Topic: Sustainable update
Below are 2 interesting articles about green efforts in the Sahara:
1. BBC audio journey through deserts in Africa, particularly the Sahara.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/07/090714_greeningdesert3.shtml
Ayisha Yahya, a Tanzanian, explores how greater variability in weather patterns because of global warming has actually brought about greening in certain parts of the Sahara Desert and other desert regions. Admittedly, this is a recent and sporadic phenomenon and it doesn’t sound like Yahya is using it to justify a “status quo/do nothing” view of global warming. But the 3 x 20 minute travelogue series raises some interesting questions and observations. What if certain parts of the Sahara became greener because of increased rainfall and aquifer discoveries? How would this change nomadic and desert dwellers’ ways of life and customs? Should people from overcrowded cities be encouraged to move to distant desert oases and who should get a piece of this newly fertile yet fragile land? Will more “green Saharas” pop up as a result of satellite discoveries of ancient aquifers in the Sahara?
2. New solar panel project for the Sahara Desert and beyond
Desertec, a $560 billion solar panel project for North Africa and the Middle East, will supply green energy to European nations and many host countries. Some big industry players in Europe which make up Desertec recently signed a memorandum of understanding to seriously explore the construction of these solar plants over the next 3 years. If this project actually takes off and is managed well, it could have a lot of other benefits including increased job creation and a partial switch from fossil fuel dependence to renewable energy in Morocco and elsewhere in the Maghreb and Middle East. According to the FAQ section at www.desertec.org , "There won't ever be one huge solar power plant that could be knocked out in one go. Instead, there will be hundreds of solar power plants in a network of renewables, spread over several continents.”Article from the UN about Desertec: http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=1711
Perhaps these new solar power plants could be located in “green Saharas” to create numerous sustainable and off-grid communities that would benefit from the powerful, clean energy of the desert sun.
