WEBVTT - How Desertification Works

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know

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<v Speaker 1>from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to

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<v Speaker 1>the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as

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<v Speaker 1>Charles W. Chuck bryant Y. How's it going? Oh, you know, Josh,

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<v Speaker 1>it's Monday. I don't think recording on mondays on either.

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<v Speaker 1>In the stupid room that you hate. My head hurts

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<v Speaker 1>to Jerry's all bummed out. What a wife? What are

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<v Speaker 1>we doing? I don't know. This isn't a big upper

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<v Speaker 1>of a topic either. The desertification, Yeah, maybe it's a

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<v Speaker 1>good thing. We're not in like some chipper mood. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>I think you're right because, as you know, Chuck, desertification

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<v Speaker 1>is one of the overlooked I think problems crises facing

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<v Speaker 1>humanity right now. Yeah, man, big time, Especially here in

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<v Speaker 1>the cushy US, especially in the very lush Southeastern US.

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<v Speaker 1>It's kind of easy to overlook. And we had like

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<v Speaker 1>a pretty huge drought a couple of years ago. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>and you know we're like, oh no, we have slightly

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<v Speaker 1>less drinking water than we did before. Right, Well, there

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<v Speaker 1>were some other slight issues. We had some uprooting of

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<v Speaker 1>trees and such. Sure there was that. Uh, there wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>nearly as much boating or jet skiing as usual, which

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<v Speaker 1>I'm sure affected a lot of the gas stations around

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<v Speaker 1>some of the lakes. Right. There were probably some impacts

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<v Speaker 1>here and there that we didn't think about. Um, And

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<v Speaker 1>you're probably right. But it's also even easier to overlook

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<v Speaker 1>some of the impacts that take place during desertification in

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<v Speaker 1>some of the more marginalized societies in the world, right

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<v Speaker 1>for sure, So what are we looking at? I think

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<v Speaker 1>it's like of the people who live in areas that

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<v Speaker 1>are at risk of desertification are um, the poor under

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<v Speaker 1>the undeveloped countries, right right, Josh, it's about two billion people,

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<v Speaker 1>and for these people there's a kind of a slightly

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<v Speaker 1>more problems than not being able to jet ski as

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<v Speaker 1>much as one would like. Um. I think the infanmortality

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<v Speaker 1>rate is about ten times that of an industrialized nation, um,

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<v Speaker 1>and something like twenty four thousand people die every day

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<v Speaker 1>from starvation. A lot of these people are found in

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<v Speaker 1>desertified areas, right right, Let's get to the nitty gritty

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<v Speaker 1>of this, Chuck. What is desertification. I'm just gonna say

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<v Speaker 1>it in my words, desertification is when um uh natural

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<v Speaker 1>things take place and then man made things take place

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<v Speaker 1>to cause essentially what is the degradation of the soil

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<v Speaker 1>itself to where it will erode, things won't grow there,

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<v Speaker 1>and basically you're left with a barren desert landscape. That's

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<v Speaker 1>Chuck's definition. That's a good definition, Chuck. It's dead on.

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<v Speaker 1>The two chief processes that hasten desertification are um poor

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<v Speaker 1>soil management right and overuse of the land. Right. This

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<v Speaker 1>land is not meant to have lots and lots of

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<v Speaker 1>people and cattle grazing, not people grazing obviously, people farming

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<v Speaker 1>grazing right, and um with the land we're talking about

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<v Speaker 1>specifically or Sarai semi arid regions right right, And we

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<v Speaker 1>have one of those here in the United States. You

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<v Speaker 1>wouldn't think of it because it's artificially managed, but the

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<v Speaker 1>Great Plains are semi arid um And because of those

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<v Speaker 1>uh man made interventions like over use UM and intensive

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<v Speaker 1>farming techniques that didn't and not observing soil conservation, we

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<v Speaker 1>actually did experience desertification a century. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly

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<v Speaker 1>what happened. We got all these new fangled farming equipment

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<v Speaker 1>and said, hey, we're kind of poor because the depression

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<v Speaker 1>is coming up, and um, we need to use all

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<v Speaker 1>this stuff to really farm a lot. And that's what happened.

