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beamgirl | 3 years ago

Fun fact to add about carbon sinks, peat bogs can sink 4-17 times as much CO2 per acre as a forest and acts as an incredible moisture regulator. One of my more out there dreams is to start a big man made peat bog at the edge of a desert.

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legulere|3 years ago

Where would you get all the water for that? The defining characteristic of a desert is little precipitation.

beamgirl|3 years ago

I'd have to find somewhere with water near a desert, that's why I specified the edge. My understanding of how some deserts form is that farming techniques or other forces can cause a region to stop retaining water as well, and if this happens in a large enough area, it can lead to less rainfall etc. I remember reading about how herd animals trampling prairie grass and shitting all over it causes it to retain significantly more moisture during dryer times. My thought is that moisture regulating bogs could possibly at least stop deserts from expanding

hosh|3 years ago

Defining characteristic of arid is little precipitation. Desert is more about sandy soil that supports sparse vegetation.

If wasteland can accumulate organic material, and start rebuilding the soil, it starts retaining more water, which brings in more vegetation. This reverses desertification. There are some good examples of this in India. There are parts of the Arizona central canal which accidentally created bearms that also started this effect.

wiredfool|3 years ago

This is why we dig up peat bogs and burn them.

beamgirl|3 years ago

Which, as much as I love Islay scotch, is an ecological disaster