192 – Greening the Sahara Desert

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Paul Wheaton talks to Owen Hablutzel about greening the Sahara Desert. 90% of the challenge with permaculture projects is the social and political dynamics. Owen talks about keeping humans and the ecosystem from being worked with separately. Organic matter does last in the Sahara, because there’s 2 inches of rain on average per year. Thus any form of hugelkultur does help. Paul talks about using biochar in the tropics. Paul talks about the book, the Poisonwood Bible. They talk about a holistic management perspective. Paul and Owen describe the Saharan landscape. Paul talks about the Sahara’s potential to return to lush savannah and jungle. Owen talks about working with local social dynamics as they restore the landscape. Owen shares about the local people and their nomadic transhuman lifestyle. They talk about refugee camps, and wells and gardens there. Owen talks about the utilization of holistic management there. Owen plans to do some experimental projects with keyline there. Owen mentions the movie, The Man Who Stopped the Desert. They talk about salinity and rocks. Owen talks about being very adaptive, and listening to the people there. Paul suggests a wicking technique that might help desalinate the soil. Paul gets into zai techniques.
Discussing the podcast.