The global program and project organization MethanStorage.org was launched by Greening Deserts founder in the summer. The potential danger of exceeding tipping points as well as possible and innovative solutions to reduce methane emissions in relation with permafrost problems and forest fires were recognized in time. In the run-up the WetForest project for wetlands was founded, including the sub-project MoorForest, which aims to establish more wet forests and forested peatlands, marshlands or moorlands that could significantly reduce global methane emissions from wetlands. This is because shading grasses, shrubs and trees in wetlands keeps them cooler and cools them noticeably during droughts or heat waves. Logically, this reduces methane emissions, and climate-resilient plants and drought-tolerant trees also help protect wetlands as global warming increases. The plants in wetlands are usually better adapted to extreme weather events anyway. It would be great if German as well as European experts for wetlands, peatlands and marshlands join our projects like SwampForest or MoorForest.org.
More wildfires or fires in rainforests and southern wetlands are releasing a lot of carbon and methane, can make forests and wetlands sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Arctic areas are warming 3 to 4 times faster than the global average, further accelerating and increasing natural emissions. Warmer northern areas such as Siberia and the aftermath of the war in Ukraine have significantly increased global methane emissions. One should also not underestimate the share of the military complex and the defense industry, as this is much related to the fossil energy industry, especially the gas, coal and steel industries. The concrete industry and construction industry are left out here, otherwise this would go beyond the scope of the article. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) from all man-made sources have a cumulative effect on the climate and should be reduced fast as possible. It is not just the emissions problem by carbon, methane,.. – there are much more factors for warming of dark surfaces, cities and landscapes. Just think about all the black, brown and grey structures or surfaces who increased in nature and human world. Another important factor is the higher proportion of water vapor in the atmosphere which is responsible for over a half of the global greenhouse effect.
A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture—about 7 percent more per 1.8°F (1°C) of warming—and scientists have already observed a significant increase in atmospheric moisture due to the air’s ability to hold more moisture as it warms. Storms supplied by climate change with increasing moisture are widely observed to produce heavier rain and snow. Research indicates that the increase in atmospheric moisture is primarily due to human-caused increases in greenhouse gases. – Climate Signals
Since the late 1800s, global average surface temperatures have increased by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius). Water vapor is not the main driver of global warming, but increased water vapor in the atmosphere amplifies the warming caused by other greenhouse gases. – NASA Climate
The emissions and pollution by fossil fuels, renewables and certain industries must be significantly reduced to reduce global warming. To stop climate changes is nonsense, because climate always changes. The damaging effects can be prevented or reduced by better Climate Adaptation, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), resilient ecosystems and cities or urban areas. Energy efficiency and more reduction of greenhouse gases from the biggest polluter such as the energy sector should be also a main focus. Only together with all nations, human and natural solutions for greenhouse gas reduction, we the humanity can maybe stop global warming and help nature to accelerate the worldwide regeneration and regreening process. To support nature and humanity in this process, Greening Deserts has launched the global greening movement, projects and organizations like the Trillion Trees Initiative – now also called Global Greening Initiative. Indigenous peoples and biodiversity hotspots should be given special protection and support.
Many people wonder why there has been such a rapid increase in methane in the atmosphere in recent years. The answer is relatively simple, it is the considerable emissions due to the increase of man-made emissions and factors, especially due to “bridge technologies” like gas power plants and increasing gas production and consumption. Plus rising emissions from agriculture and the coal industry, with particularly large amounts of methane released from coal mining areas, gas and oil pipelines. Plus large methane emissions from increased forest fires and thawed permafrost, as well as methane emissions from worldwide wetlands and Northern Hemisphere lakes. Particularly large amounts of methane have been released from warming wetlands in Africa, Europe, North and South America. One should not forget Russia and Asia, of course, as well as Australia and many of the intense forest fires that have released incredible amounts of methane. All of this has also triggered or passed a couple of tipping points. The Arctic is warming many times faster as the rest of the world, so parts of the ocean with methane deposits are warming faster than thought. Methane concentrations in rivers, oceans, and lakes are increasing due to global warming, warmer rains, and warmed waters. This is also a reason for increased methane emissions from wetlands, especially in the taiga and tundra. Forests and wetlands can store a lot of carbon, but they can also release a lot of methane. During extreme climate and weather events, they can even become a major source of greenhouse gases.
