From sand to soil in 7 hours | Ole Morten Olesen | TEDxArendal

Water is a scarce resource that many of us take for granted, but unfortunately large parts of Earth’s population do not have that luxury. Ole and his innovation team have tried to solve an enormous task: to turn sand into soil. Even more exciting - they believe they have solved the problem!
Listen to Ole talk us through the concept behind turning deserts and sand dunes green. How their technology could change the face of the planet, and solve parts of the global environmental problem. Presenting the game-changing concept at TEDxArendal, he will show you the fascinating images of the green lush results!
Ole Morten has an extensive background in R&D and is focused on "Desert Control" since the companys inception. He has been instrumental in developing and testing Liquid nano clay, which is a tool for turning sand into soil.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@I.am.Mumma.Bear.1]

This was 6 years ago .. why are we not seeing the progression of this amazing technology being implemented??? 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️💕👍🏽

[@coffeeisthepathtovictory1290]

This man and his father deserves a nobel prize.

[@sumakwelvictoria5635]

This is essentially a technology to convert dry desert sands to fertile arable soil! He and his father should have had the nobel prize yesterday!

[@eugenecbell]

@@sumakwelvictoria5635, yes, but it takes water and there may not be enough in the desert. Perhaps e need a way to get the water back too.

[@mycophile2393]

So many are quick to dismiss the fungi as a useless particle of the ecosystem. But they are the precursor to a healthy one. It would be interesting to see what kind of mycological opportunities this technology could be combined with.

[@NHamel123]

Throw some dynomyco or something similar into their mix.

[@mikeash7428]

I know this difficulty of turning sand into gardening soil from personal experience as well as trying to amend with clay. Congrats on coming up with the nano technique for getting clay to disperse and mix in as well as understanding how the microbes make the fertilizer available to plants. We'll be needing this technology as the world continues its human population growth. Tying all these sciences together, being careful of environmental degradation to desert species, pollution from salt to ag water production, and planning and implementing human population......these are big challenges aren't they!

[@blakebrown534]

Yes the salt is a big issue from what I understand. We cannot just put it back into the ocean by dumping it because it will raise the salinity dramatically. We have to find a way to manage it that will maintain the balance of salinity in the areas these desal plants are located.

[@timothyvass]

Umm.. clay particles are nano particles, that's why it's called clay and not silt or sand. You just take clay and mix it with water... and you have "liquid nano clay" it is literally just normal clay in normal water. Soil consists of particles of 3 sizes (sand, silt and clay) as well as organic matter, water and air. About 25% should be air, 25% water and 5% organic matter. If you have too much sand, mix in some clay and you will get loamy sand, sandy loam or sandy clay loam. With some of that sand then turning into silt through organics processes, you will get clay loam and eventually rich loam. These idiots are rediscovering something humanity has known and done for thousands of years. There's absolutely nothing new or groundbreaking about this "technology". 😂 Pun intended.

[@mikeash7428]

@@timothyvass I'll relisten to hear with your perspective added in.

[@yellowbird5411]

The resistance to opening up new avenues of planting in deserts and waste lands with new techniques and technology seems to be based on the interests of established farmers, and the massive amount of investment into machinery not designed for various planting techniques and crop maintenance. But it is three years since this TedX talk was done, and we find the weather patterns have changed so drastically, that farmers and governments will be forced to change as well. The deserts in some areas are now blooming, and alternative growing methods are now more at the fore due to necessity. I have watched videos on Grow boxes in planting trees, and everything from floating gardens to raised beds, to hanging gardens and grow towers, and various kinds of hydroponics. It is not the lack of solutions we are faced with, it is employing these solutions to mass farming practices without the establishment dragging their feet. This clay is one of many solutions, and I applaud all the efforts made in this direction.

[@sophitran]

👏🏾 Bravo Lynn, I totally agree with you !! Our global leaders lack action not solutions . There are so many ways to mitigate, and a variety of methods will be need . One solution methods does not fit all, except create another manufacture-red demand.

[@wildopeneye1634]

Brilliant! Very promising! Very well done, Mr. Olesen.

[@janfrederiksen1539]

Absolutely amazing! The world needs this so much. Is it an expensive solution? I worry only big companies gets to do this and end up controlling even more of the worlds ressources.

[@chandanchandra4819]

Congratulations Sir. Request you to please share your experiences with others also around the world. I invite you to India

[@valeriekneen-teed3313]

This is truly amazing!! Wow! How Beautiful!

[@downbntout]

Immensely exciting. Go, Norway!

[@236Mars]

Amazing ideas! We need to get these implemented on a very large scale, soonest.

[@andrewkiritu8979]

True, especially here.

[@graphene1487]

that bolo tie deserves a nobel prize

[@jamescampbell1952]

Amazing Talk - very inspiring. I believe that the technology that these people have created could change the world - and i hope to be a part of this. Thank you mate, and thanks to TED for hosting the talk.

[@Ghryst]

TED didnt host the talk, and the guy is not changing the world, he is tying up the ability for anyone else to use this technique with his patent, and his company seems to be a failure in the implementation department, so no one is benefitting. he's basically holding the rest of the world hostage

[@desertpermaculture-thar1726]

I did it in desert with 60k plants through drip and flow...It's amazing..Mix clay with water and let the water flow..

[@mrnauthicaav8321]

how long did it take ? and are you growing crops to sell ?

[@bobjackson4720]

Interesting stuff, I hope the right people get to hear about this product.

[@pamelaglasser1954]

Always wonderful to have innovative earth-friendly solutions !

