Here’s an interesting article that helps me break open my own tendency to clamp my mind down into viewing climate change as inherently catastrophic. WOW!
Rising CO2 levels are re-greening Africa’s deserts, bringing abundance that lifts people out of poverty
Still somewhat incredulous, I googled “CO2 rise, plants and permaculture” and came upon a discussion that somewhat echoed the above story’s conclusions:
Growing better vegetables with added CO2.
But then, there’s the question: is growing bigger vegetables necessarily a good idea? I.e., does nutritional quality suffer, or get diluted?
Here’s a story, from June 2015, saying increased rainfall is responsible for the Sahel regreening — again due to climate change. That conclusion seems more intuitively obvious than the other. No mention of CO2 levels. In either case, climate change comes out a hero rather than a villain.
Climate Change boosts rain in Africa’s Sahel Region: Study
Digging further, here’s an interesting post from 2012, that speaks of both more rain AND of sustainable, basically permacultural practices as both helping to regreen the Sahel. Again, no mention in this story either, of increased CO2.
Desertification in the Sahel: An Untruthful Story?
My own conclusion about what’s going on in the Sahel — or anywhere else!! I don’t know, and I can’t imagine anyone else does either. We are so very, very far from understanding what makes Nature tick. She is so much wiser and more complex than any of our maps and models. Which to me means: The more we can respect, love, and attune to her immensely mysterious power and fertility, the more regenerative our human communities will become.
0 thoughts on “Climate Change Conundrums: What is regreening the Sahel? More rain? added CO2? sustainable practices?”
Who knew???…yet another of life’s ironies. What a time to be alive (and at least somewhat awake) on Planet Earth. Thanks much for sharing this information!
Ah, so that’s why they’ve demonized CO2. It works against them.
Fascinating, to say the least…