It is logical that wetlands without trees warm up faster than moist forests that cast shade. This is also a reason why wetlands release more methane. Forest ecosystems suffer from droughts or extreme drought, store carbon poorly, and may even release more methane – especially from forest fires and dried out or destroyed soils. There are some large-scale solutions such as wetland forests, methane-eating bacteria, and aquatic plants that could reduce or even stop emissions. Mechanical solutions such as capping the lake bottom with an additional layer of clay or similar material from the region! Small lakes can be filled in. Trees can cool the area by many degrees, even in urban areas, this has been known for years! Sad that many officials and responsible people of EU and UN have ignored the projects for many years. To date, not a single project has received any active or financial support. The human future and many species are in real danger if they continue to be ignored, especially the important CESRPP program and Greening Deserts developments and projects for ecosystem restoration, global biodiversity conservation, reforestation and regreening. There is really not much time left, as extreme developments and events related to rising emissions and global warming have left humanity with even less time than before. If Greening Deserts main projects and the Species Rescue Program do not finally receive support, next year may already be too late. In the worst case, most people and species will not survive – also because those responsible ignored the urgent projects and did not act in time. It is just crazy how many billions they spent for destruction, pollution and war, but not a single cent in the most important projects for humanity.
In order to establish and protect forests in peatlands and wetlands, we need support as quickly as possible, because in just a few years this will no longer be possible in some regions where tree planting is planned, e.g. in southern Europe and North Africa. The new program for global methane reduction MethaneStorageOrg should be supported as soon as possible so that millions of moor or swamp trees can be planted. Natural or typical organisms like bacteria, fungi and water plants can be used which are useful for the wetlands, especially those which can bind and convert methane! Greening Camps can be quickly deployed as mobile storage facilities with containerized systems. Pre-germinated tree seeds and cultivated plants could then be effectively deployed in appropriate regions. For larger areas such as northern Canada and Europe, balloons and airplanes can be used for seeding. For years, Greening Deserts has been recommending the use of seeding balloons which, like drones, can also sow plant seeds autonomously and automatically! These are much more effective and cheaper than expensive drones, in addition they need much less energy, since one can use solar balloons or zepellins. The global greening and reforestation projects will be supported by Greening Camps developments and further connected projects. Greening Deserts projects and initiatives like TrillionTrees.in will improve or support exchange with international organizations, institutions, nations and local people of each region were ecosystem restoration, reforestation or regreening camps start to operate. Another great news is that the Trillion Trees Initiative has now a second name and will be continued also under this title. The Global Greening Initiative, community network and organization for worldwide greening and regreening.
Since the climate conference in Glasgow and with the latest UN climate conference in Egypt COP27, it is finally more about the methane emissions caused by humans and direct influences of the economy or certain industries. Thanks to new monitoring programs and satellites, many of the methane emissions from global industries, such as agriculture and fossil fuels, can now be better tracked. The gas and coal industries, as well as agriculture, account for a very large share of global methane emissions. With many more people and nations now concerned about these factors and the role of direct man-made part to global methane emissions, the Methane Storage Organization program for methane storage and greenhouse gas reduction is now focusing on the planet’s natural and largest sources of methane. It is important to help animals, humans, plants and all other life forms to adapt better on climate changes and to survive the more extreme weather events in future. Supporting nature with ecosystem restoration and nature-near conservation so far as possible and establishing more resilient ecosystems is the best way.
