Truemors
The Ever-Growing Deserts of the World! The Earth is about to become Mars-Like!
By, Uwe Paschen.
An Old saying states, “that forests came before human beings, deserts followed them.” Desertification is becoming a major problem as more and more of the world's land surface is turned into desert. The new desert"s, which are being created, are not necessarily hot, dry sandy places, but are instead any areas where the soil has been so mistreated by humans that it is now useless for growing crops. You may think that this does not affect us in the Western World after all; it is too wet and cold for a desert to be formed here. That may be true, but Desertification does still happen and this at an alarming fast pace. Just think about it and put two and two together. If our soil is not conserved, then our food supply and all our lives are threatened.
Through out History Humanity has contributed and caused desertification, by abusing and mismanaging the Earth resources and disturbing the at times rather fragile balance of Nature.
The Incas and Aztecs have caused desertification due to monocultures and especially due to the fact they grow Corn or also called Maize in large quantities, a crop that by it self depletes the top soil and does not give any thing back, not the sort of plant one should be planting in great numbers and on large surfaces! We do repeat the Incas mistake today even though we should know better!
Yet after the Second World War we where left with large quantities of Bomb and ammunition, that now one really knew what to do with, so we made fertilizer with it and convinced the Farmer to use it to grow Corn, since Corn does require a rather large amount of nutrients to grow. Now with all that Corn we needed to find new applications for it and started making sugar, starch, flower, syrup and even fuel from it!
All to keep the Chemical industry and Corn production alive! Yet, at the same time this sort of agriculture did deplete our soils and even causes obesity and other illnesses in the Population, because Corn is actually rather unhealthy as a food for Humans and Animals alike! Yet, with in 60 years it is fund just about anywhere and everywhere! Contributing to the desertification of our great land and slowly bringing us down as it did bring down the Aztecs and Incas as well!
However, this is only one aspect of modern desertification and the expansion of old and new desert's! The second would be our Life stocks and choice of Life stock, Cattle, Horses and Pigs as well as Chicken are by far the greatest contributor to the destruction of an already fragile top soils and eco systems! The demand for meat and meat products is causing great stress on the eco system and contributes to the desertification of South America as well as North America and Australia!
North America and the Amazon will most likely become a total desert with in the next 20 to 40 years and look more like Mars then the Earth that we know today! UN studies have been warning of this now for over 20 Years! Yet, the Money machine does seem to matter more than the survival of the next Generations and Life on Earth!
Other Desert's such as the African Sahara and the Arabian Dessert have been around for many Thousands of years. Yet, have been expending mainly due to Human activity and abuse of an already delicate eco system! Once even the Sahara Dessert was a futile land and rich as well as Bio diverse! Yet a delicate eco system could not survive Human expansion nor domesticated animals trampling the land and preventing new growth in an area of the World that could not heal fast enough for the damage inflicted by Human activity and climatic variables!
The next cause of modern desertification is Pollution and climate change, again due to Human activity and abuse. Those changes are so drastic in some areas that the eco system has no time nor the means to adapt, especially since we have already strained it to the maximum!
So just how big a problem is desertification? Estimates suggest that 35% of the earth's land surface is at risk, and the livelihoods of 2 billion people are directly affected. 75% of the world's drier lands - 45,000,000 square kilometers are affected by desertification, and every year 6,000,000 hectares of agricultural land are lost and become virtual desert. The Sahara is thought to be advancing southwards by about 5-10 kilometers per year, which is a very considerable amount, when you remember that the Sahara is 5,150 kilometers across at its widest point
We do strive to reach Mars and make the Planet Mars Earth Like, yet at the mean time we make the Earth Mars like! It may be easier a more effective to preserve the Earth and change our ways instead!
Who knows maybe we or some like us did to Mars what we are doing to the Earth today! Our knowledge is rather limited and small at best, It may very well have been Humanoid’s that like a cancer have destroyed Mars as we are now destroying the Earth!
Next: How to fight Desertification!
August 1, 2008 at 08:39 pm by Paschen, 3937 views, 81 comments
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (81)
at 20:44 on August 1st, 2008
Jordan! What is happening to my Photos? Please advise!
Thank you!
at 21:41 on August 1st, 2008
Paschen, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 22:38 on August 1st, 2008
Paschen, I like this story. It's good stuff. Nice topic, this area doesn't seem to get a lot of attention yet it effects nearly every continent.
I see your pictures Paschen, I think they are alright now.
at 23:08 on August 1st, 2008
Thank you Cao and PlanMyGreen for the Flags here and Comments, I do appreciate it!
Yes, the problem is wildly ingnored and yet very serious! The picture are up as well, thanks!
at 23:49 on August 1st, 2008
Paschen, I like this story. It's good stuff. north africa, not many know up to now ,the desertification will force people to move to europe
at 23:54 on August 1st, 2008
Thank you for the comment here and the Flag SOLARLIFE, it is much appreciated!
