thank you Isaac. P.S You share the same name as the main dude of Dead space. Pretty cool.

[@lettuceprime4922]

Plot twist: it is the same guy from Dead Space. I mean, we never actually hear him speak above a grunt when he's smashing Necromorphs so.

[@nicholasparker2866]

You're actually correct more than you think, both names are a kitbash from Issac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke

[@Vhalikuporamee447]

@@lettuceprime4922 Have you played Dead Space 2 or Dead Space 3? Isaac Clarke has major speaking roles in those games.

[@ahmedwael3824]

He’s probably Issac’s far future descendant

[@Datan0de]

Save the sandworms! Shai Hulud forever!

[@konfunable]

Dude, you're such a geek.

[@merrittanimation7721]

Call Liet Kynes, he'll know what to do.

[@MisterTutor2010]

I'm DUNE with you :)

[@xl000]

the worms are always trying to swallow my harvesters.

[@complex314i]

Bless the Maker and His water. Bless his comings and His goings. May his passing cleanse the world. May He keep the world for His people.

[@merrittanimation7721]

Find an Imperial Planetologist, he'll know what to do.

[@seamuscallaghan8851]

I am a desert creature.

[@BossRedRanger]

Merritt Animation I’d have been mad if there were no Dune references for this video

[@Alexander_Kale]

@@BossRedRanger Let's build some moisture farms!

[@tagginos]

The Spice must flow!

[@luciferangelica]

i'm only half way through, but last time i saw that guy he was getting blown up

[@colonelgraff9198]

23:40 Isaac Arthur covers Flat Earth I died

[@danielpiechowicz2898]

Another great video. I think canals in Northern Africa will not only stop desertification but also help fight climate change. Unlike money games and politics like the BS Paris Accords that did nothing but give countries money, this could bring water and a possible mode of transport to land locked countries.

[@jammadamma]

Once, my sister stole my dessert. But i reclaimed it.

[@ronschlorff7089]

Just desserts!!

[@voidremoved]

dry humor

[@brapa1190]

You planted seeds Please move to Alabama

[@paulolima723]

😂😂 sweet home Alabama

[@SapioiT]

11:47 Instead of glass, some nylon, or baking/wax paper or any other type of waterproof paper, can be used instead, with the advantage that it can be made so it can be easily recyclable, and also made from recycled materials. Oilcloth also works.

[@RobertSzasz]

If you want to know all the nasty side effects of greening a desert, look at farming in the California central valley. Unless you have a huge source of distilled water salt will slowly build up. You need to build up soil, then periodically flood it and allow water to sweep minerals out to sea (or genetic engineer plants to pull unwanted minerals out of the soil and then harvest and transport the plants away)

[@RobertSzasz]

And the "you can just use the water from existing rivers"... Look at farming along the Colorado River basin.

[@Knirin]

If you are farming with conventional agriculture that doesn’t have the correct biology in the soil to process the salts. Also most conventional fertilizers are salts as well.

[@RobertSzasz]

@@Knirin you need to actively transport the salts away from your farming area. It requires a significant increase in required water over just what the plants need to grow.

[@fireofenergy]

@@RobertSzasz Why can't we fertilize without salts, to remove this problem? Does this mean that ALL cropland is getting more saline? I don't believe river water is salty, and if so, nature removes that little bit (or else, the whole planet would be too salty by now).

[@RobertSzasz]

@@fireofenergy anywhere water losses are dominated by evaporation/transpiration instead of runoff/percolation through the soil you will have the problem. So any farming that is highly water efficient in dry areas will require periodic flushing of the soil.

[@flashpeter625]

One aspect of desert reclamation which is usually hugely underestimated is the effect on global weather patterns caused by the changed albedo and thermal properties of the surface on a very large scale. I don't think we can predict that yet.

[@akaegotist]

Happy ArThursday everyone! 😁

[@empireempire3545]

No no no Isaac, going too deep into arctic goes very badly, You find Leng, that's how You get Cthulhu, You wanna get Cthulhu?

[@lettuceprime4922]

No. Of course not. Don't be silly. * Furiously buys property in Insmouth to set up creepy churches. *

[@calamusgladiofortior2814]

Meh. If Cthulhu causes us problems, just ram him with a yacht. It worked last time...