For years, Greening Deserts has been researching not only drylands and arid ecosystems, but also wetlands such as floodplains, bogs, wet forests, lake and river landscapes. Long-term studies of marsh trees and wetland plants have been conducted, including photography in wetlands of Europe like in Germany, Poland and Lithuania. Swamps and bog forests were documented for more than 20 years. More details and results will be also published with the German projects and project developments such as Eichenwald.org, FeuchtWald and MoorWald in the future. The international platform will then be accessible under MoorForest and WetForest.org. For years we have been recommending the reforestation or regreening and expansion of peatlands or moorlands, which can store more carbon than all other ecosystems. In order to further reduction of greenhouse gases like carbon CO2 and methane CH4 emissions, trees should be planted, at least where methane emissions are very high or increasing due to warming. Swamp or marsh trees such as swamp oak and bald cypress grow relatively quickly. Together with organisms such as bacteria and fungi they regulate natural processes, stabilize water or wet soils – in some cases they even bind and convert methane. Some international studies and research showing that it is possible to prevent and reduce natural methane emissions. Sad that so many ignoring all these facts and scientific work which was published on Greening Deserts projects and social pages. Some officials and even corrupt politicians even harmed the founder and work several times during many years, not just by ignorance or ignoring the projects!
Greening Deserts started also projects for faster regreening and reforestation with pioneer plants and special trees in barren landscapes, mining areas and wastelands. Read more in articles and concepts like Hemp cultivation in open-cast mines for sustainable soil improvement and organic farming with hemp. Agrarhanf.com and HempPellets.org can support a more ecological forestry and sustainable agriculture. It can reduce global deforestation, land or soil degradation and biodiversity loss. Hemp can improve climate, soils and water balance, it is good for animal and soil health. Global hemp cultivation and resulting effects can reduce worldwide carbon and methane emissions.
Certain authorities, different parties and politicians ignored all requests, also some cities did not take the e-mails and urgent letters seriously. Strange was the blockade and even harmful interference with the life and work of the founder by Leipzig officials, authorities and state representatives of Saxony! We found many corrupt connections and relations of officials and politicians involved in dubious operations related to the coal and lignite industry. Since protests and publications because of the lignite and pollution problems in Saxony, Germany and Europe endless of dubious actions against Greening Deserts founder and work was documented. Reaching from discrimination, oppression and other questionable measures. Since many years life on the poverty line, months without electricity and sometimes with so less money that it was a risk to health, ethics, fundamental and human rights. But never gave up and continued work under these extreme conditions. It is sad story of course and unbelievable how ignorant and inhumane some people are, even officials who should care about ethical, moral and basic principles like Human Rights laws. Hope there will be or come justice one time. They have often tried to wear down and destroy Greening Deserts founders, not only by ignoring them or by questionable actions. In the end they destroy themselves, unfortunately they have destroyed many people and life forms. Many could not be helped and more will die if they continue to ignore and not support the projects and founders.many more will die if they continue to ignore and not support the projects and founder. We climate and species protectors, conservationists and environmentalists, as well as human rights activists and defenders will never forget this and remind all each year.
Back to the main topics like the global climate emergency projects and programs like ClimateEmergency Europe Klimanotstand.EU. We researchers and scientists are recommending that international disaster response teams, nations, and UN agencies use data on climate change impacts, models, and environmental impacts of tipping points such as thawing permafrost to reduce disaster risk. At least some researchers and scientists with ties to international institutions have taken the work and projects somewhat seriously. Already in 2016 we wanted to establish first greening camps for re-vegetation and reforestation in Germany to establish more biodiversity, biotopes and wet forests in open cast mining areas like in Europe and our home country in Germany or Saxony.
