Roughly a quarter of the planet is slowly turning into a perpetual desert

[applegrove]

https://www.salon.com/2018/01/10/roughly-a-quarter-of-the-planet-is-slowly-turning-into-a-perpetual-desert_partner/

ZOYA TEIRSTEIN, GRIST, Salon

"SNIP.......


A study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change contains a stark warning for humankind: If global temperatures rise 1.5 degrees C above preindustrial levels by 2050, between 20 and 30 percent of the world’s land surface could face desertlike conditions.

Swaths of Asia, Europe, Africa, Central America, and southern Australia would be hit particularly hard by drought and aridification, the long-term reduction of moisture in soil. More than 1.5 billion people currently live in these regions.

But there is a way to avoid this desertlike fate — for the most part. The study projects that two-thirds of affected areas could be salvaged if we limit warming to 1.5 degrees C.

The Paris Agreement calls on the international community to limit warming to under 2 degrees C, but that goal is getting harder and harder to meet. The planet has already warmed by 1 degree C, and several studies indicate we’ll hit the 2-degree mark by the end of the century even if we stop burning fossil fuels immediately.

........SNIP"

[applegrove]

1. Going to mean so many people will be desperate for new places to live. Crops

will keep failing. Just a nightmare.

[quartz007]

2. Too many trees cut down for farming

and residential construction is a contributing factor for growing deserts.

[applegrove]

4. There is now a drone that can plant hundreds of trees in a few minutes.

So there is that.

[quartz007]

9. Can't plant trees in middle of farmland!

And the high density housing desired by many politicians has no room for large trees.

The problem is not lack of machines to plant trees, the problem is farms and people cutting down forests. The timber supply companies are already doing a great job of re-planting trees on their private land. They have to, otherwise go out of business.

[EX500rider]

3. Not sure on their figures...?

Most of the world's surface is covered in water, in the form of oceans. The remaining landmass of Earth amounts to approximately 29 percent of the surface. Of this remaining 29 percent, deserts of all types constitute an estimated 33 percent, or one-third, of the Earth's total landmass.

http://education.seattlepi.com/percent-planet-desert-5203.html

[applegrove]

5. You know the arctics are deserts. They get less precipitation than elsewhere.

And they will soon be bogs part of the year. I imagine they will get more precipitation as global climate change warms the planet and will no longer be considered deserts. But deserts will grow around the equator. IMHO.

[ProudLib72]

6. Can we change our name from Earth to Arrakis?

And what is tRump's position on giant sandworms?

These are now the vital questions we face under this maladministration.

[appal_jack]

7. And slowing Greenhouse Gas emissions is just a start

I recommend this excellent Ben Falk video on landscape design for resilience as a more in-depth discussion of both the problem and possible solutions:

-app

[dalton99a]

8. And people don't want to drown or starve - there will be mass migrations