[@SapioiT]

It would be even more wonderful if earth-friendly solutions were actually used. Simply getting seawater to a place a few km away from the shore, then use mirrors to heat a very long and wide greenhouse, and solar power to pump that water from the sea, and then pipe that hot steam a few tens of km inland inside a pipe insulated with aerated concrete (since it's cheap and effective), with occasional storage tanks a few km apart to store the water during the night (to prevent a more powerful water hammer down the line to the shore) and to re-heat the steam even more since the pipe will lose heat over those long distances, and then simply release it in the air.

[@SapioiT]

The difference in pressure will cause the temperature of the steam to lower after exiting the pipe. If you use dew condensers (walls of netting and support chicken-wire), then you can get a lot of drinking water quickly during the day, and even more during the early night. During the middle late night, you can even get snow or hail. Now, with a constant passive (or mostly passive, unless the evaporation greenhouses are below the water level and get the water through an underground pipe) steam generation, you can get a lot of water to even the middle of the deserts.

[@SapioiT]

But this will not bebe implemented, they will talk about the high initial costs and no proof it working, and choose the cheaper-in-the-short-run but pricier-in-the-long-run reverse-osmosis water filtration, rather than the passive solar-distillation approach with on-delivery condensation. Because the reverse-osmosis has more costs which makes the more money to the maintenance company, while the solar distillation with on-delivery condensation is more set-it-and-forget-it with minimal maintenance and a fairly high cost due to the greenhouse and the pipe needing to be well insulated and to survive temperatures of over 300 Celsius degrees (over 600 degrees F) and high pressure (over 3 times the atmospheric pressure).

[@emariaenterprises]

Thank you for this wonderful discovery. Once again, there is no population limit for the planet. We can feed our people.

[@fredericrike5974]

If we have the "can" solution then we must redouble our efforts to create the "will" to do these things.

[@gregzurbay9291]

Are you fuc ing kidding??? No population limit?? Every additional HUMAN will add to the caloric loading - - - just a question of WHEN THE TIPPING POINT MANIFESTS!!!

[@ajtrvll]

Great idea!!... Look into what else is needed for soil : perhaps biochar ?... in Brazil it was used massively by indigenous people to turn unproductive clay soil into fertile farm lands. Also, with some strategic planning, water availability in desert regions will not be an ongoing challenge : as bare sand is transformed, the ground is cooled and dust is mitigated... weather systems slowly gain entry into the desert where they deposit rain... which promotes even greater transformation, cooling and dust mitigation... creating a virtuous circle. Keep up the good work!

[@downbntout]

No Way to biochar. Burning sends carbon into the sky. Am I wrong? Enlighten me, if so

[@1voluntaryist]

The heated wood out-gasses. The gasses are turned into various products, e.g., wood vinegar. If you really want enlightenment, watch a video on biochar or read a little.

[@asupremum1246]

downbntout , I think it's burned in a very closed environment where everything settles back down and doesn't escape into the air

[@Ed19601]

Biochar is nonsense. Only sensible if it is a waste product from e.g. your heating process, but to start making it purely for 'biochar'. Is ridiculous. Then better just use the stuff u planned to burn and let 8t compost

[@Ed19601]

downbntout finally someone using his/her brain rather than to parrot the latest fashion word

[@lindavilmaole5003]

That's an amazing dream: GREENING THE SAHARA DESERT! if it can be done, then science and technology would be at its BEST!

[@SapioiT]

Science, yes, and there are many methods which worked in the past for turning deserts into farmland. Not sure about technology, though, since people there have workforce but very little tech and very little money to invest, comparatively to the first-world-countries and second-world-countries. And there is also political interference, so my guess is that if Sahara is to be turned green, it would have to start with politics. I mean, that's the main reason the youtube channel Isaac Arthur (which has videos which turn science-fiction into science-fact) doesn't many any content on things which can be done right now with existing technology, because politics decide what happens or does not happen.

[@Pc963It]

Some of the countries with deserts within their borders prefer to invest in tanks , jet fighters and bombs rather than making their people happy. Warlords couldn't care less about making their own people lives any better. The most important thing is to keep the status quo and hundreds of thousands of people in poverty so that is easier to force them to become legal slaves. These guys have plenty of food and water. They just don't want to share their privilege

[@BBBrasil]

This sounds amazing, But I couldn't find one single scientific article authored by Ole. Can anyone post here?

[@modalgrabe2501]

just look up the effects of clay on sandy soil. this dude probably just super heated the clay (like expanded clay) and patented the process.

[@AllenHChang]

Patent No.: US 8,277.682 B2

[@stphnmaunsell89]

Modern Nuclear power plants paired with desalination plants in the desert is the answer

[@sumakwelvictoria5635]

Might be suppressed for whatever reasons.

[@brettmoore3194]

Praisr you and your family a thousands of,times over. A true gods gift came,from your ingenuity

[@judeirwin2222]

The future is in studying and applying the lessons of mycorrhizal relationships. Fungi have been misunderstood or ignored for centuries. Yet they supply plants up to huge trees with nutritional minerals, while receiving sugars they need from the plants. They can also rehabilitate degraded, eroded, polluted or fire damaged land. You young people wondering what to study, mycoforestry and agriculture is a field full of reward and productivity.

[@fredmidtgaard5487]

Great thinking, Ole

[@paulolivares8352]

This is awesome!

[@arjunchopra13]

Inspiring 👏👏👏

[@arailway8809]

WOW! That being said, there are miles of rock and big, big sand dunes in the Sahara that will never lend itself to this great work. But the Sahel could be a wonderfully different story. I like this man.

