Got to save the deserts sand from Grass??

Environmentalism is just that! Mental!
In Japan the gov't is trying to save a desert from grass growing on it. Humans will take up just about any ridiculous cause.
Please donate money so we can save the desert. We will pay locals to uproot the grass by hand and save the sand.
All I can say is WTF!?
www.nytimes.com...

Deserts are home to a huge amount of species, to loose the desert would be to loose a whole eco-system, its really that simple.

uh, i guess we're responsible for grass growing on deserts, too?

[edit on 27-8-2006 by Long Lance]

Originally posted by Long Lance
uh, i guess we're responsible for grass growing on deserts, too?

[edit on 27-8-2006 by Long Lance]

It's not everyones fault -- just George Bush's.

The libs and media blame him for everything from teenage acne to the Floyd Landis doping scandal. Might as well blame this on him too.

Originally posted by BattleofBatoche
Environmentalism is just that! Mental!
In Japan the gov't is trying to save a desert from grass growing on it. Humans will take up just about any ridiculous cause.
Please donate money so we can save the desert. We will pay locals to uproot the grass by hand and save the sand.
All I can say is WTF!?
www.nytimes.com...

Surely this is just the natural progression of the planet,I say let the grass grow

Originally posted by BattleofBatoche
Environmentalism is just that! Mental!
In Japan the gov't is trying to save a desert from grass growing on it. Humans will take up just about any ridiculous cause.

If it makes you feel any better look at it like this: We don't know what economic value we can extract from that particular desert. It may have species (or variations on existing species) who possess traits we will find very valuable soon. If that patch of sand is taken over by grass, we will never be able to extract the potential value from it.

I could give you a silly analogy if you want, but it comes down to the simple fact that we've found compounds in extreme environments that have proven useful and, more importantly, economically profitable, so we want to make sure we're not throwing something away. If we can give a crappy job to some people who need the extra cash while we determine if there's anything useful in that sandbox...well, they'll probably just turn around and spend that money on things we're selling anyway.

(We being used in a generic "people involved with the economy" sort of way)

Rest assured, though, if it's shown to be a run-of-the-mill sandpit, we'll let the grass take over.