You are correct in your assessment here, we will have major Human migrations due to the ever growing Decertification! It is a disaster in the making!
at 05:13 on August 2nd, 2008
One of many many disasters that the human race has brewing.
at 02:32 on August 2nd, 2008
Paschen, I like this story. Good on you! One of the issues that horrifies me is the way the Sahara is being turned into a race track for tourists with 4X4s and motorbikes, trampling over the tender plants that are the life blood of this delicate eco-system. It is so brazenly disdainful! Can you give some reference for the figures you supply so I can follow up with more reading. As you know, I think this topic does not receive the attention it deserves. One of the skills I really appreciated when I was teaching agriculture in West Africa was the way traditional forms of farming took into account the necessary safeguards to tackle the adverse climate. Many crops were planted in mixed groups so that the taller crops like cassava protected the smaller plants from the sun, and the way farmers used lines of stones to retain the small amount of rainfall. Many of these skills are being lost, and that will account for an abuse of the soil in future.
at 03:07 on August 2nd, 2008
Thank you for your interest here Gerry, I put bellow a series of links that I used those are the once in English, I did not put the other once in since they are in German and French!
There is a study that has been done to the impact of SUV and 4x4 as well as dirt bikes on the eco system of the dessert areas such as the USA and North/West Africa, they is most definitely a link as the UN fund out and warned that this had to stop!
You are correct the loss of traditional agriculture not only in Africa, yet in the Western World as well does contribute to decertification today! Even in GB where you are there is an ongoing Decertification today that will lead to an ecological and Humanitarian disaster with in the next generation! I can forward you many more links to this topic, yet should you really want to know all about it and get right into it, your best bet would be to get right to the specialist being the UNO and the GTZ, the BMZ they do have information's in English as well!
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23073&Cr=desertification&Cr1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6247802.stm
http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/sustdev/desert.htm
http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200222/000020022202A0774242.php
http://marte.dpi.inpe.br/col/ltid.inpe.br/sbsr/2004/11.20.14.29/doc/1053.pdf
http://www.geocities.com/Axiom43/deserts.html
http://www.livingdesert.org/deserts/world_deserts.asp
http://www.uni-marburg.de/fb19/personal/professoren/opp/forschung
Thank you for you comment here and the Flag as always! I do appreciate it very much!
at 03:32 on August 2nd, 2008
"North America and the Amazon will most likely become a total desert with in the next 20 to 40 years and look more like Mars then the Earth that we know today!"
I disagree, there is a concerted effort mostly by organized anti capitalists to predict disasters 20 or 40 years from now I remember the 1974 Time magazine issue at the start of the anti-capitalist enviro movement they said the Earth would freeze by 2000. Where are they now? Most are busy blaming people for ruining the Earth. Most in the US are wealthy white and spoiled, In my opinion the predictions of disaster are not working..
Greenpeace co-founder and former leader Dr. Patrick Moore Says: “There are over six billion people on this planet, all of whom need food, energy, shelter and materials, by initiating campaigns against nuclear and hydro power, wood and vinyl, the Greenpeace agenda would have us deny people basic needs, and that runs completely contrary to true sustainability.”
at 03:38 on August 2nd, 2008
Of course you do disagree here mpress, it had to be the bad people from Greenpeace, well they did not even sound the alarm though for they are to busy protecting Wales at the moment! It was the UN and the USA department of Agriculture that sounded the alarm!
I suppose the US department of agriculture are just a bunch of Communist! Well, we wound solve much here with your aptitude! I do thank you for the comment and I do appreciate you read this, I do not expect all to agree or not, I do rely on Science and should science not be able to give me a clear anther so I go with the 3 most likely causes that Science would suggest! At least when it comes to matters such as Decertification!
Thanks for dropping by mpress I do appreciate It! And I do respect your view!
at 03:53 on August 2nd, 2008
Many people would be shocked at how many career government hacks who work in the Dept of AG. are major anti- capitalists. I worked for the Dept. of Ag. in the 80's.. The Time magazine had Dept. of Ag. statistics they were wrong...And the UN is best at stealing than predicting...
at 04:15 on August 2nd, 2008
Paschen, good stuff, although I disagree with some of your conclusions. I really don't think that all of North America is going to become a desert. In many areas, it's quite the contrary--huge floods, like that one in Iowa this year.
I found your take on corn and vanished civilizations fascinating!
at 04:44 on August 2nd, 2008
Thank you for the comment here as well as for the Flag PEP, Deserts are not necessarily hot and sandy, floods do cause decertification as well, making the land unusable for agriculture and food production! Not a problem limited to North America, as I said the Western Countries, of witch North America is still a part! Without food we are putting our self in a rather bad position! Corn has been linked to the destruction of the Aztec and Inca Empire that started long before the Spaniel arrived, those just took advantage of the situation and gave them the dying blow so to speak!
Thanks for the read! I appreciate it!
at 05:08 on August 2nd, 2008
Hi Paschen, really, that corn link intriques me. I think Africa is only going to endure worse conditions. I, too, worry about the rainforest.