[@fredericrike5974]

The Sahara Desert was once among the lushest, greenest places on the planet. Civilizations existed there, using the five great rivers whose courses we can still see from space as well as lakes bigger than our Great Lakes. Archaeologists have found 30 foot long fresh water fish skeletons and much more, as well as the history of the desertification of the Sahara region- they found that the Monsoon rains had shifted and beginning the process and a great possibility that only two to three hundred years saw the process complete- the remnants of those people become the Egyptians, as the last sure flowing year round water was the Nile.

[@NicolaSteiner]

I am just watching your playlist. It's really great, so I subd u

[@Frickenadazzal]

You can catch dew (water) overnight and in the morning. Plants do this naturally and store it in their roots, stems, and leaves. They transpire some of that during the day to pass on the wealth wherever the weather takes it.

[@downbntout]

You can put a sheet of plastic on the ground almost anywhere and soon see condensation on the underside.

[@climatehero]

Excellent and inspiring!

[@eleanorwilliams9245]

Superb!!

[@DedeNako]

I found this very exciting and informative I am a researcher so I for one ☝🏾 enjoyed😸this

[@dougoverhoff7568]

I would suggest that this discovery is EPIC, but I don't think that word is strong enough to describe the impact this will have on the World, and food production for the starving masses. This is just wonderful news, and Godspeed to this project.

[@SapioiT]

@@dougoverhoff7568 Allan Savory's Greening The Deserts video shows a more sustainable way, which can work in the years after this is used, to make the farmland more permanent. The liquid nanoclay and stone meal expire after 5 years or so, so you would need to pay again to replace it, but if you use this as a starting point and then you use planed grazing, you can permanently turn the desert green. If you use sheep or goats who produce both milk and wool, you also get those and can use them for making textiles (usable for greenhouses as well) and food, since the milk can be drank or can be turned into soft or hard cheeses.

[@SapioiT]

If you store water in covered ponds, without fish you can get algae fertilizer, and with fish you get fish-water fertilizer and fish for cooking. For grazing, you can start with poultry for eggs and meat, then continue with sheep and goats for both milk and wool, then continue with larger animals which can be used for milling grains and moving carts and whatnot. The oils in hard cheeses helps lean meats to have a lot more of their nutrients absorbed by the human body if eaten together.

[@dougoverhoff7568]

@@SapioiT Thank you for the response and the additional information. Have a blessed day!

[@modalgrabe2501]

Sundrop farms in Australia (17,000 tons of tomato annually) and the Sahara Forest Project in Jordan. Both use solar delsation with seawater. Sundrop is right next to the ocean so very little energy is used to transport the water. The SFP (jordan) was stupidly built 15km from the sea with no pipe.

[@ajtrvll]

Also, look into possible combinations of plants and bacterium that fix nitrogen into the soil instead of relying on fertilizer : perhaps beans ? A "super" protein-rich food for human consumption and lots of plant material for large herds of herbivores (such as goats) that fertilize the fields naturally.

[@geecruz2359]

ajtrvll YOU SHOULD LOOK INTO IT YOU COULD CHANGE THE WORLD. PLEASE CHANGE THE WORLD.

[@1voluntaryist]

That's incorrect. All herbivores need to be moved (managed) depending on the soil, grass, and animal. The problems with all agriculture/ranching start with ignorance. With proper management, e.g., rotational grazing and combined usage, sustainable becomes enhanced, the soil grows more fertile.

[@rlguerrero2263]

It´s indeed a beutifull thing to do. And we already do it in full scale here in Brazil. =)

[@thjeokthjeok443]

Gerry , Goats dont pull the plant roots out like sheep do ! they are not really grass eaters . but if you live in a desert with little vegetation goats can be a problem , they will eat every shrub , as they did in Egypt !

[@SusanBaileyAmazingEstate]

ajtrvll I don't know who would argue with you about planting beans. It's a common cover crop to fix nitrogen and keep soil healthy. You might be interested in work other researchers are doing using man-made swails to reverse desertification. If these guys all put their ideas together, they'd really be successful. It's like they each have their own piece in their own little bubble.

[@krakhedd]

7:57 - you can kiss goodbye to the Amazon.... (The widely-held hypothesis is that any substantial greening of the Sahara will reduce all the fine particulates - fine/particulate Saharan sand suspended in trans-oceanic wind currents - which start accumulating moisture and turn into clouds and then precipitation)

[@THESHOMROM]

BRILLIANT.

[@chiefschillaxn1781]

I knew about this technology for about a decade. scientific bureaucracy is holding back human potential.

[@lovecat99]

Oh really? You knew? Sources, please. Dated articles, research papers...anything to verify??

[@humuodkindi4926]

ChiefsChiLLaXN can you share the knowledge pls

[@kevinward3261]

YESYESYES and yes

[@rustyfox2794]

For decades, and perhaps more than a century, people have enriched sandy soil with bentonite and other clays. The dried clay was powdered in a mill, and applied to the land to retain moisture. It can be sprayed after mixing with water, or applied dry and ploughed in. Organic material is also needed, and I must have missed where the 'nano-clay' has any organic matter?

[@muhammadkallouj5638]

Rusty Fox I think that he says in the video that fertilizer is used (liquid), what kind of fertilizer he does not say it.

[@billsmith9711]

with very few exceptions, all societies that rely on irrigation for their food will eventually fade away...this has been shown to be the case from the ancient Nabateans in Petra, the Pueblos in SW USA, to the Atacama desert in Chile and many more points across the globe. You must be able to have regular rainfall to make things grow. Desalination projects are most cost effective when using nuclear power... and there are few nations capable of doing this. In Arabia the Crude oil will continue to burn to make fresh water and power...and one day it will be gone.