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<v Speaker 1>And then the dust bowl happened, and uh, but we

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<v Speaker 1>got it back well there there, Well, there was this

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<v Speaker 1>perfect storm that happened actually in the in the Midwest

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<v Speaker 1>in the late twenties. Since there was the Roaring twenties,

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<v Speaker 1>everybody was making tons of cash and farmers um started

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<v Speaker 1>borrowing heavily. Uh, and then the depression hit, much like today,

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<v Speaker 1>UM values of land dropped, the prices of UM commodities,

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<v Speaker 1>including agricultural products dropped, and people started having trouble making payments,

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<v Speaker 1>banks foreclosed. At the same time, the farmers were hit

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<v Speaker 1>really really hard financially. They were also hit really really

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<v Speaker 1>hard naturally because as they tried to step up farming

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<v Speaker 1>to increase yields, UM all they did was stripped the

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<v Speaker 1>land of its nutrients. And it became the this vicious

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<v Speaker 1>cycle where the harder they tried to cold stuff from

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<v Speaker 1>the land, the worse off it got. And then all

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<v Speaker 1>of a sudden, nothing would grow will bringing a drought,

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<v Speaker 1>which is the second component mother nature lending a hand,

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<v Speaker 1>and well, not a hand, a backhand. And uh, that's

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<v Speaker 1>when the dust bowl occurred, and we were in bad

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<v Speaker 1>shape in the Great Plains for a long time. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>Apparently these things were like the dust storms that came up.

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<v Speaker 1>Like trains would miss their stops in the middle of

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<v Speaker 1>these things because they couldn't see. Um. It's static electricity

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<v Speaker 1>is easily generated by these particles. So cars would stall. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>So people started dragging chains behind them to ground the

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<v Speaker 1>cars to keep them from stalling. Um. People would put

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<v Speaker 1>wet sheets up over their windows and like you would

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<v Speaker 1>have drifts of dust, like in your house with all

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<v Speaker 1>the doors and windows closed, it would still get in.

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<v Speaker 1>It was everywhere. Yeah, it was bad, bad news, bad times. Right,

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<v Speaker 1>So we got it back, we did it. Yeah, the

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<v Speaker 1>Great Plains farming once again, rich soil once again. And

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<v Speaker 1>that's a little teaser because we can we can combat this,

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<v Speaker 1>but we'll we'll get to that at the end. Right.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's happened here, it's happening in other places. It's

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<v Speaker 1>actually happening at a pretty rapid pace, isn't it. Chuck, Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>Josh stats are you calling for stats? Uh? New deserts

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<v Speaker 1>are growing at a rate of twenty thousand square miles

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<v Speaker 1>a year. And when you consider that half of the

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<v Speaker 1>total land mass of the Earth is dry land, intend

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<v Speaker 1>that land is already degraded, then it's not looking good. No,

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<v Speaker 1>it's not. And there's not a lot of processes in

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<v Speaker 1>place right now that are going to stop this. Although

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<v Speaker 1>we have a pretty clear picture of what's causing this, right,

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<v Speaker 1>like we said, poor soil conservation. Yeah, it's pretty easy

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<v Speaker 1>actually when you look at it's not like the most

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<v Speaker 1>complicated problem. Well, let's talk about the problem first, like,

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<v Speaker 1>what's what's going on? What's what causes desertification. Well, if

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<v Speaker 1>you're talking ecosystems like the human by and like any

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<v Speaker 1>living thing, you're looking for balance. What's the word we

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<v Speaker 1>used in the so an ecosystem wants balance as well,

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<v Speaker 1>and anything to throw it out of balance is not good,

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<v Speaker 1>which is what happens with desertification. When you get in

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<v Speaker 1>frequent rainfall, you lose um, what's called humus, which is

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<v Speaker 1>the really good organic top soil you want that plant

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<v Speaker 1>and animal material. Right, So, bobcats walking along gets struck

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<v Speaker 1>by lightning, falls over under the ground. What's going to

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<v Speaker 1>degrade and and be eaten by microbes and then turned

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<v Speaker 1>into humus which supports soil. Yeah, we're talking carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus,

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<v Speaker 1>all these things that make your top soil really fertile. Right,

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<v Speaker 1>And there's nothing wrong with the semi arid region like it.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not a desert. You don't want to confuse the two.

