Episode 65 - Above the Paving Stones, the Desert

Two-thirds of Spain is at risk of permanent desertification. The cold and wet country of Iceland holds half of all Europe's deserts. China's Gobi Desert is expanding rapidly, swallowing thousands of villages and threatening to envelop the capital city Beijing. In just 40 years a third of the plant's arable land has eroded, and each year desertification destroys the potential to grow 20 million tons of grain.

Once again, a show all about sand, but this time we're not building with it; we're running from it. What are some of the long-term systems that lead to desertification? What are some of the simple causes? And in what ways does human and economic development play a role in this process?

full transcript available

Chapters

00:32 Civilizations Rise and Fall
12:00 "Spain, Iceland, China, Mongolia"
24:54 Global Aridity
31:30 Desertification Causes and Feedbacks
44:28 Land Use
53:07 Incentives
59:09 What can we do?
1:06:55 Carbondale Spring

Sources

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Published 14-03-2019 00:39

Episode 65 - Above the Paving Stones, the Desert

Chapters

Recommended reading and viewing

(1a) Deserts in Asia - Destroyers of Civilization Pt. 1

(1b) Deserts in Europe - Destroyers of Civilization Pt. 2

(2) World Atlas of Desertification, 3rd Edition

(3) Carbondale Spring, Illinois

(4) Global Land Use:

Sources