I live in Oklahoma, a land of extremes--drought, flood, ice storms, tornadoes, you name it. In an area like this, you can watch how very little change will tilt the balance in one direction or another.
at 07:12 on August 2nd, 2008
Hello PEP, the Corn connection was first made by archaeologic finds in Mexico and Peru and then the UN funded some research on it! Chemically speaking (and you can find dome of that on the UN web page as well as the GTZ web page), the Corn plant depletes the top soil severely of its nutrients and does not give much back as would other gropes such as Beans, Weed or Cabbage for example! The sugar in the Corn is rather hard to digest for Humans and is now linked to one of the causes for the ever growing obesity around the world, since Corn products and by products have made it almost all around the world by now. The Canadian University of McGill in Montreal has published some research on that.
Our decertification problems are global, they are in progress in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and the Americas as the Map does show, the largest desert is in Africa where also some of the greatest problems reside! This decertification as the UN and GTZ as well as JICA do point out will cause mass migrations that we cannot absorb mainly to Europe! in the links that I gave in the comment to Gerry you may find a lot of rather interesting things about this subject! There is hope though, as I wrote at the end of the Post a second Post will follow with solutions that have been suggested and some of them proven to be rather effective in trial projects! Thank you for the comment here, I do appreciate it! Maybe I should write a post only about corn some time soon!
at 04:56 on August 2nd, 2008
If you both zichi and mpress actually had read the article or post here, or at least the first 5 sentences you would know how ridicule and childish both of your comments actually are!
I do some what feel sorry for the both of you! Be well!
at 05:11 on August 2nd, 2008
Paschen, I like this story. It's good stuff. "Amazon will most likely become a total desert with in the next 20 to 40 years" I have listening to that 30 years ago and we still hold the Amazon. I agree that we have to scream, but the forest will be preserved. Some parts of Brazil, in the southern State of Rio Grande do Sul ( far away from the Amazon) and at the semi-arid Northeast are most like to suffer desertification because of misuse to the land and climate changes.
at 05:22 on August 2nd, 2008
Thank you Luiz Castro for Flag and comment here, I do appreciate it very much!
I agree we do still hold the Amazon and in part maybe because we have been ringing the Alarm bells though! If we just let thing be and fail to see the danger that we may end up with a disaster. However if we see the potential danger and take counter measures then it wound happen and e will be able to say "well some said we end up in a disaster in 20 years and that was 30 years ago, how come we are still fine?"
We are still okay because we have been taking counter measures and have been fighting the problems at head! However now we do have new problems and will have to be proactive once again or face the consequences!
Why I do write about it as well as other do to create awareness so we may be able to counter the problem and avoid a disaster!
Good comment Luiz, thank you for bringing it up here!
at 05:24 on August 2nd, 2008
gerrypopplestone mentioned the effect on the landscape by rallies; I just finished reading a book called Race to Dakar, and the rider/author mentioned the same thing: a rally passes through several countries, but the trail it leaves is visible for a long, long time.
at 05:34 on August 2nd, 2008
Thanks Jordan, I appreciate the comment here as well as the flag! Yes Gerry is right and I am glad you bring that up! I read the same thing some time ago of a US study dealing with causes of Decertification and I cannot find the study any longer! Should you have some info on that I would appreciate it! There was also a Canadian study on the effect of the seadoo on the wild life in the Great Lakes and how it does interfere with the ability of the Fish to reproduce!
at 06:08 on August 2nd, 2008
Paschen, I like this story. It's good stuff. Well stated.
at 06:45 on August 2nd, 2008
Thank you Jennings for the comment and Flag here, I appreciate it!
at 06:56 on August 2nd, 2008
Paschen, I like this story. It's good stuff, I used to love the stories of Sahel's landscape and even that would be consumed by the Sahara. Sigh
at 07:24 on August 2nd, 2008
Tiha, I happy you liked it! Well, I still like the stories of the Sahel as well as those of the Sahara, it is my Home after all! There is hope though, and as i pointed out a second Post will follow to that regard! Thank you for reading this as well as Flagging it and for your comment here, much appreciated!
at 07:14 on August 2nd, 2008
Paschen, I like this story. It's good stuff. My state has lots of desert and I like it but I can't imagine the whole earth looking like that. The lack of water is a serious problem our wells are drying.
at 10:04 on August 2nd, 2008
Thanks patgarcia for the comment here as well as for the Flag, I do appreciate it a lot!
I grow up in the Desert of the Sahara and lived there the first 20 years of my life! I love it yet I know it is a hard life as well and no way we could sustain the 10 billion people that may soon live on this Earth! Water is another problem in the arid Desert's yet we do also have Deserts where nothing can grow any longer even though there is water!
The next problem is the quality of the water, drinking water is becoming scares! We do have to be proactive or face a great many problems! Mexico City was once fertile land as well! I appreciate the input here, thanks!
at 08:42 on August 2nd, 2008
Paschen, I like this story. It's good stuff.
amazing story
at 08:43 on August 2nd, 2008
Thank you azzayindia for your comment and Flag here, I appreciate it in deed!
at 11:26 on August 2nd, 2008
Paschen, I like this story. It's good stuff. Brilliant article, Paschen!