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<v Speaker 1>The problem is when humans come in and say we

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<v Speaker 1>really need this land, this semi arid land, and we're

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<v Speaker 1>going to over use it, then it does become a desert.

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<v Speaker 1>And it becomes overused, um by not rotating crops, um,

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<v Speaker 1>by not using or over using chemical fertilizers, not composting

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<v Speaker 1>like you should, right exactly, and um kind of irresponsible

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<v Speaker 1>irrigation techniques right, allowing for runoff that kind of stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>The problem is is, like you said, humus is so

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<v Speaker 1>essential that if you if you strip the soil of

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<v Speaker 1>its humus, no matter how much rainfall comes along, it's

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<v Speaker 1>not going to restore that balance. Even worse, the rainfalls

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<v Speaker 1>is going to carry the soil away, just eroads it further,

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<v Speaker 1>which is the problem. So what are some of the

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<v Speaker 1>things that we're doing to to the semi arid regions.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's say a bunch of people suddenly come to a

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<v Speaker 1>semi arid region and say, we're gonna start farming here.

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<v Speaker 1>What are some of the uses of this land that

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<v Speaker 1>that can be problematic, well, grazing, grazing of cattle, like

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<v Speaker 1>irris sponsible grazing. What happens is a lot of poor

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<v Speaker 1>people might migrate to an area because their area has

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<v Speaker 1>been degraded. So you have a mass migration of people

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<v Speaker 1>that will bring in all their cows, so they're over

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<v Speaker 1>using the land. All of a sudden, the cows are grazing,

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<v Speaker 1>and you know, you can't fault them for saying it's

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<v Speaker 1>irresponsible grazing because they're trying to survive and they eat

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<v Speaker 1>all the grass. Let's say grasses is in trees are

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<v Speaker 1>essential for holding that top soil together, so once that's gone,

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<v Speaker 1>or firewood was another one, right, yeah, because if they're

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<v Speaker 1>looking for firewood, right, if you're using that fuel, then

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<v Speaker 1>they do like crazy, You're gonna cut down trees because

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<v Speaker 1>there's your fuel right there. And when you cut down

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<v Speaker 1>a bunch of trees, you actually um make the land

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<v Speaker 1>much more reflective, which dries out the atmosphere. It causes

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<v Speaker 1>more evaporation UM. And also once you lose that the

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<v Speaker 1>anchor for the soil, the soil gets kicked up as dust.

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<v Speaker 1>So the combination of that more UM, that drier climate,

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<v Speaker 1>plus the dust in the air means it's harder for

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<v Speaker 1>putation to form, making the the area even more arid. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>like compounds on itself. Sure, I got I got a

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<v Speaker 1>stat I was telling you that the mass migration of

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<v Speaker 1>people UH in the ninety nineties, dry land regions UM

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<v Speaker 1>grew eighteen point five percent in population. I mean, these

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<v Speaker 1>are places that shouldn't have that many people there anyway,

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<v Speaker 1>they're probably already overtaxed. Then mass migration happens, and it's

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<v Speaker 1>just a recipe for disaster, right, And the problem is

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<v Speaker 1>humans migrate a lot faster than land can be restored. Right.

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<v Speaker 1>So you you're you move from one place to another,

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<v Speaker 1>use that place up, you move to the next one. There,

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<v Speaker 1>there's you're eventually going to run out of places to move. Yeah, right,

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<v Speaker 1>that's what's happening. It is, And it's easy to overlook

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<v Speaker 1>here in the US, although I don't think we should,

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<v Speaker 1>because we we do have very um, we have really

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<v Speaker 1>good irrigation techniques in the Great Planes these days. But

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<v Speaker 1>if you look at it, it's we're not there's not

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<v Speaker 1>a bunch of people living on the Great Plains. It's

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<v Speaker 1>pretty sparsely populated. But humans in the US are virtually

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<v Speaker 1>represented on the Great Plains because you've got one percent