A few more contributions from Greening Deserts project and social pages
The demand for more peatlands or wetlands and the strategy of some organizations in Europe and Germany comes with high risks if rewetting of peatlands or new wetlands is not properly implemented things can become more worse as before. If the climate or weather does not play along and extreme weather events, forest fires, natural and human factors are underestimated these carbon sinks can turn into sources of more CO2 and CH4. The methane problem in wetlands and peatlands cannot be ignored, as unfortunately so many have been doing for years. Emissions from drained peat bogs and from peat cutting are also not negligible. Similarly, the euphoric or unrealistic actions and trends for hydrogen. Methane is highly explosive and with the increased fire hazards, heated wetlands and peatlands can ignite more quickly, especially if they are no longer well flooded or watered. One should take the large moor and forest fires in the taiga and tundra in Siberia as a cautionary example.
In Germany there have also been many moorland fires, of particular interest being the large moor fire near the town of Meppen on the grounds of the German armed forces in Lower Saxony. This scandal has not been properly clarified to this day and those responsible have pulled out of the affair, including the current President of the European Commission. She was in fact the responsible minister, the Minister of Defense and the Bundeswehr have not made good the damage to this day. The German Armed Forces could have been deployed years ago for the protection and expansion of moorlands, as well as for reforestation throughout Germany. However, it was rather praised heroic missions and ‘fights’ of the soldiers against the bark beetle, very questionable why one has not planted more new trees there in the same course? In Germany, after all the forest dieback and forest loss due to droughts, pests and forest fires, reforestation do not keep up. Too little tree breeding and planting activities in winter, lack of seeds and tree species does not noticeably increase biodiversity and significantly reduces the reforestation rate. Germany loses more trees than new ones are added.
We have nothing against the Bundeswehr, charitable and social missions. But if such actions are thwarted by various problems and scandals of responsible politicians, one does not need to wonder about the balances, consequences and results. The climate balance of the military in general is another important story. See more on Greening Deserts project pages such as the Trillion Trees Initiative for Europe and the European Forest Health.
Wetland drainage and increased evaporation from droughts, heat waves and warmer years have contributed significantly to the annual increase in emissions – whether carbon CO2, methane CH4 or nitrous oxide N2O. “As much carbon is stored in Germany’s peatlands as in forests, even though peatlands make up only about five percent of the land area and forests about 30 percent; When the water level is lowered by water drainage systems (drains), air enters the peatland body and bacteria and other soil dwellers begin to break down the plant material (mineralization). Large amounts of carbon are then released into the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is also emitted, which is 265 times more harmful to the climate than CO2. Drained peatlands thus become a source of greenhouse gases and contribute significantly to climate change.” – Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN)
We all have no time for bureaucratic or political theater; the clock is ticking. If we don’t act now and establish and implement national reforestation plans for wet forests and wetlands, it will be too late in just 10 years
Serious scientists estimate that global warming will be 5 to 8°C in the next 20 years due to rising methane emissions and triggered tipping points. Special wetland plants, grasses, shrubs and trees can cool these areas. Bog or swamp trees are the key to holding and storing carbon and methane for the long term! NASA has discovered many methane hotspots, these should be regions to focus on reducing methane emissions through cooling, capture or storage with natural and engineered solutions. More info on Greening Deserts project pages and social sites. Check also GlobalGreening.org, MethaneStorage.org, TrillionTrees.eu and TrillionTreesInitiative.org for more updates in future.
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Short summaries, further information and important details:
Stakeholders and the United Nations should finally help us establish climate adaptation, ecosystem restoration and greening camps in the Nordic regions with the largest methane emissions. There we can plant millions of marsh plants and trees with germinated seeds that are then sown using seed balloons and airplanes. If the seeds need some ground cover, we can use seedballs.
Establishing peatland and tundra forests as quickly as possible using seed planes and seeding balloons could reduce global carbon and methane releases in the tundra and thawing permafrost regions with the highest emissions.
Further sustainable products with big potential for agriculture, building and packaging are hemp feed pellets, hempcrete and hemp plastics. Hemp is one of the Greening Camp’s key plants to improve soils, reforest and regreen drylands, barren lands and wastelands.
