Behind Greening the Desert

http://www.ecofilms.com.au/
More from Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute on the challenges behind "Greening the Desert" project in Jordan - from the DVD Harvesting Water the Permaculture Way.
www.permaculture.org.au
http://www.ecofilms.com.au/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Greening
• the
• Desert
• Permaculture
• Geoff
• Lawton

[Nichen]

This guy is a saint. God bless him.

[dremkes]

I am planting a food forest around my house because of this video

[ValiantVendetta]

@sustainablehuman ALL of Australia could be turned into a huge botanical garden with external water sources.

[sustainablehuman]

@ValiantVendetta No need for desalination. You can use groundwater to 'kick start' the soil building process, once that is well under way (~ 2-5 years), the hummus in the swales will retain enough rainwater. The ground water is constantly replenished by rainfall. Ground water can be tapered off as the soil is built and a canopy forms. This can be self sustaining for a very long time, and perpetual with very low usage. You could, in theory, re-green the whole of desert Australia.

[ValiantVendetta]

@sustainablehuman As long as more water is being retained by the soil and put into the soil, it should rejuvenate rather than drain the ground water as long as the majority is externally sourced. Nuclear powered desalination plants would work great.

[sustainablehuman]

@ValiantVendetta Agreed. Somewhere near Broken Hill or Tibooburra, even the Flinders ranges. Annual rainfall in the Jordan Rift Valley varies between 300 and 120 mm, which is quite similar to much of desert Australia. Australian soils are much poorer, but can be remediated with seaweed, mulch, coffee grinds etc in the initial stages. Most of desert Australia has ground water access (Great Artesian Basin), which can be used sparingly with micro-irrigation under mulched swales.

[ValiantVendetta]

This needs to be done in Australia, less likely to lose all your work in a war here.

[tanyageyer1]

(Isaiah 35:1-2) . . .The wilderness and the waterless region will exult, and the desert plain will be joyful and blossom as the saffron. Without fail it will blossom, and it will really be joyful with joyousness and with glad crying out. The glory of Leb′a‧non itself must be given to it, the splendor of Car′mel and of Shar′on. There will be those who will see the glory of Jehovah, the splendor of our God.

[10countrygirl01]

love it

[Tywers]

@octohorse power on man. Power on.

[platinum243125]

@Nichen He's a scientist