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<v Speaker 1>of Americans farming for the rest of America, right, So

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<v Speaker 1>there's like a virtual demand on that land through farming

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<v Speaker 1>because it produces the food we eat. So we may

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<v Speaker 1>not be living there, but we're using that land just

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<v Speaker 1>as if we were indigenous people all living on the

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<v Speaker 1>Great Plains. And the water that's used there actually is

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<v Speaker 1>virtually exported elsewhere, right, So we're we're putting in water

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<v Speaker 1>inputs there, it's growing, and we're taking that that water

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<v Speaker 1>basically and exporting it to the places where we eat

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<v Speaker 1>that food because we don't have to use the water here.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's like a virtual export of water. Interesting. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>the other thing to being American is we import a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of our food because we can afford to do so,

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<v Speaker 1>so we get food from all over the world. One

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<v Speaker 1>of the things that exacerbates the desertification is these migrating

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<v Speaker 1>poor people. They're rying on the natural ecosystem around them

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<v Speaker 1>pretty much only right, they can't afford to. Sometimes you

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<v Speaker 1>in regents where they just can't import anyway. Plus they

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<v Speaker 1>can't afford to because prices are skyrocketing for like wheat

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<v Speaker 1>and soy, So they need to use the grass that's

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<v Speaker 1>behind them and the cow that's eating it, and the

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<v Speaker 1>little tiny river full of dirty water. Because if you're

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<v Speaker 1>cutting down trees for fuel, you're probably not exporting a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of stuff. I got another staff for you. You're

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<v Speaker 1>ready to be creeped out. Uh, fifty million people will

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<v Speaker 1>be displaced by desertification in the next ten years and

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<v Speaker 1>I saw that, so says people in planet dot net.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a lot of people. That's a lot of people,

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<v Speaker 1>and they're going to places like we said, that's not

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<v Speaker 1>aren't necessarily you know, fertile oasis anyway. So it's just

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<v Speaker 1>making everything worse. And again, if you don't have the

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<v Speaker 1>money to import food, you don't have the money to

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<v Speaker 1>virtually import water. Hence the thousand people that die every

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<v Speaker 1>day of starvation, yeah every day. Wow, it's very sad.

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<v Speaker 1>Stat Like you said, the chuck um, So just let's

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<v Speaker 1>provide a quick recap, right, you've got a semi arid

0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:14.600
<v Speaker 1>region that looks kind of lush, you know, it doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>look like a desert. You come in, you start planting,

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<v Speaker 1>you use too much chemical fertilizer, you overgraze, you cut

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<v Speaker 1>down trees for fuel. You're and you're making a living.

0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:29.119
<v Speaker 1>A few people can do this and it can be sustainable,

0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.599
<v Speaker 1>but when too many people start doing it, then the

0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:36.880
<v Speaker 1>the humus is lost in the soil and uh, the

0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:40.640
<v Speaker 1>land starts reflecting back into the sky. So precipitation goes down,

0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.720
<v Speaker 1>the soil is loose, storms blow in and you've got nothing.

0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.280
<v Speaker 1>You have desert, erosion and desert. Yeah, how do you

0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:52.400
<v Speaker 1>combat this? Well, Josh, it's not easy. It's actually fundamentally easy,

0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:55.080
<v Speaker 1>but it's hard because not enough people are taking part,

0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:57.559
<v Speaker 1>and it's such a it needs to be done in

0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.760
<v Speaker 1>such a massive scale, right, Exactly what you have to

0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.679
<v Speaker 1>do is start at a grassroots level, That's what they say,

0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:06.720
<v Speaker 1>and you need to go in there with people like

0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:08.240
<v Speaker 1>the u N I know as a group will plug

0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:09.800
<v Speaker 1>them in a second. And you go in and you

0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:13.000
<v Speaker 1>teach these people long term benefits, teaching them to think

0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:16.600
<v Speaker 1>long term as far as rotating crops terracing the land

0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:20.640
<v Speaker 1>proper irrigation techniques so they're not so shortsighted and just

0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:24.640
<v Speaker 1>trying to get the crops this year. You gotta teach them.