[@modalgrabe2501]

Okay my friend.. you obviously don't know about Sundrop farms in Australia (17,000 tons of tomato annually) and the Sahara Forest Project in Jordan. Both use solar delsation with seawater. Sundrop is right next to the ocean so very little energy is used to transport the water. The SFP (jordan) was stupidly built 15km from the sea with no pipe.

[@billsmith9711]

@@modalgrabe2501 - I have lived in Jordan and Iraq and Arabia.... irrigation and desalination do work but the will not last. Society must have rainfall over the long term.

[@modalgrabe2501]

@@billsmith9711 that would be nice. I suggest you search Sundrop farms on youtube. it is interesting technology. Carbon negative.

[@modalgrabe2501]

only uses seawater and sun.

[@Kotesu]

I keep wondering if Ole and Allan Savory could combine their techniques and efforts; could they create a self-perpetuating soil cycle in the middle of the Sahara desert? The ramifications of that would be incredible.

[@SapioiT]

@@TheWhale45 Exactly what I was thinking about, and what I replied to another comment before reading your comment. You can also use covered ponds to keep water from evaporating from ponds, so it can seep into the ground instead of evaporating.

[@modalgrabe2501]

​ @Don Turco ​ @Sapioit ​ @Identity is character not group Sundrop farms in Australia (17,000 tons of tomato annually) and the Sahara Forest Project in Jordan. Both use solar delsation with seawater. Sundrop is right next to the ocean so very little energy is used to transport the water. The SFP (jordan) was stupidly built 15km from the sea with no pipe.

[@brudo5056]

OK, I am also interested in this system and it’s possibilities BUT we should never forget the reality of the Hadley cell in the geographical location of a desert like the Sahara... so this ‘soil cycle’ will be under a constant high pressure of losing structure because of the ‘loss’ of water (the growing plants, some evaporation and/or draining...). How long does it take to turn this fertile unstable soil structure into a more stabile living soil structure?

[@ablaze1713]

It is very doable. They generate so much organic waste during the sacrificial holiday in Saudi. Combine it with the clay, biochar and compost. You can make marvels.

[@xyzsame4081]

the limiting factor is water - not soil. As Geoff Lawson's Jordan project shows soil can be built just fine - if you have and retain water and start out with some organic matter, the plants fix more (energy of the sun, caron and nitrogen from the air). Now, if you can jumpstart the process and turn sand into soil (clay making it stick together and sand making it permeable) - all the better, but it will be still useless w/o water. And so far desalinated water is expensive. Sounds like the clay may help to retain some water. I could see pipelines with salt water going inland, having it evaporate big time, would create a wetter microclimate, and partially desalinated from a natural evaporation desalination process could be used to create artificial mungrove swamps. clay could help to seal off the dug out bassins. When the mangroves have dealt with some of the salt, the now better water could be used for agriculture. Or processed in plants to make it really fresh water.

[@LorenaVivarEstella]

Amazing!

[@edualc4550]

I think this is worth looking into. If this method works it could change the world as we know it. The have not countries of Africa could become the wealthiest countries in the world.

[@cesartijerina5881]

Beautiful

[@fenrirgg]

With water you can grow watermelons in the sahara. Water is the main issue, not the need for "nano-clay". Regular clay makes the trick turning sand to farmland, the thing is you need water, a lot, because it's hot in the desert where water evaporates very fast.

[@spacecowboy7755]

fenrirgg, you are absolutely correct, but this guys invention, discovery, or whatever you want to call it, is not a complete solution and from what I’ve seen he’s not claiming it is. It’s merely a piece of the puzzle that only partly addresses the obvious problems of water you brought up. Evaporation could be addressed in other ways. Even in the best of systems I can’t see growing watermelon in the desert as an ethical or responsible choice, but there’s 100’s if not 1000’s of other edible plants that can be grown in the desert with little to no irrigation. Check out Allan Savory’s work on reversing desertification. There’s tons of information out there besides his as well.

[@mahmoudajjan466]

hello, you said thank you but it should be to you ,thank you very much for those info.

[@yildendelta6761]

Has there been any research that would show what the impact to the planet might/would be if the deserts were changed to greenscapes? I know it seems fantastic, but if we are looking at climate change, it would seem to me that changing massive areas of ecosystems to what is convenient for humans could possibly have catastrophic results. I could be totally off base here, but it occurred to be as I was watching this that we don't really Know what function these deserts play. If anyone can really answer this question for me I would greatly appreciate it. If it would not be destructive in the long run, then hey that's a great thing.

[@ArchFundy]

I wondered about this also. However he is talking about the whole dessert, and the process would be done in relatively small patches, so it could be monitored. If they started with a hundred sq. mile patch, that would be just a dot in the Sahara, but could do a great deal of good. In a controlled fashion it maybe could help mitigate global warming.

[@drakemccoy7491]

@@ArchFundy check out the green wall project in Africa to turn back the encroachment of the Sahara they're doing exactly that. Plus it's also the largest project ever put together by the Africa countries without any outside country or origin helping

[@drakemccoy7491]

The earth does this naturally in the Sahara over a 14000 year cycle. We spend about half the time with the desert turning into lush savanna and then about the same amount of time of it turning back into a dessert. We also have some pretty substantial archeological and geological evidence to back it. Look into it its a fun read.

