What If We Could Turn Deserts Into Farmland?
What If We Could Turn Deserts Into Farmland?
Deserts won’t be barren wastelands anymore. We’re going to be turning the world’s deserts into lush farmland. How costly would terraforming the planet cost? And why could making deserts farmland destroy the Amazon rainforest?
Transcript and sources: https://whatifshow.com/what-if-we-could-turn-deserts-into-farmland/
00:00 Desert farmlands?
00:52 Desert facts
01:23 Evapotranspiration
01:59 Nanoclay
03:30 Materials and cost
Questions or concerns? Contact us at https://underknown.com/contact/
Get our 100 best episodes in one mind-blowing book: http://bit.ly/ytc-the-what-if-100-book
Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCphTF9wHwhCt-BzIq-s4V-g/join
Check out our other shows:
How to Survive: https://bit.ly/how-to-survive-show
Your Body on: https://bit.ly/your-body-on-show
Crazy Creatures: https://bit.ly/crazy-creatures-show
Watch more what-if scenarios:
Planet Earth: http://bit.ly/YT-what-if-Earth
The Cosmos: http://bit.ly/YT-what-if-Cosmos
Technology: http://bit.ly/YT-what-if-Technology
Your Body: http://bit.ly/YT-what-if-Body
Humanity: http://bit.ly/YT-what-if-Humanity
T-shirts and merch: http://bit.ly/whatifstore
Suggest an episode: http://bit.ly/suggest-whatif
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/whatif-newsletter
What If elsewhere:
Instagram: http://bit.ly/whatif-instagram
Discord: https://discord.gg/WzkQPB3nea
Twitter: http://bit.ly/whatif-twitter
Facebook: http://bit.ly/facebook-whatif
What If in Spanish: http://bit.ly/YT-Spanish-what-if
What If in Mandarin: http://bit.ly/YT-Chinese-what-if
Podcast: http://bit.ly/yt-what-if-show-podcast
What If is a mini-documentary web series that takes you on an epic journey through hypothetical worlds and possibilities. Join us on an imaginary adventure through time, space and chance while we (hopefully) boil down complex subjects in a fun and entertaining way.
Produced with love by Underknown in Toronto: https://underknown.com
Contact us at https://underknown.com/contact/
#WhatIf #Farmlands #Terraform #DesertEcosystems #FoodProduction #AmazonRainforest
the most annoying narrator voice ever. fckin trying hard ass
Your a Poor minded individual with lack of IQ to cope up conclusion like that… If you don’t know that the forest itself can provide there own fertilizer… And carbon dioxide we released are much higher enough it needed… Think again how many forest we demolished to regained it again… Bobo tanga kapa
Balancing the universe
I always wondered what if humans continued to act like animals what kind of society would we have. Would it be like wolves, primates, whales? What would the structure of the society be? Would we have 1 male per pack or would it be all together? How would we reproduce like lions with one male and dozens of females? Humans are animals. It’s just our fantastic brain that separates us from beasts. So WHAT IF we were beasts?
But it’s one Amazon’s for a third of the planet
Totally worth it
thats a good idea
If the Amazon rainforest needs the Sahara desert dust, then what was the situation thousands of years ago when Sahara was green?
Then what about the status of the amazon a few thousand years ago when the Sahara was GREENNN
It will be very good are you english people???
answer. humans would just go on another round of mindless exponential breeding and in no time be back to square one again. collapse and die off. addressing the supply side will never solve anything
You wouldn’t have to turn it into a farm. There are swales in Tuscon, Arizona. They were made once and abandoned for decades. Now they have tall trees and grasses. The decades of falling biological material had made the sandy desert into a nice soil that retains water without having to be watered or have clay reapplied every five years. If you want to regreen the deserts to act as carbon sinks then short term seasonal farming isn’t the way to go.
WHAT IF there was no life on earth
Deep ocean vents geothermal powerplants produce 5 times more than nuclear plants the byproducts of tapping geothermal vents is valuable metals desalination plants with unlimited energy and trillions of tons of fertilizer material from ocean volcanic events then you build submerged floating highway tunnels with electric trains between your floating geothermal plants
Turn clouds into fertilizer rain with cloud seeding
Almost a smart video, but fell at the last hurdle. Why propose we turn absolutely ALL desert biomes in the world to forest? Why not just some? Why not just the parts close to our existing civilizations and on the fringes of our agriculture? It wouldn’t cost trillions for governments to target key tactical areas and convert them BACK into fertile land. That investment would pay for itself over time.
