Each of us has a very simple idea, that is, we all hope that our living environment can be better, so most of us will be willing to do some environmental protection actions within our capacity , such as using environmentally friendly canvas bags, cycling, and planting trees and many more.

When planting trees, we may all have thought that maybe one day, with our joint efforts, we can plant trees in all deserts and turn deserts all over the world into forests . This is a beautiful wish, but if we think about it, if this wish can be realized, the result may not be as beautiful as we thought .

desert to forest

If all deserts were turned into forests

Everyone knows that plants are organisms that consume carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, and then exhale oxygen . By photolyzing water, they transform organic matter. In theory, all organic matter in the world is created by plants. Our food They are also constructed from these organic matter , so it is not an exaggeration to regard plants as the source of life .

However, in our Chinese culture, there is a central idea, that is - too much is too late . Not enough plants can lead to environmental degradation, but what about too many plants ? Scientists said: the price is so high that humans may not be able to bear it .

Tropical rainforest - a green world

• Ferns rule the continents

To answer this question, we can actually find the answer from history, because there have been times in history when the entire earth was covered with plants.

During the Carboniferous period, the famous marine life landing event just happened. Our ancestors were still some amphibians living on the coast at this time. Their main desire to climb ashore was to catch insects living on the shore. Plants have always developed faster than animals. At this time, plants in the sea have already developed to land, and ferns have evolved .

Ferns

These ferns have few natural enemies , and even insects are flightless at this time, so their rate of reproduction is basically limited only by time. We often see creatures without natural enemies now, that is, the invasion of alien creatures in various places, such as apple snails in Guangdong, scavengers , and Asian carp in the Great Lakes of the United States , all of which survived well in their own territories. But after going to an environment without natural enemies, the number immediately skyrockets and destroys the local ecology .

The scavenger has too many bacteria in his body to be edible

The situation of these ferns was similar at that time. They could grow to tens of meters in height on average, and they mainly reproduced through spores . In particular, there was only one piece of Pangea at that time, and there would be no geographical isolation at all. Soon all the land was covered with plants .

As early as when plants appeared in the form of blue-green algae, they already had photosynthesis, a big killer. It was at the beginning that a large number of blue-green algae decomposed water into oxygen through photosynthesis , and then sunlight converted oxygen into Ozone , the earth's atmosphere is stabilized under the protection of the ozone layer. Otherwise, our current atmosphere would be more like Venus, with only a lot of carbon dioxide .

Waters with blue-green algae crisis

After ferns dominate the continent, they naturally also use photosynthesis to maintain their own lives. The entire continent is now like a super-large air purifier, and all the carbon dioxide in the air is sucked into the plants in one breath. In the body, only oxygen is exhaled , and the carbon element in carbon dioxide is converted into organic matter by plants and becomes nutrients for other plants.

As a matter of course, the oxygen content in the air skyrocketed , the carbon element in the earth's biosphere skyrocketed, and the carbon dioxide became less and less .

• Insect gigantism

The most direct effect of the soaring oxygen content is that the insects grow bigger and bigger. We know that the oxygen content of the atmosphere is only 21% now, but the oxygen content at that time was 35% . The size of an insect is mainly limited by its respiratory system . They do not have lungs to breathe. Instead, they are covered with trachea that can absorb oxygen directly from the air. Therefore, when the oxygen content is low , only smaller insects can survive. Down , larger insects will starve to death, and vice versa .

Carboniferous giant dragonfly

The insects at that time were at least twice as big as they are now. Think about the southern cockroaches, which are bigger than slippers, flying towards them. Can the slippers in our hands kill it? The most famous dragonfly with a body of more than one meter came from this Carboniferous period.

• air accelerant

If only the insects get bigger, the problem will not be too big. After all, human beings are technologically advanced. Although insects cannot be eliminated , there is no problem in resisting them.

But scientists say that the transformation of the world by the increase in oxygen content is comprehensive . The first thing we can think of about oxygen is that it can maintain our lives, and there is another very significant feature- flammability . For example, there are often pictures of oxygen cylinders being ignited and then exploded on TV. The most likely outcome of the increase in oxygen content is frequent fires .

