Thank you So much Ali for this brilliant article. Now I need to find a way to present it to our local and national governments as this research is crucial to our children's children's children's children.
Ali, a very lively article, explaining in a way as if everything is animate, living, and ready to respond. A good practical approach to solving climate problems rather than combating them. Impressed.
Hi Ali, thanks for the refresh, Quick question, Because so little energy is needed to lift water small distances and so much of the desert land is so flat has anyone done the necessary research around using self draining salt marshes and mangrove forests to help kick start this process? Many areas have mountain inland regions and these systems incorporated around towns and cities could offer alternative ecological zones which act as sponge and purification of both salt and fresh water. Many salt marsh types are becoming active culinary ingredients and can even supplement feed for livestock. Neom in Saudi Arabia sounds like a great concept for living but with a little thought the same money could possibly help make the whole region more pleasant to live . During the little ice age of 1700's I read that that small change in regional temperatures started to green up this region. Like to hear your thoughts.
Thank you, Theodore. The insight about mangroves and salt marshes acting as ecological triggers is a valuable one. These coastal systems filter water, modulate surface temperatures, release organic aerosols, and create gentle vapor gradients that shape atmospheric behavior. In the right places, especially near towns or inland foothills, they can initiate feedback loops that seed rainfall, even under dry conditions. Rain-generating landscapes tend to share one core attribute, they collect, hold, and modulate moisture. Forested valleys, wetlands, and catchments with curved forms slow down wind, retain humidity, and buffer heat extremes. These nested geometries allow the atmosphere to stabilize, cool, and condense. Moisture isn’t just received passively; it’s drawn in and released rhythmically, like breath. The idea of containment appears throughout the natural world. Rivers braid through valleys. Soil gathers beneath canopy shade. Even the shape of the womb, described in many traditions as a place of secure lodging, echoes this logic. A structure that holds creates the conditions for life to grow. It isn’t just shelter. It’s thermodynamic regulation, vapor concentration, and pressure modulation all working together.
This is where designs like Neom struggle. A city stretched into a long, exposed strip across arid terrain does not form enclosure. Without curvature or vegetative depth, the land cannot gather vapor or insulate itself from extremes. Rainfall responds to heat differentials, roughness length, turbulence, and latent heat release. A flat, linear expanse sends out the wrong signals. To keep such a place liveable, artificial inputs become necessary: desalination, imported energy, external cooling systems. The city functions, but only through constant intervention... like a biological system on dialysis. Meanwhile, smaller interventions in the right forms can do more with less. A restored catchment with tiered vegetation, shaded ponds, and sponge-like soils will often outperform engineered fixes. These landscapes don't force rain; they invite it, build memory into the terrain, a kind of feedback intelligence that stores water and teaches the sky how to respond.
Your mention of the Little Ice Age and subsequent greening touches a deep truth. Climate is not just about global averages. It's about local coherence between land, vegetation, and sky. That coherence can be shaped, not by imitating nature in appearance, but by restoring the functions that make life possible. A healthy system speaks the language of rain. With the right patterns in place, vegetation, vapor, shelter, and form, even arid regions can begin to pull moisture, slowly turning scarcity into resilience. I haven’t unpacked things like humidity deficit, TCWV, CAPE, or barrier interception models in this post, but I’d be happy to walk through it if you’re interested.
VPD a serious problem in Australia, a few years back I argued with the Queensland scientists about a dam they wished to build called the Hells gate dam, $7 billion and then they wished to build a pumping system to pipe the water over the great divide ,(our coastal mountain range running the length of the east coast of Australia) to the semi arid central north of the state. My argument was that the land there is so flat that a levee less than a meter high could capture and slow the water they receive from irregular heavy rain events for a fraction of the cost and help control much higher volumes of water than the dam ever could provide. A few years on and they have been trialing this to great success, one farmer even said his levee less than a foot high created in a few days with an old tractor is rehabilitating thousands of acres, They are now expanding the projects with the aim of covering catchment areas in the hundreds of thousand. I look at Africa and see the Sahal flat lands, Kenya , Somalia and to a degree these areas in Namibia and the notion that if we can slow movement of water across such hydrophobic soils long enough for a deeper penetration we could be achieving much better results in regards to climatic stability.