[@isaackellogg3493]

The fertilizer he is talking about is a MINERAL fertilizer, not a chemical fertilizer. Read about the history of Stone Meal. The originator of PKN fertilizer later forswore his invention, but his adopters ignored him in their enthusiasm. Mineral fertilizers are generally non-polluting, as the density of the minerals is almost homeopathic. Gypsum, calcium, and other mineral fertilizers are already used. The idea behind Stone Meal is that plants (and fungus) are suffering from mineral deficiencies, and that this is the origin of the obesity and diabetes epidemics, as well as weakness pandemics and batten land across the world. Plants in the modern world evolved in the wake of the ice age to use minerals suspended in river silt (glaciers ground down mountains, then melted when the Earth warmed) as basic sustenance. If this fungus turns out to be true, then it is the missing link--nitrogen-fixing symbiotes to produce fixed nitrogen. The PKN fertilizer bypasses this step by giving the plants fertilizers containing pre-fixed nitrogen containing the wrong energy signature, which leads to sickly plants unable to fight off insects autonomously (which leads to more spraying) and the gradual death of all nitrogen-fixers (thus leading to worn-out soil and desertification).

[@zazugee]

N and other macro nutirients encourage the growth of plants but it make plants lazy about growing root biomass but modern researchs showed that root biomass is what build soils. create soil agregates by feeding bacteria and fungus with about 40% of the carbs the plant collect the NPK fertilizers destroy that symbiosis bc the plant no longer need to feed the bacteria, and fungus the result is that instead of attracting beneficial bacteria and fungus, the plants that are swollen with NPK, attract parasites and they lose that natural defence that was the symbiotic and beneficial ones (who produce conpounds that fight parasites) so no soil aggregates, no natural soil ecosystem, plus the plant get most of its micro-nutrients from the symbiotic relationships so no micro-nutrients nor trace minerals, so they produce poor food that is only C and N and barely any essential minerals

[@michaelvangundy226]

I appreciate your enthusiasm. Modern farming has changed. There are pesticides applied but only when needed. Trapping and monitoring for what is called a threshold level before anything is applied. There are many diseases that have a huge impact on yield. That needs to be targeted before it becomes a problem. Studying past history in specific regions gives a good indicator of when to apply. The largest amount of fertilizer applied is nitrogen in the form of ammonia. It has a very limited life in the soil so it usually is injected right before planting. The inputs are very heavy. Trucking in thousands of tons of low quality products like wood chips would cost an enormous amount in fuel. The soil would become compacted and yield would suffer. Storms would blow and wash away any surface applied input causing pollution of waterways. If you really want to change commercial farming a university in your area will have programs.

[@TomRiddleMeThisSpock]

I couldn't find anything on stone meal. I hate how the internet functions now; if one hasn't looked up something similar or related in the past search engines will never let you find the information one is looking for. Do you have any links or KZbin channels you can recommend that mention stone meal?

[@michaelvangundy226]

@@TomRiddleMeThisSpock try greensand. Natural source for potassium.

[@williamgibson2760]

@@TomRiddleMeThisSpock I suggest looking up "rock dust" and "remineralizing soil" or "soil remineralization"

[@brentneves3602]

Fantastic

[@silifke100]

this is the kind of news that brings hope for tomorrow-thank you

[@SusanBaileyAmazingEstate]

"Good farmers don't grow crops, they grow soil." These scientists are off to a great start, but they need to learn a lot more about soil culture. Mycorrhizal fungi is necessary for most all plant growth. Soil is alive! The challenge for these desert farmers will be to keep the soil alive. They should do their nanoclay thing, then add a thick layer of any biomaterial as mulch (more mulch = less water), and plant beans as a cover crop (they fix nitrogen). Fungi are everything. Go ahead and plant your trees, wheat, whatever. But never let the soil dry out, the fungi will die and you're back to a desert. The great thing is, amazingly, the treatment is the same for clay - thick mulch, beans. No tilling needed.

[@spacecowboy7755]

Exactly. I also enjoy the different variations of “You’re not farming crops, you’re farming light, water, and carbon.”

[@matthewhuang9588]

Farming soil is so so important. Mulching is important too

[@waterfoker8558]

What about the chinese researchers from chongqing who developed a paste made from plant celluose that turns sand into soil and have already been used to grow hectares of food?

[@klmallikarjun]

Chinese seem to have a better technology

[@TheProphetsWhisper]

are you sure you're not getting confused with the ancient slurry method of seeding?

[@changesaephan6822]

water foker lol i guess it doesnt count since its in china

[@MistressOP]

my guess it's the same concept build on the same research idea. getting the fungus to grow. they've had the solution for like 6 years and have been showing people. im not saying the Chinese stole the concept or anything im saying that two people got to the same result. biochar runs on the same concept of holding on to the fungus and holding npk.

[@hariprasanth69]

I like to know whether it is a fungus are bacteria.

[@thiagomelo8932]

If I'm not mistaken, Israel already uses a similar method. They changed their deserts in fields for crops and now is a major exporter of flowers.

[@kajakkille]

Thiago Melo. There are many methods for fighting desertification, but Nano Clay is a new and affordable method which gives loose sand the properties of solid earth, binding water and allowing the necessary fungi to live.

[@WaterspoutsOfTheDeep]

Israel is more rocky than it is sandy.

[@ikhlasahmed8941]

Good work. Please tell the name of the fungus and how you grew it. Have you written any document on your work. Can you please open it all

[@martysgarden]

Sounds great to me. Where I live on the coast the soil is very sandy. I like the concept for micro farming using vertical grow methods in the ground,,,grow and sell local. Doesn't have to just be in the desert,,,

[@beam3819]

Beautiful. Use compost no chemicals and the soil will produce for years

[@Conservator.]