Now frequent forest fire incidents cause worry

Air with a high concentration of oxygen is a very good combustion accelerant . Maybe you just want to light a bonfire, but the forest is lit directly. You just want to cook a meal, but the flame on the gas stove blows your eyebrows. Burned. These scenarios are very likely to occur.

• reverse greenhouse effect

After talking about oxygen, we have to talk about carbon dioxide. Our original intention of planting trees for environmental protection is not to increase the oxygen content in the air, but to reduce the carbon dioxide content , because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas , really carbon dioxide, which makes the earth we live in getting hotter and hotter .

The earth is like a greenhouse. The heat is blocked by carbon dioxide and can not be dissipated at all. As a result, the heat stays on the earth and becomes hotter every year.

However, the Carboniferous climate was just the opposite of the present one. It was getting colder year by year, because carbon dioxide could not be consumed at all, and the greatly reduced carbon dioxide could not keep the heat brought by the sun on the earth . The speed of heat loss exceeded the speed of heat gain. Therefore , the temperature drops year by year . Finally, a super-large ice age was formed .

Ice Age

It was also this ice age that led to the extinction of animals and plants in the Carboniferous period. The plants that dominated the land were buried and turned into the coal we dug out now. And more plants are buried below the surface with a lot of carbon .

Do we still need to green the desert now?

From the Carboniferous history mentioned above, we can know that when the number of plants on the earth exceeds a certain limit, human beings may not be able to bear the price that needs to be paid . But please remember the essence of our Chinese culture - too much is too much, so as long as we don't exceed the limit, it will be fine.

Therefore, we are also working hard to transform the desert at this moment, planting plants on the desert, and using the roots of the plants to stabilize the wind and sand , so as to achieve the effect of water storage. As long as the water is stored, the desert will naturally cease to exist.

Plant roots are deeply rooted in the soil

At present, our country has always been the one that has done the best in greening the desert. From the satellite map, we can see that the desert in our country is slowly turning green.

Although it is not advisable to directly turn the entire desert into a forest , we still need to work hard to transform most deserts into oases. Because our current world is in the midst of the greenhouse effect, our task at this time is to plant a variety of plants within a reasonable range to slow down the growth rate of carbon dioxide.

To be precise, when we can make the number of plants just enough to convert excess carbon dioxide , then the earth's environment can become very suitable for us to live in, and we don't need to worry about the daily increase in temperature.

Universal greening rate is still important

But the current situation is that human beings' ability to transform nature is actually very limited. Even if we want to achieve that level, we will not be able to achieve this effect for a while. Our planting and greening actions at this moment can achieve the effect It should only slow down the intensification of the greenhouse effect a little bit.

In addition to slowing down the greenhouse effect, planting greenery in the desert can also prevent sandstorms, prevent desertification, and increase arable land. Therefore, it is necessary and worthwhile to plant trees now.

how do we plant trees in the desert

So now, should we each carry a small sapling and run into the desert at once, use a shovel to dig a hole in the sand, and then put the sapling down to complete the planting?

As long as you think about it, you will know that it will definitely not be possible to successfully grow the saplings. The greening of the desert is a very troublesome thing. Many scientists are studying how to plant plants in the desert more efficiently .

Now one of the most commonly used methods in our country is to use dry grass to divide sand grids in the desert , use the sand grids to fix the sand and water , and then plant drought-resistant shrubs such as Haloxylon, salix , etc. These shrubs There are usually very developed root systems, and then the roots of the surviving shrubs are used to further fix the desert water and soil.

"Grass Square" is called "Chinese Rubik's Cube" by foreign countries

After this set of combined punches, the desert that was originally only sand has been transformed into a land where grass can survive. Even the countries thought first that the people should not be allowed to work for nothing, and developed a method that can also obtain benefits in sand prevention and forest consolidation. The state allows everyone to contract desert control , and provides everyone with medicinal plant saplings and corresponding planting techniques. The economic crops planted belong to the people .

For example, the rhododendron that grows from the roots of the Haloxylon tree has high medicinal value . Everyone can transform their own homes and benefit from it. This kind of best of both worlds has greatly improved the enthusiasm of the people.