Greening Deserts and the Trillion Trees Initiative have begun developing major projects for these large-scale carbon reduction and methane storage programs. They are called #MethaneStorage, #MoorForest and #TundraForest – the latter for permafrost regions.
Greening Deserts started new sustainable projects for ecological agriculture and forestry. One is called #Agrarhanf.de, a German project for industrial hemp who can improve biodiversity, animal and soil health – and reduce global deforestation, carbon and methane emissions! #agroforestry #ecofarming #ecoforestry #feedpellets #hempfeed #hemppellets
Giving cows industrial hemp can reduce their stress levels and improve general health. Hemp could replace corn, soy and other polluting crops – saving forests, soils and rainforests! Like seaweed it can reduce cow methane emissions!
People forget that the 1.5°C goal and story is very imprecise, partly in a regional or global context. There are regions, land and sea areas which are already above 2.0°C! Some heat islands and cities have even already exceeded 4.0 degrees! #DRR #HeatIsland #HeatWave #UrbanHeat #UrbanGreening
Some years ago Greening Deserts started several projects for regreening and reforestation in North Africa and South Europe. The goal is to establish green spots and forests who will grow together in future. #DesertGreening #DRR #GreeningAfrica #UrbanGreening #GlobalGreening.org
The Global Greening project organization and Trillion Trees Initiative accelerates and supports the natural greening process by establishing more biodiversity and expanding healthy ecosystems. More plants and tree species can improve forests, soils and waters. GlobalGreening.org
The Trillion Trees Initiative get’s a second name and will be transformed into a foundation in 2023. It’s called Global Greening Initiative and will focus on most innovative reforestation or regreening solutions. #GGI #GlobalGreening.org #TrillionTrees.Foundation
The MethaneStorage program should be initiated and supported immediately to reduce the future impacts of thawing permafrost with high methane emissions. In as little as two years, the spread of these plants, fungi, and bacteria can significantly reduce methane releases by stabilizing the soil and water cycles.
Together with cities and nations of the world we can establish biodiversity conservation, urban greening and vertical farming – especially in regions who are affected by extreme climate and weather events. Help us to establish global Greening Camps worldwide! GreeningCamp.com
Urban Greening Camps and vertical farming facilities can also help to accelerate the tree and plant production for wetlands, cities and urban areas.
The article was published in November 2022 by Greening Deserts founder Oliver Gediminas Caplikas on many different networks and platforms. You can download the publication as PDF here.
Since March, there have been indications of significant climate changes, such as shifts in the annual air currents in spring, more drought and too few longer periods of rain. Increased human activities related to the pandemic, such as more heating from traffic, business and tourism, will make the already far too warm season even warmer. In addition there are heating factors since the beginning of the war in Europe, because the fossil industry, coal and armament industry has also a certain part in the global warming! Several streams in atmosphere and oceans are disturbed because of the extreme events during the last years, much has to do also with the huge amount of forest fires and global overactivity of the economy. Many companies produced more as normal, maybe because of compensating the loses during the high of the pandemic. Others pushed fossils likes coal, gas, oil and wood production after the war in Ukraine started. Typical human panic who made many things much more worse, similar like other hasty actions. More global warming, armaments or rearmament rising risks of conflicts and wars of course. Special solar activities are also scientifically interesting when it comes to climate changes, especially in the northern hemisphere. The article is also a kind of urgent letter and reminder to the responsible persons in politics, economy and science! For more details, graphs and information just contact via eMail or visit the official sites like Windfinder. For historical documentation and scientific purposes a few graphics and single screenshots of the last weeks with climate examples and weather data are attached, so you can clearly see the extreme weather events and phenomena. The vortex over the North Sea and the shifted air currents from the north block the air masses and winds from the Atlantic and the North Sea. Large humid air masses can be seen as not moving over Europe. This is or was the main problem for the first dry phase in spring and April as well as the current drought, heat wave and drought – especially in Southern Europe and North Africa. You can download the latest PDF draft here.