0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:26.960
<v Speaker 1>That's hard to do. That's what we did in the

0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:31.120
<v Speaker 1>UM late thirties and early forties. The federal government UM

0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.320
<v Speaker 1>was like, wow, we our nation's bread basket is a desert.

0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:36.760
<v Speaker 1>Now we have to do something. But they determined that

0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:42.960
<v Speaker 1>they couldn't constitutionally force farmers to use improve soil techniques.

0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.920
<v Speaker 1>So they turned to the states to basically force them

0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.680
<v Speaker 1>to and they created soil conservation districts UH and made

0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:54.960
<v Speaker 1>it virtually free to farm and and undertake these soil

0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:57.680
<v Speaker 1>conservation techniques. So they're like, we're gonna provide you with

0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:01.280
<v Speaker 1>everything you need. Just do this right. UM. Use contour

0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.400
<v Speaker 1>plowing to to trap water better when you arrogate. UM.

0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:10.000
<v Speaker 1>The federal government also planted between nineteen thirty five and

0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:14.800
<v Speaker 1>nineteen forty two hundred and eighty five thousand miles of trees. Yeah.

0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.120
<v Speaker 1>That's a huge one because trees not only do they

0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:19.080
<v Speaker 1>help keep the soil together with the root system, but

0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.840
<v Speaker 1>they block the wind, and the wind causes a lot

0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:26.520
<v Speaker 1>of erosion Yeah, this is all easier done in America. Obviously,

0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:28.760
<v Speaker 1>you got we got our work cut out against us

0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:32.360
<v Speaker 1>for developing nations. Well yeah, and but China, I mean,

0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:34.400
<v Speaker 1>they're they're starting to get a little more cash in

0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:36.200
<v Speaker 1>their pocket than they have before. And they have a

0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:40.120
<v Speaker 1>huge problem with desertification. Is the Gobi is creeping closer

0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:45.800
<v Speaker 1>and closer towards Beijing. Apparently dust storm from the Gobi

0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:49.760
<v Speaker 1>that covers Beijing are some of them are so enormous

0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:54.160
<v Speaker 1>that they can be detected in the States. Yeah, big

0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:56.640
<v Speaker 1>dust storm. It is. China is taking action though. They

0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:59.640
<v Speaker 1>built a or there in the process of planning a

0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:02.720
<v Speaker 1>three thousand mile long belt of trees along the edge

0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.760
<v Speaker 1>of the Gobi, which is gonna help. And um, I

0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:08.480
<v Speaker 1>think what other countries doing that? And uh oh along

0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:10.960
<v Speaker 1>the Sahara Desert they're gonna they're trying to build a

0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.560
<v Speaker 1>similar like they're calling it a green wall, right, And

0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.480
<v Speaker 1>there's a German company, actually it's not a company, they're

0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:20.120
<v Speaker 1>out of Bremen University. Um. They figured out that if

0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:24.840
<v Speaker 1>you take coffee sacks like jute sacks, um fill them

0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:28.120
<v Speaker 1>with this uh this kind of gel that can hold

0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:30.560
<v Speaker 1>like a thousand times it's wede in water or something

0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:36.760
<v Speaker 1>like that. Seeds compost and uh it is it's like

0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:40.120
<v Speaker 1>a huge seed bomb. You can drop them out around

0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:43.160
<v Speaker 1>the desert and they will or at least a semi

0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:46.640
<v Speaker 1>arid region and they will take root, uh after just

0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.880
<v Speaker 1>a few rainfalls. You can also put them in between

0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.800
<v Speaker 1>trees and just leave the trees and those trees will grow.