[@julia970y6v]

I thought Cthulhu was in the South Pacific...

[@janhanchenmichelsen2627]

That optimism is why we need our weekly Mr Arthur.

[@Shinzon23]

Informative, and well done;yer on a roll!

[@Shrubbist]

Take back the cheesecake! ... Oh... Deserts. Never mind.

[@ronschlorff7089]

Shrubbiest, Save the Chocolate Moose! And the Vanilla Elk!!

[@keksimusultimus4257]

desertification of earth....a topic i learned the hard way looking at my own country, greece. what used to be a stunning, green-filled country now dried up completely, at least on the southern parts....all of Attica is yellowish-brown most of the time, except for some small reserves where small-dense forest still exist...the rest, plowed fields, greeks have a way of thinking that anything that's green need to be dug out as "it's bad" (it could contain snakes man!! bad!) . i keep my field almost intact, and i watch it grow. the difference can be seen even from the soil, mine filled with bugs while all the rest are empty, sand-like soils. my apartment use to have a huge, beautiful plant growing alongside its western wall , filled with flowers all the way up to the top floor (1 floored house) , until the tenants decided we needed to cut it all out, even the surrounding small trees and bushes because it might contain some rats. now? its just a white wall, empty of all life. i disagree about the whole going to an other planet part. i say we send to the martian desert people like that, to enjoy a rat-less, green-empty desert by themselves, and leave those who appreciate nature here. we would actually solve a lot of problems like this axaxaxa

[@thanos2703]

But won't anyone think of the sandworms?

[@gastono8179]

Reclaiming the Desserts

[@merrittanimation7721]

The sweets must flow

[@jengleheimerschmitt7941]

Did you take my icecream? Give it back!

[@sitaroutreachministry6289]

Hey Isaac, thanks for being there!

[@blamblam7578]

Time travel and future predictions for the near future would be cool. I know you already made one of these videos but more depth and detail would be awesome! Thx!

[@MatthewHolevinski]

Isaac I think you would do some research on guys like Ray Archuleta, Gabe Brown, Dave Brandt, Greg Judy, and guys like Joel Salatin. Traditional farming practices that employ things like no-till, cover crops, intensive mob grazing, and soil ecology seems to make things like desertification a complete non-issue.

[@jengleheimerschmitt7941]

Yes! Was one of the guys you named the guy that was reforesting parts of the Sahara with basically Salitin's rotational grazing, but with elephants? Whatever we do, it should definitely be done with elephants.

[@Marmocet]

BTW, most deserts, including most hot deserts, aren't sandy. Even the Sahara is mostly not sandy. Greening them in most cases is not much more complicated than adding water.

[@perspectivedetective]

Oh wow! I never catch the latest SFIA video this early! Usually I have to wait until after work.

[@HouseJawn]

Issac, missed the last few months of shows, catching up today, good work bro i love these earth 2.0 episodes. Biology + Futurism = good sh*t 🌏✨

[@patternseekingape8873]

3.03 Thank you for putting that so eloquently!

[@-whackd]

You need to mention managed grazing. There's a famous Ted Talk by Alan Savory, a scientist who has reversed desertification on large scales with managed grazing.

[@sdkee]

Slight point from the intro: the deserts are receding now in places where humans are not actively cutting. The reason is simple: CO2 causes plants to lose less water to the air. They eat CO2 and have a respiration problem. They need to make holes in themselves for CO2 to get in, but when they do water also gets out. When the CO2 is more abundant, they make less holes. So more CO2 makes plants more efficient at living in dry environments. And satellite photos show green spreading. So the way to solve desertification is to burn more fossil fuels. More CO2 == less deserts.

[@The1Helleri]

Allan Savory has a pretty good TED Talk on desertification. Wherein he demonstrates multiple experimental proofs of a rather simple method for reclaiming the worlds deserts. It involves much more live stock, being put into singular massive herds, and doing planned grazing with them that all mimics how herd animals behave in the wild. Seems like the project spots he has going around the world have shown massive improvement in relatively short spans of time.

