Last night, while falling asleep, I was thinking about the articles I had read about global warming. One thing that I kept thinking about was the idea that the Sahara Desert was once full of lakes, low-lying forests and grasslands. However, early man kept raiding the area for firewood, and faming the grasslands for the needed grain. As there was no ideas about conservation back then, they just kept plodding along, using and abusing the land until there was barely any nutrition left in the soil. All it took was a couple of dry years to turn what was once a vast prairie into a stark desert.

A similar event almost occurred in the 1930′s in the USA’s Great Plains, but fortunately, there were enough people who were vaguely intelligent enough to put into use better farming methods and conservation techniques.

Is it too late for the Sahara? There is a website that I found, The Sahara Desert Supposition ^[1] which states that we can terraform the Sahara and in the process, cure some of the ills that man has visited upon himself and his planet.

Then there is this discussion I found on the Bad Astronomy and The Universe Today Forum ^[2] pertaining to the idea of terraforming the Sahara. As with any discussion on a message board, not much seems to have been gotten out of it.

I also found an article on The Spiritual Awakening Network ^[3], while certainly not a scientific piece, it was at least entertaining.

So, what can be done? Can the Sahara be returned to grasslands and forests? There would be an accomplishment like no others in the history of mankind. The problem is, how can we wake people up to the idea, get the funding needed get this massive undertaking going? Millions of acres would need to be refertilized, topsoil replaced, planlife restored, and finally animal life re-introduced.

It’s a nice idea, but my faith in the human race isn’t what it used to be.