What a rediculous idea to convert the ENTIRE sahara desert to forest. Of course that would have massive consequences. Why even project out to the consequences when the Sahara is far too big and remote to for that.
The deserts of the world have been steadily expanding (desertification) due to global warming and expanded civilization. This new tech could help for forests to claim it back. It could help solve food shortages in the horn of Africa especially, it could reduce or even partially reverse global warming if enough of it was done. Don’t discourage R&D in this area by saying "it will kill the Amazon!" Come on 😂
we didnt die at the end bad video overall
Just plant walnut trees. Every garden or teraforming from scratch starts with trees. Mulch bases of the trees with compost. With shredded leafes. Piss on the plants. Human pee is fertilizer. 1 liter urine per 20 liters of water. Walnut shels can burn and provide heat. And ashes are also ferilizer….
There’s plenty of land to grow food. Hell the give rent pays farmers to destroy food
I always think why not just grow more and more desert loving plants like cactus, ocotillos, bushrs in desert and greens in fertile lands.
What if we commute using bicycles instead of cars
It’d be cool if you made a video title “what if Greg’s Attention Span Was the single largest entertainment network on the planet” facts💗
What if everyone moved to one side of the planet?🤔
Woow
China already did that
ok so, lets start now, there’s always gonna be dust in the atmosphere lol alot it fall from space for one small example, plus all the partials humans are putting up there from burning stuff. plus im sure were gonna wanna keep one or 2 dessert… i mean that is an ecosystem too after all. but there’s alot extra/unusable space. and it not like you have to do it all in one shot lol. lets start with Texas and Arizona?
Isn’t this exactly what people have been doing in parts of Israel?
most pessimist video
Nice video.
it would be cool if the one and only channel named what if gets inf subs SO COME ON SUB OR DIE
Ooh i though it was munnar…
Leave deserts alone you idiots
Idea: What if President Kennedy had never died?
It’s not completely correct that if Sahara becomes a forest, Amazon reason forest would disappear. The Amazon basin will still receive plenty of rainfall. So there will still be a forest. But probably not as dense and not as full of biodiversity.
We can start turning deserts into farmland from the edges of the deserts
You will also lose many corals that use iron in Saharan dust and also kill many desert dwelling organisms
Wouldn’t the desert be like a replacement for amazon desert and can’t the process of nano clay be repeated for the amazon forest?
The last part is a lie !
I think What IF is the only channel that makes anyones dream come to reality
you guys are the best i love your work, my dad and i used to watch you guys every morning, but now that ihave youtube i watch you every day after school and work experience. thank you for helping me love science again
What if we all transformed into light
What if light could evolve
What if we became plant human hybrids
Solution: condoms!!! The population of people on this planet has to reduce to 5 miljard/billion. 2 childs- (maximum) politics worldwide. And stop to ruin the Amazone / Rain Forests, the longs of the Earth. I’m not a fan of the Green Deal of the EU. Hate it. We have to change our lives too much and normal people gonna pay for it. It will cause poorness for many people in Europe. In The Netherlands, where I live, 1 of 13 childs grow up in poorness. With the Green Deal this number will grow to 1 out of 10 or even more. I don’t think that’s a good thing. Big companies should pay for the energy trasition, you say? Girl, keep on dreaming! Don’t gonna happen. At the and.. you and me.. normal people.. gonna pay for it. Big companies just make their products more expensive. So.. more poverty. No money = more hunger + more criminal activities like roberies. No, we need to think bigger and reduce the number of people on this planet to 5 miljard/billion and stop chop trees in Rain Forests on the scale we do now. Thorium is a really good thing for our energy. Than we can stop gas and most oil. That are the big 3 we have to do and not all the little things that actually not really help but make lives of people more difficult and expensive. So: 1. back to a population of 5 billion people on this planet by a worldwide 2 (or when it’s need 1 🤷🏻♂️) childs-politics 2. protect rain forests and 3. Thorium. 👍🏻
Don’t terraform all the deserts. Instead create oases near or around cities in the desert, oh and restore areas around the rainforests that used to be greener.
We can not do but we can try near harsh cities in less proportion by balancing ecosystem .we also need much more r&d
It’s not that simple but worth doing
The King James Bible says when Christ comes again, the desert is going to blossom like a garden…
what about we just terraform a part of the dessert?
Please tell us how can we control global warming by simple steps.
I am from India and I used to watch your videos as I get do much of knowledge by this so please tell us how can we maintain climate change
I have a What if question not sure if it was already covered what if humanity can absorb the Cfc gas from the atmosphere?
Terrible Idea! I love the Desert and it needs to be left alone!
Well , ISRAEL DOES IT……..