[@michaelwinter742]

You’ve done more to help me enjoy reading (sci-fi) than any English teacher ever did. Thank you.

[@ArcherWarhound]

Isaac, are you familiar with Allan Savory and his proposed method for greening the desserts? I know he has his critics: do you know how accurate their criticisms are?

[@dwrobotics2180]

I agree that his approach seems to be teh only one that makes sense.

[@musaran2]

His critics seem to know what they are saying much better than him.

[@mj6463]

It’s Thursday?!?! Sweet I thought it was Wednesday 😁 thanks for making our day Isaac, have a good week!

[@reginolinvincent2421]

restoring is gods work this is excellent information thank you arthur.

[@josephspina6178]

Your videos are one of the highlights of my week, but every once in a while you put one out that reminds me why I fell in love with your channel in the first place. Thank you for that. 😀

[@esdrascaleb]

I heard one time a teory that amazon river was articially made transposing all rivers to one desert in area making the rainflorest

[@Mrbfgray]

8:00 Glacial flow sped up is very interesting!

[@kam-ty8mv]

Also,Geothermal power plants can produce electricity and fresh water 24/7 if located on seashores. Cheap to build and the technology was available yesterday.

[@danielschmidt2186]

Agrivoltaics has huge potential to terraform deserts. Produce a lot of solar power while creating shade. Power desalination and run electrolyzers with some water going to irrigate grasslands. Build swales and plant perennial crops. Graze animals below the solar panels and plant trees around the perimeter of the arrays.

[@thetruth45678]

I reclaim this dessert in the name of the Earth! Oh... wait. Desert? Nah. You can keep it.

[@MisterTutor2010]

Isaac is the Kwisatz Haderach of KZbin :)

[@PongoXBongo]

A series of branching canals off of a large artificial river could provide an easy method of transporting goods as well (ala Mississippi River, USA). One could possibly imagine a giant east-west canal cutting through the middle of Africa (like a giant Suez Canal). Of course, that wouldn't be a worthwhile endeavor in one shot, but slowly connecting a series of smaller canals might accomplish it eventually.

[@thejesuschrist]

The desert is boring... been there, done that. I want to colonize SPACE! 🚀

[@lettuceprime4922]

lol bro not all of us can survive forty days without eating in the desert with a pushy dude telling us to eat some shit baby steps k we're only human you demigod jerk

[@stardolphin2]

Define 'space.' Some of it consists of rather desert-y planets (starting with Mars)...

[@the_Kutonarch]

How the hell did he get the tick next to his name? *OMG IT'S THE OG JC!*

[@frankmueller2781]

Space Is a desert, the biggest desert in fact.

[@felixkeenan5176]

Space man? I always wanted you to go into space man, Intergalactic Christ!

[@SynomDroni]

@Isaac Arthur I was hoping to hear you talking about "biochar" and maybe " mychorizal fungi" throughout the presentation. Those topics bear a busload of interesting factors favourable to the efforts.

[@brendamayfuller8803]

Interesting. A few years ago Peru drilled a tunnel through the Andes from the very wet east side, to the very dry west side. This has resulted in controlling flooding, and irrigating vast parts of the Atacama desert. A win-win scenario.

[@mikeharrington5593]

Basic requirement is water, without it you can forget the rest. So we start with at least some water resource and incorporate hardy drought tolerant weeds & deep rooted grasses to stabilise the soil structure & to shade the soil from evaporation. The self seeding short lived weeds will provide ground cover as they establish & expand their numbers & attract small creatures which will fertilizers the soil via natural processes. With ground cover established& generating surface mulch, then bushes can be cultivated and then trees. As the soil stabilizes further with more shading it will further prevent water loss from soil evaporation, even allowing for transpiration. Keep animals off (particularly goats) for a few years. Artificially adding water will speed up the plant growth process - and so on. Its a slow, creeping process that mimics nature's natural colonisation of bare soils & it can lead to trees & plants producing food, & regenerative farming using animals ,& their manure on a constant grazing rotation to reclaim the land.