For affected regions various soil and water samples were collected, during dry periods one can see more exact and relatively unadulterated values – particularly in relation to river and lake water which is not falsified by influences as well as inflows from the agriculture or edge areas at the waters. After we have analyzed water samples from water bodies in the region of Leipzig and Saxony, one can see very well the water quality as well as overall conditions of the water bodies. It has been noticed that the water levels have dropped sharply, this is not only due to the lack of rain upstream and in the mountains. Reasons are lack of meltwater, strong winds and increased water uptake by vegetation after the very warm April. In early May, many established plants have shown very strong growth. Logical is also the increased groundwater consumption of trees, parks and forests which naturally draw more water from the groundwater without rain.
Deforestation and lawn mowing should be significantly reduced or even banned in times of drought and minor dry spells. As you could already see in 2018, many people and municipalities mow the meadows and lawns like crazy although they clearly see that it is much too dry. Mowing weakens the grasses or plants and also disturbs plant growth in the surrounding area. After mowing the last residual moisture of the injured plants evaporates, the soil then dries out rapidly and becomes hard as stone. Soil water in deeper layers continues to decrease and the soil hardens even in deeper areas. This is fatal because during heavy rains water can penetrate poorly often flows off over large areas. Flooding and landslides then occur. Such damaged soils then often need many years to soften again and to be loosened by appropriate planting and techniques also in the depth. In urban regions and inner cities, extreme weather conditions have even worse effects on soils, air and water quality.
Disturbed water cycles in the city can have dire consequences, and the risk of fire should not be underestimated either; the danger of field fires increases especially in the vicinity of fields and very dry meadows on the outskirts of the city. So it is not only forest fires and increased levels of forest fire risk that are dangerous. So why aren’t there appropriate field fire or urban fire warning levels during periods of extreme heat or drought? Greening Deserts also recommends that all households have an emergency supply of water, such as two canisters, so that in the event of an emergency, firefighting water is immediately available, because a fire is a matter of seconds or a few minutes. In addition, such water reservoirs on the floor or roof can reduce fire risks, because in an emergency also times lines or electricity fail and it is then missing the water supply on higher floors! See the big fire in London, especially with the flat roofs and new buildings, water reservoirs could be set up so easily on the roofs – similar to the silos, gardens and even small parks on high-rise buildings in New York. These not only cool the buildings and city, they increase biodiversity and improve air quality and health.
Unfortunately, the topics are communicated too little and the population is warned by official bodies far too little about risks such as fire danger in cities and peripheral areas, not properly informed about heating-up or concrete heat effects as well as precautionary measures! Especially the possibilities of fast, long-term and sustainable cooling with greening techniques, greentech and cleantech are not taken seriously enough in this respect. Often it is the typical tips and suggestions or lately the hypes around solar on the roof without the greening or also times facade solar into the hype or topic to include. Especially if it is already a topic, these two important fields would fit very well to the topic. This shows again the superficiality of certain institutions and politicians. It is definitely not a professional way, no matter which experts are or were involved. Also missing are health advises and warnings with regard to imminent droughts, heat and drought periods which have demonstrably claimed many lives over the years – unfortunately also due to a lack of education and warnings to the population. Authorities and unfortunately also certain institutions or institutes forget with the topic drought and heat waves the topic dry stress and increased fine dust level, because logically the air quality sinks with high dryness and fine dust of the country as well as traffic becomes thereby still more unhealthy.
General tips like cooling down with wet towels and drinking a lot of water are well meant, but are far from being enough for a really good or professional disaster protection or disaster preparedness. For years, Greening Deserts has been educating people about these problems and has also offered very good as well as innovative solutions. Unfortunately this has been ignored until today by responsible persons of the country, certain municipalities and cities in Germany, especially in the Leipzig region in Saxony where the Urban Greening Camp is located. There are several useful articles and extra press releases, especially about the extreme weather conditions, drought, dryness, heat waves and floods in East Germany. Also as already described adequate and good advice for better risk mitigation, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and good climate risk management. Unfortunately, to date, one does not hear or see serious changes in certain essential areas, especially in the areas of soil conservation and soil protection in dry seasons. Not only the forestry sector and in tree plantations, parks and parts of agriculture should establish better water management and DRR.