Beate Moseidjord He said ‘furtilize it’ he didn’t mention chemical furtilizers. One could (and perhaps should) use organic furtilizers.

[@Ghryst]

"will produce for years" 5 years to be exact, according to hte companies marketing website (so its probably much less in reality). then you need to use his patented product again

[@beewinfield]

I built up some good soil in a vegetable garden with compost and worms over 4 years, then left it as trees over grew and shaded it. I like the trees so I moved my vege garden. HAve built up lovely loam from non wetting sand again. Both sites infiltrate and hold water beautifully 20 years later, seems like a permanent effect that compost and mulch, so isnt that good Ghryst.

[@arnavrawat9864]

Everything is a chemical.

[@thirtythreeflavors]

Including deez nuts??

[@samuelzev4076]

Is the nano clay mentioned in the presentation similar to the Chinese approach where they convert sand into the soil by combining sand with a compound mixture of plant cellulose?

[@krustysurfer]

There is an Old Farmer Saying "Clay To Sand Money in Hand" liquid clay kaolin high cation ratios

[@pedrosanchezgonzalez8693]

Kip going m8 good job

[@wandererdragon]

Interesting to combine this technique with growboxx'es

[@crazynomad3840]

Wow!

[@deepfreezevideo]

Will it work on areas which aren't exclusively sand but which have been "desertified" by climate change? PS: Instead of using biodiesel for desal, why not use photovoltaic?

[@aussiefarmer8741]

I get what you are saying, I thought grow Hemp with desalinated water, make bio diesel for the harvesting machinery and sell the rest of the hemp. Grow's fast 100's uses ect. Make the desert productive.

[@scottdebruyne6057]

The talk was interesting, but it's about 20 years late to be groundbreaking. Ausies have been adding clay to the soil for decades, (though at a higher application rate than he mentioned).

[@colleenforrest7936]

How often does the soil need to be remoculated with nanoclay? Or once started does the start regenerating soil on its own (compost or whatever)?

[@xyzsame4081]

The roots are able to grow into the substrate and "air" it and prevent it from becoming too compact. With the right kind of big root plants (often pioneer plants) you can speed up a process that would take a century in nature. Or longer. The roots decay over time or are eaten by worms and other critters, and the roots form entryways for air and water. And entryways for earthworms (I wonder if there are any in the desert - it needs to be deeper and with ground cover). They are crucial they vent the soil and the bacteria in the gut of the worms get nitrogen out of the air and process other nutrients. The are soil builders.

[@masonm600]

Just how much water dirs this need? And how expensive is it to get that water? I'm guessing the cost is still prohibitive or this would be widespread already

[@Renaissancecreative50]

Hello, I live in the U.S. and those numbers you were throwing out were too vague. I can’t understand what kilo you are referring to? Is it a kiloliter, kilogram or something else of volume. It is so hard for me to understand the right mix without being more specific. I got the square meter parts converted to square feet, but I would like some clarification on your kilo wordage to volume. Thank you!

[@4philipp]

What would the cost per acre be?

[@justryan2070]

we had 416% improvement when we added clay then FERTILIZED IT of course you're going to produce more if you FERTILIZE IT, don't try to market the clay as a "solution"

[@4philipp]

Just Ryan the clay adds water holding capacity to the sand. Without it, there would never be enough water for plants to grow.

[@wildflower8425]

sandy loam soil

[@williamturner6192]

No present threatening resource limit, if we work together.

[@collaborationeducation2306]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but my math shows you would need 5,179,976 lbs of clay per square mile for this method. Is that right?

[@PermaculturaeAgroflorestaDIY]

Incredible! We have a lot of sand soils in Brazil. Please, someone can translate this video for portuguese?

[@GTILOUD]

No its snake oil salesman, its fake. Look up natural farming, jadam farming

[@Renaissancecreative50]

What was the Age of Bio he was talking about? Was it Biodiversity, Biology, Biochar or what? Please be specific so as not to confuse. Thanks!

[@lilaclizard4504]

There's a little thing called evaporation that makes this completely impractical any distance from the ocean! The idea of digging to Lake Eyre in Australia has been discussed countless times and dismissed as a result of this (Lake Eyre's below sea level, would only need a trench dug & water would naturally flow there, evaporate , hit the mountains & rise into rain that would fall on the desert & turn it green. Unfortunately, with 1cm of evaporation a day it's impossible to do using salt water.) Even with crops in place "cooling" it's not enough, plants still need water to grow! Maybe this might work inside greenhouses in the desert or on other currently non-arable soil, but to suggest the whole world's deserts can simply have crops planted on them ignores the reality of water needs!

[@happydaze7803]

They take a lot of energy to run and vapor can go anywhere and be lost with none of the product dropping where it is needed.

[@WaterspoutsOfTheDeep]

If it's below sea level couldn't they use the gravity and pressure to run desalination on a massive scale?

[@tbmwater4459]

to:nphanlon1973 Incredible energy hogs. I have experimented with them. Very inefficient.

[@silvergreylion]

I remember there being a newer video, but I can't find it now. Anyone?