[@fredricknietzsche7316]

see the TED talk on this topic! key word "desertification" and "Savory"

[@xXNightmare06Xx]

"Take advantage of the large pressure differential between the top and the bottom of the ocean to act as the pomp to.." This pressure differential is equilibrated by gravity, with the bottom having to compensate the weight of the column of water above which makes high pressure. So if you want to exploit such a pressure differential, you have to spend at least the same amount as the energy you will extract (+entropy) to counteract this gravitational force (with increasing the potential energy of your fluid, which means pomping it until the gravitational potential energy of the high-pressure zone is equal to the one in the low-pressure zone) before you can exploit this pressure differential... Basically, you'll make the water of the bottom go to the surface with an isopressure process. You can't extract energy with the pressure differential because you'll spend more energy first to elevate the water. This is dictated by laws of conservation of the potential energy of the fluid.

[@alexseguin5245]

I always enjoy the optimistic tone of Isaac's videos. Great work as always!

[@injunsun]

ISAAC, just one thing neglected: Rivers don't "just empty into the sea," as if they have no purpose if we aren't using them. They not only contain, but sustain complex ecosystems along their paths. We see the problems created by dams already, which is why we have removed a great many, and may end up removing them all, save for flood control. Two compromises are, first, what we do now with TVA, where waters are released periodically to at least partially mimic normal flow, or second, which we aren't doing, capture and send only excess water, i.e., floods. If transport only happened during near flood stage on major rivers, I'm sure the locals wouldn't mind. Then the only thing one needs to contend with is removal of all potential invasive species before sending the water, just in case they can't use or store it all without resorting to shunting excesses at the receiving end into local streams or lakes. Retention ponds could be a solution for that. As always, I love your content. You remind me a bit of Vaush, minus his snark, and with a different focus.

[@nickwalker4936]

Is it time for the ToTower to bless the rains down in Africa???

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

:) I've come to hate that song, even though I love Toto, it was one of the songs on my playlist in my workshop and one of my brethren grew fond of it, got a copy, and must have played it several hundred times in the adjoining tent during our deployment, along with Men at Work's "Down Under", I always get vaguely homicidal when I hear either nowadays.

[@nickwalker4936]

Isaac Arthur of course, sir. listen to it too much you can grow to hate any song.

[@T--xo2uq]

I live out in the mojave, and I have done some documentation of the plants that live here. Some of the plants in dry lake beds taste very saline, and I think the dust can be distributed through the valleys to make very fertile soil. An alternate approach is to dig a hole that is sealed with plastic, then build a mini aquifer with a well. This would allow land itself to store the water from flash floods, and there is no shortage of carbon material out in the deserts. I also think the Creosote shrubs that make up most of Nevada's biomass, with an incredibly efficient use of water, could be a good candidate for terraformation on desert planets. Also I can hear you pronouncing your 'R's better, keep up the good work!

[@atlet1]

Check Allan Savory.

[@pitchforksarecoming]

For non commercial planting, mulches keep in moisture and provide fertile ground for fungus and in turn fungus eating insects provide the fertilizers and nutrients necessary for strong plants. You spot plant in the mulch using your organic compost in those spots. No digging.

[@KorhalKk]

I believe Real Engineering mentioned the Albedo Factor. Terraforming great deserts like the Sahara would concentrate to many black mass or green mass, it would cut the ability deserts have to reflect sunlight and it helps to cool the planet. We should use the actual fertile or semiarid deserts and apply the best technology we have today and make better use of the space we have, also urban vertical gardens and such. And I'm talking about the Earth and "low" or mid-tech.

[@annoyed707]

The notion of cutting canals into coast deserts brings the Atacama and western Australia to mind.

[@webchimp]

There have been plans to dig a canals to flood low lying areas of the northern Sahara. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara_Sea

[@brianmessemer2973]

Don't look now folks, but a "futurism" channel is helping us understand and solve today's problems.

[@EliasMheart]

This channel has the best transitions to Sponsors ever^^

[@rayceeya8659]

May I recommend a book on this subject called "Cadillac Desert", by Marc Reisner. It's a history of water and irrigation projects in the American West. Toward the end he discusses sort of "pipe dream" projects. One of which was a plan to irrigate West Texas with Mississippi River water. The plan involved about half a dozen nuclear powered pumping stations to move the water. Lesson learned, water's heavy folks.

