I hate my job

[Moe]

Originally Posted by Shep

I'm not a geologist, but I am a thinker... is there a way to terraform most of Africas deserts into usuable land? maybe mass tilling and irrigation or something?

its called the great sahara...that would be for a reason wouldn't it?

irrigation costs alot too

[Shep]

Originally Posted by Moe

its called the great sahara...that would be for a reason wouldn't it?

irrigation costs alot too

I imagine if we were pressed for land and development, we'd eventually get around to it. I think it'd be interesting to form a 100+ year plan of terraforming slowly and maybe work on it someday.

[NANAKI]

Originally Posted by Shep

I imagine if we were pressed for land and development, we'd eventually get around to it. I think it'd be interesting to form a 100+ year plan of terraforming slowly and maybe work on it someday.

still most of Africa is just 3rd world countries they don't have the technology that we do.

[Shep]

Originally Posted by NANAKI

still most of Africa is just 3rd world countries they don't have the technology that we do.

Yeah, part of the problem is fighting governments who starve their people to continue war. Part of the program should involve either toppling or reforming those countries and help them care for their own land.

[Urb4n]

Originally Posted by Shep

I imagine if we were pressed for land and development, we'd eventually get around to it. I think it'd be interesting to form a 100+ year plan of terraforming slowly and maybe work on it someday.

That won't be possible, at least not easily let alone efficiently. It just so happens that the part of the world you're talking about has a climate that has made the land arid and hot, and thats because the surrounding climates (of Europe, Southern Africa) force it to be that way. Assuming we diddecide to terraform the desert into something useful, we're talking about cutting short the natural habitat for lots of species of animals/plants. Part of the problem is maintaining a balance with indigenous species of plants and animals and progress. We have to work with what we are given by nature.

They say in a million years western Europe will become a huge rainforest and the majority of the lower 48 (states) will become a vast desert. With that in mind, how do you think we will be using our land then? Obviously the midwest won't be the breadbasket of America anymore and European countries will be taking an interest in the logging business. The way we live and work is based almost entirely on what geographical location we're in and what is readily available. The Environment changes our habits, we don't change the environments habits.

Same principle applies to your terraforming theory, it's neither economic, efficient, nor easy to accomplish such a feat. Nature will resist the change in the habitat to the end. Ultimately, it'll just displace thousands of animals, and when we give up on the project it'll leave the environment in the area in ruins. Attempting to Terraform an established habitat will not work, plain and simple. Now, Terraforming something like Mars is a different story, theres almost nothing there to screw up.

Ok, I'm done with my little off-topic lecture. (I had the time to type it. )

Edit : For a summary, it looks like northern Africa is SoL for a while, it can't be helped.

[nurvonic]

wow i really should of put that map in a different thread lol

i dont really hear much from africa...all ive heard is the incident in somalia, that movie 'congo', that other movie 'sahara', and that big ass mountain thats losing ice because of global warming(this is gonna turn into a global warming thread now lol)