Comments by "" (@TheDavidlloydjones) on "Can China Hold Back The Deserts?" video.

  1. Part of the problem down through the centuries is that people have thought, quite plausibly, that planting trees ought to stop deserts -- and that's dead wrong. Net net, trees transpire water. They blow water to the wind. They don't fix water into the ground for the full biological complex to swap around. What Jon calls "complex" in the efforts in this excellent video reflects the modern appreciation of this whole-systems truth. Rule One, in every effort or plan, is "You can't do just one thing." The good news is the Chinese may be getting it right this time. It looks like it. I wish them well.
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  2. Some do, some don't. The forests of Lebanon were probably killed by the Romans and the Hebrews of temple-building time -- but it was the goats that kept those forests from growing back.
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