I look at areas of ocean bordering desert and see the same potential with a little more effort , If we can work these areas from both ends simultaneously then the results can be amplified. I will read your post on amplification but my immediate thought was in regards to the notion of a catalyst, where if one more input is introduced to the system you can see total system change.
What a world we could make if we try. Thanks again
Loved your comments about the Hells gate dam. Reminded me of an old friend, who used to say, people love the boys, who talk big things, and big money. But, really the success is what is the minimum amount of work we do, that can reap the biggest benefits,
In a way this article was about exploring those little things, connecting them together, but even a small step in the right direction as you rightly called it a catalyst, can move the system towards change. However, the urgency now is slightly greater, as more and more lands are facing extreme events, so the small interventions if synergized can land an even bigger impact. For instance, one starts with sky, rain falls, you put a levee, or a check dam, or make some moon pits, water seeps in, winds bring in the seeds, and in a few years, life starts coming back. But then you have another place, where drought cycles have prolonged, there is no water or rain coming, and only sporadic heavy events once or twice a year happen, and here we plan for those events, but having some more check dams, so fuelless pumps, pumping water to higher storage, then discharging it over a period of time via an evaporation activated valve, suddenly you have a much faster repair cycle in place.
Little steps taken together across a watershed, can work miracles.
An idea I have been toying with in relation to floods , in many of the cleared agricultural areas the only thing that stops the fast flow of water off the hills into the flood plain is friction, as soon as the water is above a frictional point it accelerates at close to force of gravity as it has very high viscosity. this then accumulates in the lowlands at a greater rate than discharge, thus flooding. In nature the best growing region for trees is in the nutrient and water rich areas along these streams and perennial water courses thus they grow tall shading out the competition and help clear a path for water if we have not already cleared it ourselves for grazing. If we were to mass plant this riparian section and partially up the slope and coppice we could create a continuous quick growing supply of high quality timber. With siltation fences or companion planting especially at choke points of interlocking spurs we then could turn a high flow rate and its destructive inertia into a slow release filtration system. This adds to the hydrological cycle in both wet and dry without the need for expensive dams. Miyawaki method crossed with viticulture
The other benefit which is not talked about much is what I term the soft water cycle, the increase in dew and fog ,both of which enhance a daily cycle of growth but are never included in rainfall totals.
Thank you So much Ali for this brilliant article. Now I need to find a way to present it to our local and national governments as this research is crucial to our children's children's children's children.
Ali, a very lively article, explaining in a way as if everything is animate, living, and ready to respond. A good practical approach to solving climate problems rather than combating them. Impressed.
Hi Ali, thanks for the refresh, Quick question, Because so little energy is needed to lift water small distances and so much of the desert land is so flat has anyone done the necessary research around using self draining salt marshes and mangrove forests to help kick start this process? Many areas have mountain inland regions and these systems incorporated around towns and cities could offer alternative ecological zones which act as sponge and purification of both salt and fresh water. Many salt marsh types are becoming active culinary ingredients and can even supplement feed for livestock. Neom in Saudi Arabia sounds like a great concept for living but with a little thought the same money could possibly help make the whole region more pleasant to live . During the little ice age of 1700's I read that that small change in regional temperatures started to green up this region. Like to hear your thoughts.
Thank you, Theodore. The insight about mangroves and salt marshes acting as ecological triggers is a valuable one. These coastal systems filter water, modulate surface temperatures, release organic aerosols, and create gentle vapor gradients that shape atmospheric behavior. In the right places, especially near towns or inland foothills, they can initiate feedback loops that seed rainfall, even under dry conditions. Rain-generating landscapes tend to share one core attribute, they collect, hold, and modulate moisture. Forested valleys, wetlands, and catchments with curved forms slow down wind, retain humidity, and buffer heat extremes. These nested geometries allow the atmosphere to stabilize, cool, and condense. Moisture isn’t just received passively; it’s drawn in and released rhythmically, like breath. The idea of containment appears throughout the natural world. Rivers braid through valleys. Soil gathers beneath canopy shade. Even the shape of the womb, described in many traditions as a place of secure lodging, echoes this logic. A structure that holds creates the conditions for life to grow. It isn’t just shelter. It’s thermodynamic regulation, vapor concentration, and pressure modulation all working together.