Logging and lawn mowing should be banned in extreme drought and heat periods! In the end, everyone should understand and see how pointless all the mowing and damage is. Who wants concrete hard, yellow and brown green areas in the city. This not only affects heating and mental health, it prevents future water storage and cooling effects! This then often creates even more extreme conditions and so-called heat islands which can produce in cities up to 4 degrees on average and in extreme cases even around 10 degrees higher temperatures than the average. As a result, many people die, especially those who are already burdened, old or sick. The communities, governments and particularly affected regions must finally take more responsibility in these contexts and act as quickly as possible. This does not only belong to a professional disaster control but to appropriate prevention and precaution – in addition it promotes somewhat the cause solution instead of the constant symptom fight which we see in so many ranges for years. After all, what good are somewhat improved plans and sporadic political will if action is not really taken correctly, consistently and in the long term or over time.
Read more about all these really important issues, problems, causes and truly sustainable solutions on Greening Deserts project pages as well as social pages.
http://greeningdeserts.com/projects, http://desertforest.org, http://globalgreening.org, http://montanteforest.org, http://wetforest.org
A few more important notes and advice for better prevention as well as Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) follow. Several EU and WHO officials have been informed several times since the last months through various channels about most of the issues in this article and with other articles as well as letters.
It is recommended to take droughts or even minor drought periods as seriously as heat waves! Disaster prevention and preparedness should include health as well as environmental factors. So not only health problems related to circulation and heat stress as usual, but also drought stress in combination with increased particulate matter pollution and air pollution in particularly affected regions. With extreme dryness and strong winds, even fine dust from the land, hazardous substances or toxins from agriculture can reach urban regions! Further toxins, exhaust gases and allergens for example by certain invasive grasses and smallest pollen can bring mixed life-threatening air even into relatively well protected areas, e.g. hospitals. Thus, for sick and weak people, extreme drought and drought stress can mean death similar to that caused by heat waves. One can educate more about this through appropriate official programs, precautionary actions and warnings – yes, even in certain news media and on the radio, and warn the population in time in case of prolonged dry periods. The interrelationships and seriousness have been underestimated for years, as some of the issues seemed to be settled with the heat problem. Still a well-meant advice to the analytical report and logical experience communication, one could recommend masks in strongly affected regions where eh already bad air is, approximately in city centers with bad air circulation or ventilation, like e.g. in Stuttgart which in a depression lies and no correct fresh air channels has We hope for soon insight of the policy and responsible persons, not only in large cities and urban regions, also in smaller municipalities or small cities more for a lasting greening and cooling can be done. A few more water areas or water features are also not wrong. People care about, save rainwater, fresh water or drinking water for worst case scenarios. It seems like we have a creeping or silent drought in Europe. We scientists hope the best and that it will be not a too hot summer.
By the way, the graphics or photos and PDFs may be used, shared and copied! More pictures will follow, as well as an extra gallery and exhibition. We are looking forward to the new partners from Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America!
Update May: Some more important information and updates. Greening Deserts Climate Emergency calls, urgent letters and reminders to EU and Germany are still not answered – some even ignored or refused letters by marking it as ‘Not read’, this ignorance is unbelievable. It are very serious issues in relation health, mental health, Children’s and Human Rights. Extreme weather events like the described droughts and too long dry periods affect not just mental health and environmental health, it’s a very serious issue to European food and water security!Â
Prolonged drought, declining soil moisture, falling groundwater and water levels (especially of rivers) are serious risks and threats to life. Regions at risk should be better prepared. The authorities can reduce risks and worsening of situations by several in affected regions in time and better inform the public! adequate measures and preparation, especially with involvement on timely education of the population! Political exploitation, questionable profiling, political games and concealment of important facts endanger not only human lives but also many parts of nature and the environment!
