Antonios wrote:

We are going to transform the deserts in other planets where there is no oxygen, no t life and we will leave a big part of our land as deserts?

Dear Antonios,

Let me repeat. We have much life in our deserts.

Where there is no oxygen and no life it is not a desert. It is merely an area where there is no life. Our desert contains much life. It contains life that has adapted to deserts.

There has been too much human disregard for natural conditions. Quaddafi in Libya was going to create rivers by tapping into aquifers under the Libyan desert. A study revealed that the rivers would run out after 50 years, but by that time there would be a lot more Libyans. Quaddafi wisely cancelled the project.

Rather than trying to transform a desert into something else it would be better to learn to live in balance with what we have. Population control, wise use of existing water resources, conflict resolution and other ways of dealing with what exists seem to me much better than transforming deserts. I feel deserts have a value in themselves. They are not garbage to get rid of.

I remember when I was in our army. We were camped in a desert. I walked out into the night and was gazing at the stars above undimmed by man made illumination. I heard a voice. it was not the voice of God. It said, "Bud, gotta match?"

Foxy
1. start a discussion for our deserts, a big part of our land is deserts will we live them unsued or we will try to find ways to maximize the benefits from our deserts?
2. Can we take advantage of our land including the deserts to increase the production of our agricultural products when we know the demants for them will be very big and their values very high?
3. We can plant thousands of desert trees and support them, it is better if we can find a place close to a main road for use of travelers and tourist industry and to remind other people that they can create green parks in the deserts too..
4.My final goal is to prove and encourage Australians that we can use our deserts with a better, more productive and usefull way, to convert them for agricultural use!
Practical problems:
A) To find the right place. Only if we create a committee and contact the authorities ONLY then we will know what choices we have,
B) Trees Also we have to discuss about it with authorities and if they can give us trees for free or very low prices.
C) The water machines hoses etc will cost about $10.000 but we will try for free or low prices.
What realy I am ready to do for it every year.
1. $500 (my income is low)per year PLUS 5 days hard work in the desert, planting trees, I will plan about 300 trees per year plus liyng water hoses etc.

Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

Dear Antonios,

Firstly allow me to apologise for my previous post.
It was out of line. The only excuse I have is
that I had a lot on my plate yesterday - with
my step-father (who's in a nursing home) having
suffered another heart seizure and being rushed to
hospital with water in his lungs. I was up with him
most of the night.

Anyway, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that.
Please accept my apology.

The Chinese poet - Kuan Tsu - 500BC wrote:

"If you're thinking a year ahead, sow a seed,
If you're thinking 10 years ahead, plant a tree,
If you're thinking a hundred years ahead, educate the people."

There's a great website that's part of a project
called, "Desert Knowledge Australia,"
whose aim is to create opportunities and meet
desert challenges through partnerships, knowledge,
and innovation ... they're concerned with sustainability,
and harmony in the desert areas.

I strongly suggest you look at the website:

http://www.desertknowledge.com.au

Dear Ant

I wouldn’t like to see a synthetic park in the desert for travellers when they can see man-made parks all over the world. Would a traveller want to see ugly power generators and machinery in unspoiled desert country? Is this not sacrilegious Ant - merely the addition of yet another feral invader?

Thousands of travellers visit our deserts to escape the trappings of civilisation. Many go to our deserts to experience the harsh terrain, the magnificent blooms of the deserts after rain and the eerie quiet and solitude, able to reflect without urban distractions.

Australian deserts often contains rocks and ranges, caves in which to escape the heat and gorges, bluffs and breakaways, hundreds of plant species, native mammals and reptiles, often out of sight, warily watching the invader.

However, the arid outback of Australia has lost more mammals in modern times than any other place on earth. Trends suggest that decades of intensive farming and other human activities are to blame. The emphasis nowadays is on conservation and the declaration of large areas as 'Indigenous Protected Areas' in which grazing is prohibited, which is allowing the ecosystems to recover though it’s with some dismay that our indigenous people are increasingly succumbing to the “sacred” dollar incentives offered by the mining giants.

Nevertheless, arid lands have a natural resilience to withstand disasters such as droughts and without destructive human intervention, over time; they generally bounce back, unharmed.

And if desert rains are increasing Ant, the desert will be a sight to behold. Even now, after minimum rain, one can witness carpet after carpet of everlastings and wildflowers, native grasses and native shrubs that delight, therefore, why would we need man-made green parks for those who want only to see nature in the raw? They may as well stay home, go to Hyde Park in Sydney's CBD or Kings' Park in Perth.

Foxy,
Love the folk wisdom....brilliant I'll add it to my list of wisdom.Ta

One observation though he doesn't exclude the sometimes seemingly use of a shovel in all options.
Application behind the ear might benefit some recalcitrance posters too ....ok that's a little harsh but sometime I muse the possibilities.

I'm such a naughty Examinator ant sometimes. ;-)

DavidF

I wonder at the *universal* wisdom of looking backwards. Having spent a lot of time regen and involved in research in some cases returning land to the past is not possible or even a sensible option. Times and conditions have moved changed and re instituting previous plants can be fraught with problems of the whole.

We need to understand the processes and work with them. This should involve by more reasoned uses of technology and and knowledge ensuring that we avoid the mistakes from the past as you highlighted.

Likewise Aussie plants can be just as destructive if not endemic or the environment is out of natural equilibrium.

I have seen Tessie trees and WA plants devastate Qld environments.
I lament the introduction of Nth Qld Palms into SE Qld the damage in the bush can be as bad i,f not worse as any weed.(no biological control)out competes some sensitive but essential endemic species.
One only needs to observe the near plague proportions of the native
noisy minor.

Change is inevitable what we need to do is manage it not let it manage us as occurs now.

Antonius
altering the environment as you suggest may cause more problems than it solves. Hence we need to be very careful what and how we change the land for the future. It isn't just that simple

Dear Examinator,

Your naughtiness is just one of the many
attractive things about you !!

:)