0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:56.840
<v Speaker 1>I think they had success rate with the type of

0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:59.440
<v Speaker 1>holly tree that they were trying to grow. They plant

0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.000
<v Speaker 1>two of them and then put one of these bags

0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.320
<v Speaker 1>in between them. Yeah, that's awesome. Um. The other thing

0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:08.280
<v Speaker 1>I thought was cool in the article was that the

0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.720
<v Speaker 1>writer talked a little bit about sometimes the old traditional techniques,

0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:15.119
<v Speaker 1>the ancient techniques, they were like really on target with

0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:17.520
<v Speaker 1>what they were doing, and sometimes a modern way doesn't

0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:20.359
<v Speaker 1>work as well. So in Spain, uh, and a British

0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.640
<v Speaker 1>company has been renovating in a one thousand year old

0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:27.480
<v Speaker 1>Moorish irrigation system. Yeah. How cool is that? It's just

0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:31.879
<v Speaker 1>cool that there's a thousand year old irrigation systems. Yeah, Chuck,

0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:36.960
<v Speaker 1>there's um. I mean, unless you feel like going to

0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:41.120
<v Speaker 1>China or subs are in Africa and plant trees, there's

0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:42.760
<v Speaker 1>not a lot you could do. Is like the stuff

0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:47.960
<v Speaker 1>you should know listener, right, except yeah, Um, one of

0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:52.960
<v Speaker 1>the one of the key ways of preventing desertification or

0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:58.639
<v Speaker 1>slowing it, I guess is encouraging um indigenous societies to

0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:04.359
<v Speaker 1>look for alter native means of sustaining themselves. I guess

0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.720
<v Speaker 1>besides farming and agriculture, right, and you know there's things

0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:12.320
<v Speaker 1>like growing herbs and uh things you can make oil

0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:14.560
<v Speaker 1>extracts from and using them soaps and stuff like that.

0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.440
<v Speaker 1>So I guess if you wanted to do something here

0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:22.080
<v Speaker 1>in the States or in Norway, you would maybe kind

0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:24.160
<v Speaker 1>of look for something like that and start buying them

0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:27.920
<v Speaker 1>on mass online. Does your does Emily sell those on

0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:31.440
<v Speaker 1>Love Your Mama? Well, she sells around soaps, but she doesn't.

0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:33.840
<v Speaker 1>Does she use oils from the Gobi or anything? No,

0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.760
<v Speaker 1>she tries to buy local. Actually, right, that's not local. No, No,

0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:39.800
<v Speaker 1>it's not that local. I'm gonna shame her for not

0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:42.399
<v Speaker 1>shipping in her essential oils from the Guppy consort. Right.

0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:45.399
<v Speaker 1>You got anything else on desertification? Yeah, just if you

0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:47.600
<v Speaker 1>want to read a little bit more on how you

0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:50.280
<v Speaker 1>can participate or at least support and write letters that

0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.040
<v Speaker 1>kind of thing. Uh. The u n has a cool site,

0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:57.639
<v Speaker 1>the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and that is

0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:01.080
<v Speaker 1>u N C C D DOT I N T and

0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:05.359
<v Speaker 1>you can click on action programs and that's programs spelled

0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.400
<v Speaker 1>with two ms and any. Yeah, British, they're silly that way,

0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.399
<v Speaker 1>so it's pretty cool. You can click on action programs

0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:13.760
<v Speaker 1>and they have it. There isn't one action program because

0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:15.879
<v Speaker 1>it's got to be very specific to the land. So

0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:17.680
<v Speaker 1>you click on that and you can go to Africa

0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.879
<v Speaker 1>and you can go to a subregion of Botswana and

0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.440
<v Speaker 1>find out like you can download a pdf to see

0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:25.600
<v Speaker 1>exactly what they're trying to do. So cool, it's kind

0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:27.800
<v Speaker 1>of cool just to educate yourself. Or you can start

0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.000
<v Speaker 1>collecting juke coffee bags and mail them to Bremen University.

0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:35.440
<v Speaker 1>Here you go if you want to know more about desertification,

0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:40.639
<v Speaker 1>arguably the greatest crisis humanity faces. Right now, you can

0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:43.240
<v Speaker 1>type that word and remember just one s in the

0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:45.920
<v Speaker 1>handy search bar at how stuff worst dot com, which

0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:51.880
<v Speaker 1>means it's time for a listener mail. Indeed, Josh, I'm

0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:57.040
<v Speaker 1>gonna call this those crazy wacky Aussies. Okay, we have

0:19:57.080 --> 0:19:59.600
<v Speaker 1>a lot of AUSI listeners. We hear from them quite

0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:03.199
<v Speaker 1>a bit, and uh, they're they're wacky people and we

0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:05.560
<v Speaker 1>need to make it down there at some point, although

0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:07.359
<v Speaker 1>I don't think you could ever stomach that flight, could you.