[@Noahide]

MEGA-CITIES (Daniel) With the world of the future encroaching upon our lives every day, population issues eventually become a problem. The Canberra of tomorrow eventually has to face this daunting issue. Cities need to do more, and provide more, with less land as a natural resource. The idea of Mega-Cities is to put aside a suburb of about a square kilometer. Large skyscrapers are built in the suburb - 2 dozen or so - going a number of miles or even more (now architecturally feasible). One of the scrapers is set aside as a food production scraper. It would incorporate a sewerage system in the basement, a series of mirrors would be used to reflect the natural light from outside on each level for inexpensive lighting, you would utilize solar powered sheets on the walls of the scraper for energy, and build a wind turbine energy generator on the roof. On the hundreds of levels you would have aquaculture, horticulture and a farming industry. Soil - the world has plenty of it - could be cultivated and placed as earth within various levels and grass grown on the soil within each level to feed animals and grow appropriate vegetable crops. The natural lighting from the mirrors help them grow and with the energy from the solar and wind generators you can use additional lighting and power when necessary. Appropriate air conditioning would be put in place and appropriate water recycling systems used for the food tower. In the remaining scrapers the growing population would be used as well as providing for industry. With the great height of the mega city scrapers we can now theoretical build, potentially millions of people or more could fit in a standard suburban mega city suburb.

[@fredericrike5974]

Presently construction engineering can build enclosed space at the ground level for very little- every foot above the ground plane costs more; at the 100th floor level (about a thousand feet), the cost per square foot for enclosed space is many, many times as high and getting higher faster with each succeeding floor. FWIW, I'm a career high rise plumber and my brother a "city planner"- the bucks say not now or not yet. And that will take a while to change and some construction tech as yet unimagined.

[@ncooty]

Now all we need to do is find enough clay to cover the Sahara, invent an economically feasible desalination technology that uses so little renewable energy that it doesn't make more sense just to put it on the grid (off-setting non-renewable consumption), continuously desalinate enough water to exceed the evaporative rate of the Sahara,continuously pump that water uphill all throughout the Sahara, level the Sahara (presumably by burning diesel), ... On second thought, maybe this isn't really a solution quite yet. Maybe start by saving the areas that are most at risk of desertification. There's no sense in turning the Sahara green if the inhabitants will cover it with goats and denude it again in 3 years.

[@jenspetersen5865]

Modern desalination with the technique developed in Israel uses less than 6KW for 1000 litre of water - some say only 1.5KW. In reality you could probably pump seawater into Sahara and let it evaporate and produce rain.

[@aidansharples7751]

Soak the liquid nano clay into a biochar medium then increase the dilution, I think this would be good. Biochar has so many surface features it provides an ideal home for bacteria and fungi.

[@horseman1968]

So just how would someone obtain or make some of this "nanoclay"?

[@4philipp]

horseman1968 mixer. It’s like making Italian dressing. Add ingredients to a vat until the particles are individually suspended in the water. The part that’s more interesting is how they got that fungi into the mixture. I would also guess that it’s important to plant into the ground right away so that plants root structure become part of the soil composition. He did mention that they still needed to apply fertilizer. Perhaps that’s mixed into the mix as well.

[@mostismail9638]

I am from Egypt , today I went and had a meeting with dr Wasief , he told another story , yes he knew those people but they did not amaze him at all , they did not do any great work in Egypt , he doesn't know what happened after wards

[@zazugee]

soil need some small particles, like clay but the issue, is to get a good topsoil you need 20% of clay, so assuming you wanna build a good 30cm thick topsoil you need 60L of clay, assuming clay is 1.33kg/L, then 80kg of clay per 1m2 so thats alot of clay, and this also need mixing so lot of energy but there is another way of making this work, by using organic matter that get mineralized sloily and it produce clayey particles over time i started recently to use algae water to water need beds to enrich them in organic matter using compost to fight desertification on large swath of land isnt practicale but using algae rich water from treatement plants is a good idea micor algae is cheap to make and it sticks sand particles together into soil agregates and enrich the soil in organic matter and become food for soil bacteria and fungus

[@ronwest7930]

Tell us more about what happened.

[@xyooj96]

it has been nearly 4 years since this Ted talk, where is this technology now? we want to convert our unproductive sandy properties into fertile land.

[@dougoverhoff7568]

The REAL green new deal!

[@Kevin-jb2pv]

I remember hearing this same story from the Egyptian guy's perspective of him being overwhelmed by simultaneous feelings of ecstatic joy and furious rage and it's the exact same from his side. So funny.

[@williambrandondavis6897]

Terrific, you can make soil from desert sand. Now where are you going to get the water from so you can actually use it?

[@lilaclizard4504]

exactly!!!!! I'm glad at least someone gets it! The comments here reflect badly on humanity's intellect or education on the basics of how the world works

[@spacecowboy7755]

About half of the Sahara has annual rainfall of 2-4 inches. Some cover crops require as little as 2 inches. People can eat those or animals do. People eat animals. No water transportation needed. Lilac Lizard... people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

[@mayoritalarcon5907]

GRACIAS POR NO SUBTITULAR, NO ENTIENDO NADA, POR FAVOR PIENSEN EN LOS USUARIOS COMO YO QUE SABER INGLÉS SE LES COMPLICA, DE ANTEMANO GRACIAS, GRACIAS, GRACIAS, BENDICIONES PARA TODOS USTEDES !!!

[@b_uppy]

This is an interesting way to jump start a desert but annual monocropping will deplete the soil and use obscene amounts of water. If they used Permaculture and Regenerative Ag techniques (they're more systematic forms of organic farming that look at the whole picture instead of piecemeal solutions), they'll win all the way around.

[@cujoemblakka1041]

Well, it's to cover the denuded earth. Let's get the temperature under control. So we get more oxygen. These technologies are new, just forgotten. They got it? From studying previous research.