[@stevesedio1656]

As far as providing the energy to reclaim deserts, several orbiting mirrors can also keep a ground based solar panel array lit, 24/7 (not a lot of cloud cover in the desert). That eliminates the need for storage, and requires only 20% of the solar panels (because they don't sit fallow 18+ hours a day).

[@Peter-qe1yh]

Your voice is extremely soothing. I put your videos on as I fall asleep so I can learn something as I fall asleep.

[@DustedAsh3]

I have been waiting for this episode for so long! I am hoping to spend my life helping to green the deserts. Thank you for the information!

[@jacklarson6281]

thanks for acknowledging that it was quite possibly the mezzo Americans who originally discovered/implemented hydroponics

[@reylocke4633]

Just finished it , your videos always blow me away

[@njnjhjh8918]

That reservoir at 6:25 is so pretty

[@joejohns3543]

Hell yeah! A shout out to Real Engineering for also being cool as hell! ++++ SFIA ++++ RE

[@morbidice1]

Isaac, I know it's not the subject of your channel, but could you address your thoughts on Oumuamua? I feel that with all the different methods of interstellar travel you have covered in the past, and future technology in general, you might have some ideas on what Oumuamua might be if it is fact of artificial origin. Perhaps a probe, derelict spaceship, solar sail, discarded rocket booster, etc?

[@miles2378]

17:48 I was thinking the same thing about using the pressure of the deep ocean to push sea water through the filtering membranes to replace/augment electric pumps.

[@calvingreene90]

Assuming that you have enough pressure to force water through the reverse osmosis membrane you will cut the pumping cost about in half you still have to lift the fresh water away from the filter and to where it's needed.

[@kristinax5052]

wow Isaac.. you think on a much higher level than most.. thx for sharing your mind

[@faunasmith3537]

Water vapor as a greenhouse gas!!! The need for a presenter who speaks concise English is apparent!

[@peterm.eggers520]

Evaporating more H2O could create a thick cloud cover, a very effective reflector of sunlight.

[@VanessaFlyhight]

I've waited all week!

[@yojimbokuratsu]

There was an Indian engineer a few years ago who perfected a process by which water could be desalinated using barometric pressure. I heard that report over 20 years ago and I never heard anything else.

[@vantonyan912]

You completely missed even mentioning the permaculture in your video, that is very mature and has history of success for many years

[@randomperson9282]

Your quality is just goddamn no words can describe it you Sir I inspire to be as dedicated and disciplined as you.

[@thomaskline5164]

To Quote one of your namesakes Issac . "It"s Raining on the ocean ! " LOL

[@madscientist2509]

Another gem Issac Arthur! Thank you for the knowledge you share with us in every video.

[@hdufort]

I once had a dream where people were freezing ice into cylinders, than firing the cylinders into a lake the desert using a rail gun cannon. Probably one of the weirdest things my brain ever came up with!!!

[@jacobapolo761]

We can solve the storm problems and severe earthquake at this one.

[@xiloeteknowledgiesllc1973]

Excellent episode. I must rewatch it.

[@peterm.eggers520]

You really need to watch Gabe Brown's YT videos on how to turn lifeless dirt into living soil to infiltrate rain much faster and retain it.

[@thebeardedgrower4625]

You should look into permaculture. Geoff Lawton is doing some great work at re-greening the desert. Using permaculture techniques. It seems like you're making mountains out of molehills when you can just work with nature

[@Felenari]

Good watch/listen as always. Ty.

[@diablominero]

Responsible ruminant agriculture can reverse desertification in a dying grassland. A lot of those regions have a rainy season, and just don't capture the water that falls on them.

[@alanfriesen9837]

I'm wondering if mountain valleys could be walled off to create mega-reservoirs as mountain glaciers shrink so that watersheds can be maintained. I also wonder whether or not steam could be pumped up to those reservoirs efficiently or would it all condense too early.

[@templebrown7179]

Come on, Isaac! Beads of water do not burn plants. That's an old wive's tale. You and I both know that even though a bead of water can act like a lens, the focal point has to be right to burn something with a lens. Please cite a reference.

