Desertification and Climate Change – Affecting People in Over 110 Countries

In the course of a phone conversation I had yesterday with a young man looking for advice about a career in renewable energy, he happened to mention this Ted Talk, about a fascinating idea to stem desertification in Africa.

The Sahara is expanding southward through the northern regions of Nigeria at the rate of an astonishing 600 meters per year, via a continuously moving avalanche of sand dunes.  Desertification affects over 70% of the world’s land-based agriculture in over 110 countries on all continents.  It’s arguably the most horrifying specter of climate change: loss of farmland, forced migrations, starvation, droughts, and political instability are just a few of the most obvious consequences.

I won’t give away this fellow’s idea, but I will say that it’s truly thinking outside the box and that you won’t be disappointed you invested the time to check it out.

I will say, however, that this solution, while it’s a novel way to deal with the symptom, does nothing to get at the cause.  Therefore, to me at least, it is less attractive than taking an active role in moving the civilization to a sustainable approach to energy.