This is where designs like Neom struggle. A city stretched into a long, exposed strip across arid terrain does not form enclosure. Without curvature or vegetative depth, the land cannot gather vapor or insulate itself from extremes. Rainfall responds to heat differentials, roughness length, turbulence, and latent heat release. A flat, linear expanse sends out the wrong signals. To keep such a place liveable, artificial inputs become necessary: desalination, imported energy, external cooling systems. The city functions, but only through constant intervention... like a biological system on dialysis. Meanwhile, smaller interventions in the right forms can do more with less. A restored catchment with tiered vegetation, shaded ponds, and sponge-like soils will often outperform engineered fixes. These landscapes don't force rain; they invite it, build memory into the terrain, a kind of feedback intelligence that stores water and teaches the sky how to respond.
Your mention of the Little Ice Age and subsequent greening touches a deep truth. Climate is not just about global averages. It's about local coherence between land, vegetation, and sky. That coherence can be shaped, not by imitating nature in appearance, but by restoring the functions that make life possible. A healthy system speaks the language of rain. With the right patterns in place, vegetation, vapor, shelter, and form, even arid regions can begin to pull moisture, slowly turning scarcity into resilience. I haven’t unpacked things like humidity deficit, TCWV, CAPE, or barrier interception models in this post, but I’d be happy to walk through it if you’re interested.
VPD a serious problem in Australia, a few years back I argued with the Queensland scientists about a dam they wished to build called the Hells gate dam, $7 billion and then they wished to build a pumping system to pipe the water over the great divide ,(our coastal mountain range running the length of the east coast of Australia) to the semi arid central north of the state. My argument was that the land there is so flat that a levee less than a meter high could capture and slow the water they receive from irregular heavy rain events for a fraction of the cost and help control much higher volumes of water than the dam ever could provide. A few years on and they have been trialing this to great success, one farmer even said his levee less than a foot high created in a few days with an old tractor is rehabilitating thousands of acres, They are now expanding the projects with the aim of covering catchment areas in the hundreds of thousand. I look at Africa and see the Sahal flat lands, Kenya , Somalia and to a degree these areas in Namibia and the notion that if we can slow movement of water across such hydrophobic soils long enough for a deeper penetration we could be achieving much better results in regards to climatic stability.
I look at areas of ocean bordering desert and see the same potential with a little more effort , If we can work these areas from both ends simultaneously then the results can be amplified. I will read your post on amplification but my immediate thought was in regards to the notion of a catalyst, where if one more input is introduced to the system you can see total system change.
What a world we could make if we try. Thanks again
Loved your comments about the Hells gate dam. Reminded me of an old friend, who used to say, people love the boys, who talk big things, and big money. But, really the success is what is the minimum amount of work we do, that can reap the biggest benefits,
In a way this article was about exploring those little things, connecting them together, but even a small step in the right direction as you rightly called it a catalyst, can move the system towards change. However, the urgency now is slightly greater, as more and more lands are facing extreme events, so the small interventions if synergized can land an even bigger impact. For instance, one starts with sky, rain falls, you put a levee, or a check dam, or make some moon pits, water seeps in, winds bring in the seeds, and in a few years, life starts coming back. But then you have another place, where drought cycles have prolonged, there is no water or rain coming, and only sporadic heavy events once or twice a year happen, and here we plan for those events, but having some more check dams, so fuelless pumps, pumping water to higher storage, then discharging it over a period of time via an evaporation activated valve, suddenly you have a much faster repair cycle in place.
Little steps taken together across a watershed, can work miracles.
An idea I have been toying with in relation to floods , in many of the cleared agricultural areas the only thing that stops the fast flow of water off the hills into the flood plain is friction, as soon as the water is above a frictional point it accelerates at close to force of gravity as it has very high viscosity. this then accumulates in the lowlands at a greater rate than discharge, thus flooding. In nature the best growing region for trees is in the nutrient and water rich areas along these streams and perennial water courses thus they grow tall shading out the competition and help clear a path for water if we have not already cleared it ourselves for grazing. If we were to mass plant this riparian section and partially up the slope and coppice we could create a continuous quick growing supply of high quality timber. With siltation fences or companion planting especially at choke points of interlocking spurs we then could turn a high flow rate and its destructive inertia into a slow release filtration system. This adds to the hydrological cycle in both wet and dry without the need for expensive dams. Miyawaki method crossed with viticulture
The other benefit which is not talked about much is what I term the soft water cycle, the increase in dew and fog ,both of which enhance a daily cycle of growth but are never included in rainfall totals.