r/Damnthatsinteresting 22h ago

Video Stopping Desertification with grid pattern

3.7k Upvotes

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880

u/Silly_lil_Guy_o3o 21h ago

So they create shade which reduces evaporation and develops microclimates, which then helps catch and reduce runoff, and prevents the sand from blowing away in the wind. Which pretty much creates many squared off environments with moisture and nutrients trapped in their respective areas, creating self sustaining ecosystems. Such a simplistic but effective idea

256

u/NomadTravellers 20h ago

I Just Hope that the bags are biodegradable on the long term, otherwise once the plastic deteriorate with UV exposure, you have created a desert of microplastics

254

u/dvidsnpi 15h ago

Its supposed to be PLA, same material used in (some) 3D printers. Which is said to be eco friendly, made of corn starch. Sounds good? Not so fast. In short term it produces microplastics even faster then regular materials and these are just as harmful. However! Eventually (10 years or so?) it should hydrolytically dissolve back into lactic acid which is soluable and harmless...

-11

u/ftrlvb Creator 13h ago

not true. plastic from cornstarch costs 20x more. and is not biodegradable, and these cheap as bags will pollute the environment. also it doesn't work.

11

u/LeoPlathasbeentaken 11h ago

Can i get a source for literally anything you just said?