0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:12.640
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to Japan. It's fourteen hours. Good luck. Uh.

0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:15.879
<v Speaker 1>This comes from Chris from Australia. I listen to your

0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.440
<v Speaker 1>podcasts all the time. I'm sure it's a clinical addiction.

0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.000
<v Speaker 1>And I thought you needed to know about cow pat latto.

0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:24.760
<v Speaker 1>You know what a cow pad is. It's poop, yeah,

0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.760
<v Speaker 1>cow pie, cow poop. Cow pat latto is recognized but

0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:32.720
<v Speaker 1>certainly not common event in rural Australia where a paddock

0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:35.400
<v Speaker 1>is plotted into sections. I don't know what you would

0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:37.600
<v Speaker 1>call it. I don't know, an area of land. Maybe

0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:39.760
<v Speaker 1>you call it a paddock. That's what he says. That's

0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:42.680
<v Speaker 1>what I've always called So they split it into sections.

0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:46.840
<v Speaker 1>That's all done on paper like a Cartesian coordinate. Gamblers

0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.280
<v Speaker 1>will bet their money on a particular portion of said paddock.

0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:51.359
<v Speaker 1>When it's decided that it's time to get on with

0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:55.080
<v Speaker 1>the game, a farm animal, traditionally bovine you know what's coming,

0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:58.320
<v Speaker 1>is thrown in the paddock gamblers and other locals and

0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:02.119
<v Speaker 1>sit around, eating and drinking and generally making merry and

0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:06.120
<v Speaker 1>wait for said bovine to take a crap. So when

0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:10.960
<v Speaker 1>the aforementioned cow has uh taking his poopoo, its coordinates

0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:14.440
<v Speaker 1>are taken and the winner is whoever's plot the poopoo

0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:18.880
<v Speaker 1>has landed in. Obviously, prizes I don't know, maybe the money.

0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:22.680
<v Speaker 1>Maybe they wait for a second and third prize, although

0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:27.040
<v Speaker 1>this would indicate an unhealthy cow. It keeps going, and

0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:29.240
<v Speaker 1>maybe they get a turkey or a meat tray, or

0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:32.480
<v Speaker 1>a slab of beer or something where I get confused. Wait,

0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:35.320
<v Speaker 1>a slab of beer is that a case? I don't know.

0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:39.760
<v Speaker 1>Maybe it's Australian for cakes right. Anyway, it's generally used

0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:41.800
<v Speaker 1>as a fundraiser, like a local raffle, so it's like

0:21:41.840 --> 0:21:44.240
<v Speaker 1>a fundraising thing. And then she said there's like ladies

0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:46.840
<v Speaker 1>having baked sales and the guys are all sitting around

0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:51.879
<v Speaker 1>getting hammered. Basically, generally it's a great excuse for us

0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:55.720
<v Speaker 1>suck more And that is an Australian synonym for a

0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:58.920
<v Speaker 1>shin dig, a hoot nanny, a party, or a booze up.

0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:01.560
<v Speaker 1>They call it a suck more Okay, so that's from

0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:06.800
<v Speaker 1>Chris Australia red Hair. Nice. Thanks Chris. So now we

0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:10.720
<v Speaker 1>know about desertification and suck mors. Yes, if you have

0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:14.919
<v Speaker 1>an interesting term you wanna introduce chucking eye too, chucking

0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:17.919
<v Speaker 1>me to one of those two? Uh? Send it in

0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:27.360
<v Speaker 1>an email to stuff podcast at how stuff works dot com.

0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:29.840
<v Speaker 1>For more on this and thousands of other topics, is

0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:33.320
<v Speaker 1>it how stuff works dot com. Want more how stuff works,

0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:35.800
<v Speaker 1>check out our blogs on the house. Stuff works dot

0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:41.040
<v Speaker 1>Com home page. Brought to you by the reinvented two

0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:43.600
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