[@paulien7779]

HEMP farms in the dessert Awesome!!!

[@tommorris3688]

Where does the clay come from ?

[@ZigZagHockey]

The video of the talk was published almost three years ago yet is the first time I have heard of this technology. What has happened to this project?

[@agdayem]

Most likely failed

[@paultomasi4619]

Can water be created? In ADDITION to the water IN, ON and AROUND our planet (Earth), can we produce 'additional' water? There is a natural balance to our ecosystem. If we take water away from existing fertile areas then those areas WILL suffer and decline. Expanding fertility to desert areas requires a supply of water - water taken from current fertile areas. There is a reason why there are huge desert areas. Some will argue it can be explained geologically, others will simply turn to the science of nature. We need to think carefully before tipping that balance.

[@nicklyons6942]

Fognets...

[@patphatkitten]

There is evidence that Sahara Desert once supported large animals. It was not always a desert. Older trees and forests will start to keep water in the ground. Forests that are protected for decades will start to allow streams to appear. There were reports of cave drawings in Sahara Desert showing plants, hunters, and large animals. Something bad happened that changed North Africa into a desert. Time to reverse the damage.

[@colleenforrest7936]

Water can be created by combining Hydrogen with Oxygen in a 2:1 ratio. The exhaust of Hydrogen powered cars is water vapor. Some rocks that contain Hydrogen and Oxygen can be heated to a high enough temperature to break their chemical bonds and the free H and O recombine to make water vapor. Its doable, but energy consumptive and may also produce hazzardous byproducts. Better th use the water we have wisely

[@mikefiatx19]

Hi All, at 11:34 he states China is building a canal to Mongolia. Does anyone have a source for this?

[@ashoakwillow]

..and even better, as you expand the planted area, you take the hydrological cycle with you; plants transpire and form mists, fogs, clouds and rain. Cave drawings in the Sahara show hunting on Savanna, fossils indicate trees. Deserts are often expanded by overgrazing as ‘goat deserts’, and by deforestation for cooking fuel..

[@fredericrike5974]

Some think the rapid desertification (200-300 years beginning to end) is the root of the story about Eden- it was a lush land with five large rivers whose courses we can still see from space as well as the basins from lakes bigger than our Great lakes.

[@ashoakwillow]

frederic rike ..are there some good theories about the reasons for this rapid change?

[@fredericrike5974]

@@ashoakwillow I personally don't know the specific reason, but even today we see incremental moves of the Monsoon creeping eastward- and it is the stated cause for the weakness and low production of central Africa's farms for the last 20 years .

[@hiranthabandara6682]

Wow..

[@strgazerlilly]

Where did the clay come from ?

[@patfitz6044]

strgazerlilly, good question! Are we peeling a place to try to fix another?

[@SapioiT]

@@patfitz6044 Not really peeling, but quarrying. Basically, when we get metals from the ground, there is some clay which is filtered out. There is also slag produced as a result of turning raw ore into processed metals, which if not toxic could be ground down into fertilizer. Oh, and, for the process in the video, the clay is dry-milled into a very fine powder, which is the nanoclay, and then mixed with water, which makes the liquid nanoclay. In the past, the nanoclay (clay dust/powder) was either mixed into the ground with a tiller, or simply left on top of the ground for the rain and irrigation water to help it into the ground.

[@F3tcher]

How will reforesting all the worlds deserts affect global climate? Like I feel like it would even change wind patterns ya know

[@rolo2415]

The way I understand it is that plants respirate moisture into the air. The higher the concentration of plants, the more moisture is released into the air. Higher moisture content leads to lower air pressure in the area, thereby affecting the wind flow patterns in the area as well as the chances for rain etc. Also plants absorb co2 and release oxygen into the air, co2 is a contributer to the greenhouse effect and decreasing co2 would be good for regulating the earth's temperature. Also more oxygen is good for our bodies ;) *Flies away*

[@agaluszka]

Promising technology 4 years ago was smoothly replaced by covid "pandemia" 2 years ago - this is example of TED efficiency.

[@jerryb.9754]

We have lots of sand in Florida and lots of agriculture. The sand drains away the water from too much rain. I don't understand why this is not used more unless people like to starve.

[@zvipatent]

Impressive technology - and people not starving is a good thing ... however, in the long run, we are too many people (perhaps already) and infringing the land of animals and our mere presence pollutes by our use of natural resources. More food will mean more people (just like as in the advent of farming about 10,000 years ago did). A very likeable fellow, but I would like to hear a talk about how humans can build a sustainable future, e.g. economic, without increased population (which at some point I believe is the only sustainable result).

[@Rangeman100]

> AWC + CEC + Mycorrhizae (Soil biota) makes sense to me.

[@minester625]

can this be also apply on mars land?

[@ripme6616]

Instant gardening oh sure

[@ShineHenny]

Could you make nano soil for ocean corals….we could really use that right now especially if it’s bleach resistant

[@paulrobberts1527]

So why isnt it available in my coutry namibie???

[@Thisisahandle701]

Where do you get the clay, how expensive is transporting clay?

[@jeffjefferson3364]

Congrats for figuring what's wrong with this idea. You gotta Rob Peter to pay Paul.

[@MushrooManny]

Nevada is full I it

[@andreacalafati3689]

...do we need convert dessert into soil? shouldn´t we treat the soil we have, more respectfully and grow our food in a healthy permaculture way. this would feed us all. No need to convert dessert in soil and treat this "new land" the same way bad. But my congrats to the people who invent and developed this - their drive is enoumous an their motivation is great. THANKS