A must see.
Summary:
1) Desertification does not occur everywhere. In general it only occurs in areas where the humidity level varies dramatically during the year.
2) Desertification doesn't occur for the reasons most people, including the existing scientific consensus, believe. It isn't climate change, it is the removal of large herds of animals from grasslands.
3) The mechanism is the breaking of the previous carbon cycle in grasslands - from 4 month growing/8 months dry with large herds of animals and higher retained humidity/lower temperature swings during the day completing the decay of dead grass for the next season's growth vs. oxidation (very long process, hurts next year's growth as it is blocked by dead plant matter, doesn't provide as good ground cover to moderate temperature swings and humidity/rainfall retention
4) Fire is another way to remove the dead plant matter, but wildfires release all sorts of toxins as well as CO2
5) Desertification is a huge contributor to climate change, not the other way around
6) The herd animal benefit isn't a function of the presence of animals, but is a function of mimicking large herds of animals in nature. I.e. much of the desertification that has occurred in the past millenia is due to families running small numbers of animals spread out over the range vs. large herds which more resemble nature.
Summary:
1) Desertification does not occur everywhere. In general it only occurs in areas where the humidity level varies dramatically during the year.
2) Desertification doesn't occur for the reasons most people, including the existing scientific consensus, believe. It isn't climate change, it is the removal of large herds of animals from grasslands.
3) The mechanism is the breaking of the previous carbon cycle in grasslands - from 4 month growing/8 months dry with large herds of animals and higher retained humidity/lower temperature swings during the day completing the decay of dead grass for the next season's growth vs. oxidation (very long process, hurts next year's growth as it is blocked by dead plant matter, doesn't provide as good ground cover to moderate temperature swings and humidity/rainfall retention
4) Fire is another way to remove the dead plant matter, but wildfires release all sorts of toxins as well as CO2
5) Desertification is a huge contributor to climate change, not the other way around
6) The herd animal benefit isn't a function of the presence of animals, but is a function of mimicking large herds of animals in nature. I.e. much of the desertification that has occurred in the past millenia is due to families running small numbers of animals spread out over the range vs. large herds which more resemble nature.
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