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China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

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Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#2
It took 46 years to create the 1,900 mile, ~3060 km green belt around the 130,350 square miles (337,600 km2) desert. The linked article doesn't say anything about negatives, but the positives seem to be very beneficial for the area.

I really wish other major powers would commit to similar projects. In my opinion, communities need larger goals to strive towards, to provide a sense of continued belonging and reinvestment for the future.

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#3

It took 46 years to create the 1,900 mile, ~3060 km green belt around the 130,350 square miles (337,600 km2) desert. The linked article doesn't say anything about negatives, but the positives seem to be very beneficial for the area. I really wish other major powers would commit to similar projects. In my opinion, communities need larger goals to strive towards, to provide a sense of continued belonging and reinvestme…

> other major powers would commit to similar projects

There is African Union's "Great Green Wall (for the Sahara and the Sahel)" initiative, the 8000x15km wall of trees to stop desertification of the Sahel from the Sahara.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Green_Wall_(Africa)

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/africa-great-green-wall-...

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#4

It took 46 years to create the 1,900 mile, ~3060 km green belt around the 130,350 square miles (337,600 km2) desert. The linked article doesn't say anything about negatives, but the positives seem to be very beneficial for the area. I really wish other major powers would commit to similar projects. In my opinion, communities need larger goals to strive towards, to provide a sense of continued belonging and reinvestme…

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Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#5
post #3

It took 46 years to create the 1,900 mile, ~3060 km green belt around the 130,350 square miles (337,600 km2) desert. The linked article doesn't say anything about negatives, but the positives seem to be very beneficial for the area. I really wish other major powers would commit to similar projects. In my opinion, communities need larger goals to strive towards, to provide a sense of continued belonging and reinvestme…

> other major powers would commit to similar projects There is African Union's "Great Green Wall (for the Sahara and the Sahel)" initiative, the 8000x15km wall of trees to stop desertification of the Sahel from the Sahara. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Green_Wall_(Africa) https://www.sciencenews.org/article/africa-great-green-wall-...

This a good video to show some of what they are doing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbBdIG--b58

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#6

It took 46 years to create the 1,900 mile, ~3060 km green belt around the 130,350 square miles (337,600 km2) desert. The linked article doesn't say anything about negatives, but the positives seem to be very beneficial for the area. I really wish other major powers would commit to similar projects. In my opinion, communities need larger goals to strive towards, to provide a sense of continued belonging and reinvestme…

I've sometimes wondered whether arid parts of the American Southwest could, through the right kind of permaculture interventions, support more biological carbon sequestration, more plant life, drive development of richer soil etc. But I suspect if you said "we're gonna use this big section of BLM land to incrementally try to keep water in the landscape, and introduce a sequence of plant species that can increase carbon storage and soil cover" the immediate American political response would be "government overreach!" on one side and "what about threatened species X that thrives in the sparse desert?" on the other. And if you did get such a project approved, some elaborate supply chain would arise to provide plant seedlings at 10x the normal price and a consulting firm would be brought in for k million for a plan to administer the project, and the ratio of humans getting paid for the project to acres worked would be inexplicably high.

Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#9
post #6

It took 46 years to create the 1,900 mile, ~3060 km green belt around the 130,350 square miles (337,600 km2) desert. The linked article doesn't say anything about negatives, but the positives seem to be very beneficial for the area. I really wish other major powers would commit to similar projects. In my opinion, communities need larger goals to strive towards, to provide a sense of continued belonging and reinvestme…

I've sometimes wondered whether arid parts of the American Southwest could, through the right kind of permaculture interventions, support more biological carbon sequestration, more plant life, drive development of richer soil etc. But I suspect if you said "we're gonna use this big section of BLM land to incrementally try to keep water in the landscape, and introduce a sequence of plant species that can increase carb…

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Re: China completes green belt around Taklamakan Desert

#10
China may well have replaced the USSR as the latest bogeyman to keep attention away from whatever war crimes the US is currently supporting or committing, but all I can think about is the ~$10T spent on and millions of lives lost to the "War on Terror" and what could've been done with the money instead.

I mean just look at the high speed rail transformation in 16 years [1].

China is not without its issues but neither is the US government and at least China is investing in long-term infrastructure for their people. Chinese foreign policy is also considerably less damaging than American foreign policy.

[1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/xszhbm/chinese_hig...

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