Could the sci-fi classic Dune offer solutions to climate change and desertification?
Herbert establishes very early in his book that Arrakis is a desert planet where water is as scarce as precious metals are here on Earth.
Herbert details the ecology of Arrakis through the story of Dr. Pardot Kynes - the Imperial Planetologist and father of Dr. Liet Kynes - who initiated the plan to transform Arrakis from a desert planet to a lush and green one. As Herbert wrote, it all began when Kynes enlisted the Fremen and began arming them with"ecological literacy."As Herbert explained it, ecological literacy is a fundamental understanding of living environments.
Specifically, between the +70° and -70° lines , temperatures were consistently"desert-like," ranging from freezing nighttime temperatures of -2.5°F to daytime highs of 138°F . This allowed for"long growing seasons" where temperatures ranged from 51.5 to 84°F and are ideal for terraforming. The sandworms then created patches of"pre-spice mass," which consisted of water saturated with the precursor to spice. As the mass evolved, the chemical reactions taking place inside would lead to an explosion . As Herbert described it:
"The thing the ecologically illiterate don't realize about an ecosystem, is that it's a system. A system! A system maintains a certain fluid stability that can be destroyed by a misstep in just one niche. A system has order, a flowing from point to point. If something dams that flow, order collapses. The untrained might miss that collapse until it was too late. That's why the highest function of ecology is the understanding of consequences.
"With the downwind face anchored, the windward face grew higher and higher and the grass was moved to keep pace. Giant sifs of more than 1,500 meters [in] height were produced this way. When barrier dunes reached sufficient height, the windward faces were planted with tougher sword grasses. Each structure on a base about six times as thick as its height was anchored—'fixed.'"
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