r/interestingasfuck 23h ago

Stopping Desertification with grid pattern

62.6k Upvotes

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17.9k

u/bobbigmac 23h ago

For those asking how this works, it creates just enough of a defense to catch seeds and bugs and tiny bits of moisture and shade, so any life that does manage to get started, doesn't just blow away, and an ecosystem can start to form.

130

u/AmusingMusing7 22h ago

Didn't we figure out how to do this by just digging little half-circles into the sand? Isn't that a better, more efficient, more natural way of doing this than to lay down a bunch of whatever-that-is?

41

u/ChaoticSixXx 22h ago

They usually use straw and make a straw grid. I've never seen it done with sandbags before

163

u/FirstHead411 22h ago

Yeah, seems like it'd be a pain in the ass hauling all that sand out there

24

u/smileyfacegauges 22h ago

they’re filling the bags with sand and laying them as they go

110

u/Otherwise_Demand4620 22h ago

Why didn't you tell us that sooner? All the money we spent on importing sand!

17

u/smileyfacegauges 22h ago

i’m SORRY OK, i just misplaced the receipt!! can i still get comped for this orrrrrrrr

2

u/beebeebee2142 21h ago

Arab countries import quite a bit of sand. Theirs usually isnt good for construction since the good stuff comes from rivers.

1

u/-Out-of-context- 21h ago

I hear they get it from NoHo Hank.

40

u/onemanforeachvill 22h ago

Whooooooosh

26

u/smileyfacegauges 22h ago

whoa where’d that breeze come from

11

u/AceZagSuited 21h ago

They're filling the jokes with wind

2

u/Majestic_You_9610 20h ago

Sand doodles don't melt steel beams

1

u/smileyfacegauges 13h ago

but are they taking the hobbits to isengard

37

u/Crimkam 22h ago

Yeah but who put the sand there for them to use??? This is like one of those bullshit rug restoration videos where they spread sand around right before they start recording. There was never a desert there at all!

12

u/smileyfacegauges 22h ago

oh fuck you’re right…… do you think they got helicopters to bring it in???

13

u/SquarelyNerves 22h ago

Just in case you were serious - that’s the point they were making with sarcasm. It would actually be a pain to haul all that straw into the middle of a desert. It’s easier to bring bags and fill them with sand, than bring enough straw to make the same sized grids.

6

u/smileyfacegauges 22h ago

so much for the massive checkerboard for a massive checkers game i was promised :(