[@templebrown7179]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/7823032/Sunburnt-plants-myth-is-debunked.html

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Interesting, thank you, I did not know that. Always a good reminder to check things now matter how often we hear them spoken as fact. That said, keep in mind we were mostly discussing it for greenhouses or orbital mirrors, and you do have to worry about focus for those especially if you're intentionally trying to concentrate the light.

[@murunbuchstanzangur]

As a gardener, I was told this again and again. my instinct and observations did not bear it out. I have argued this over and over. Feeling super smug right now. Thanks guys.

[@datagawa]

@@isaacarthurSFIA It's an interesting problem to pose to AP calculus and physics students, having them describe the wattage per unit surface area. Turns out, even if you get the droplet perfectly positioned to focus the sun's light, you end up waaay underbudget to burn the leaf.

[@murunbuchstanzangur]

@Pete have you actually ever seen it? The whole process? Or is it just something everyone does? Because as the telegraph article says it may be from other causes, temperature shock, rapid concentration of dissolved chemicals, or my own personal theory, that it interferes with transpiration flow. I can confirm, that I have never seen any damage with my own eyes in many decades of home and professional gardening. But the summers here never get beyond about 35 degrees centigrade in the hottest of years. So perhaps there is threshold. Would love to hear your first hand observations...

[@witherfang1368]

Hell you could use the space method of power collecting in a desert and just build a giant dish that focuses a bunch of light into a solar farm and you will automatically increase its efficiency

[@GeorgeCraciun-su9tr]

I've been working on restoring a third acre forest for the past 2 years, in a feasible environment, its extremely slow and painstaking, more than half the saplings fail, if they don't dry up in the summer, the rabbits chew them up in the winter, and than only a few of the remainder bud up in the spring, half of the way too early, before the last frost, and fail still. And all this is in a fertile environment, the desert, ..... I like these thought experiments but in the real world its a lot more difficult, you get a different sense if appreciation for the environment when you actually start doing

[@jmoney2568]

Glory and Honor !! So the big problem with this concept is that our planet's marine life need the dust from the deserts to eat and propagate.. u cant use afforestation in the Sahara because the krill and the ocean food chains would diminish.. SO WE NEED TO PLANT TREES ON BOATS!! And connect them and build a floating forest!!

[@tonikotinurmi9012]

In Finland we could use waste-heat from Loviisa nuclear reactor(s) to heat whole capital town Helsinki, but it's not allowed by international treaties to use the water this way (the waste-water is not connected to reactor but rotated by - I think two - heat-exchangers)...

[@tonikotinurmi9012]

Closer to the video: Iceland magma-testing (first in the world) to extract power: theconversation.com/magma-power-how-superheated-molten-rock-could-provide-renewable-energy-67725 (haven't really searched how it has gone)

[@daydreamer8662]

I don't recall you mentioning it (maybe you did) but what about aquifers in Africa and Australia? They don't exist everywhere in the Sahara, but they do exist an abundance. And Australia has some of the largest underground water supply in the world

[@thezebraherd8275]

This is a great and practical subject

[@ahfekry4358]

Hope we develop practical methods for farming desert with sea water, without contaminating the soil with salt, and this is possible

[@malcolmkhummel3]

Hell F-ing yeah...It's Arthursday! Thanks Issac! Love your channel!

[@evilgoogleevilgoogle3855]

A lot of very silly ideas mixed with some that are extremely dangerous, (deliberately heating parts of the ocean, expanding industrial monoculture, trans continental water / heat trsnsfer etc.) but the were a few interesting bits as well, so thank you. Please if you liked the idea of 'X' look it up on a more thoughtful Chanel or website.

[@iAreEddie]

My best bet would be to increase C02 levels and average planetary temp, to get more water into the atmosphere and more C02 for fuel to grow for plants.

[@jan_kisan]

maaan, we'll really need you after the revolution . don't die this century please)) frankly, I didn't know about salt-tolerant crops and all this stuff with greenhouses, it's so cool ! seems like we will stop and reverse desertification for real. thanks for the optimism !