In 1973 a reportedly drunk driver flattened a tree in the middle of the Sahara, which sounds unremarkable until you learn it was the only tree for 250 miles around, a 300-year-old acacia so isolated it was marked on maps covering half a continent. https://share.google/ePM21R48Aq0VRqTUb
Someone should replant it. Surely we have the technology.
We do and we might get back there eventually if we keep up with water harvesting techniques and permaculture designs in the region, which are aimed at greening the edge of Sahara
Andrew Millison has a few episodes on this on his channel. For those interested, non YT links:
How Africa’s Great Green Wall is Solving an Ancient Conflict which shows projects in Chad
How Refugees are Greening the Edge of the Sahara near the border with Sudan in Chad
Inside Africa’s Food Forest Mega-Project with projects in Niger
New trees haven’t been able to grow there for centuries. You’d have to spend a century giving the new tree progressively deeper irrigation until the roots reach the current water table, 40+m deep.
Yeah I realize it would require irrigation but that’s very doable with modern technology.
We could fundraise an electric truck to bring the water or something.
Yes, we can create an artificial environment that can host a tree literally anywhere on Earth. That’s not the same thing.
Would need a pretty good fence around it. Sounds like unaware and drunk drivers are great at hitting the only thing around for miles.