The Green Games Community, Greening Deserts and Trillion Trees Initiative shows solidarity for Ukraine and supports the ongoing peace process. Read more on the social pages of Green Change Games social projects and @GreeningDeserts project account. Twitter blocked Greening Deserts project since late February until end of March and later again in April. We are calling international communities and society for help. #CulturalRights #FreeSpeech #FreedomRights #HumanRights #PeaceBuilding
You can download a simple overview of all tweets and retweets of Greening Deserts project account on Twitter! If the account won’t be restored this year we can mirror the complete work for scientific purposes on several networks and platforms in future. All tweets were downloaded completely and in a short summary like you can see below.
AllMyTweets_Greening_Deserts_on_Twitter_2016-2020-2021-
Greening_Deserts_latest_tweets_and_retweets_on_Twitter_April_2022Â
AllMyTweets_Green_Change_Games_Forests_Peacebuilding_Projects_03_2022
Original Article and Global Climate Emergency Call:
Europe’s and the world’s first vertical farming startup for threatened or endangered tree species as well as important crops or plants develops further concepts for energy and resource-saving species conservation, climate and environmental protection. Botanical gardens, national parks and nature reserves are invited to join the Greening Deserts Species Rescue CES-RPP, Greening Camp and the Trillion Trees Initiative and related projects. The emergency program and projects to save species, restore biodiversity and ecosystems need international support. The goal is to save more than 300 tree species from extinction by 2025 – for example through professional tree breeding, seed storage, distribution and joint tree planting activities. Some international species protection, climate protection, nature conservation and environmental protection organizations have already showed their interest. We are looking forward to new partners in the future to master one of the biggest tasks and challenges of the decade. Reducing species extinction by mitigating its causes and promoting global biodiversity is at the forefront, also in urban regions and cities! With the Urban Greening Camp, the Urban Greening Network for healthier and greener cities was launched – many have followed the good example.
Species extinction, climate change, environmental degradation from monocultures, forestry and agriculture are increasingly evident. Droughts and heat waves have made many impacts and causes clearly visible. The problems with old bad habits or systems such as excessive deforestation, draining, pollution,and destruction by agriculture or monocultures in rainforests or similar ecosystems rich in biodiversity and crops are complex. Yet solutions can be very simple – as explained in these and other articles. New techniques, technologies, products or services are not always necessary, but can of course accelerate and / or improve sustainable developments. Greening Deserts has over the years presented good solutions to many of these world problems – such as really effective developments and sustainable solutions to stop deforestation by monocultures. Diverse concepts for desert greening, tree planting campaigns, urban greening, vertical agriculture and innovative project developments like the Greenhouse Ship show great possibilities and potentials how to combine biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, productive eco-agriculture and eco-forestry. Here are some ideas, methodical and sustainable thinking using the palm oil issue as an example. It are a few excerpts from the concept paper for the palm forest project Palmforest.org.
It is unrealistic to reduce the demand for palm oil on a large scale in the next few years and palm oil boycotts or sanctions can be problematic, especially to solve the main problems or causes, many good solutions have been elaborated. The points are not firmly decided or fixed resolutions, but suggestions and of course can be added to or improved.
The world does not really need more food production, but a better sharing, distribution and preservation of food by cooling, drying, pulverizing and processing of food waste around the expiration date – for example with new infrastructures, logistics and startups for food waste preservation. Also local or regional cabinets and preservation machines or facilities in food retail outlets could be established – similar like Norway’s deposit return scheme for plastic bottles or similar plastic recycling machines! Current food sharing solutions are already quite good, but there is a lack of holistic solutions that solve the global supply chains, logistics or transport systems in connection with food waste preservation and food waste at expiry. The problems or solutions already start with the causes like overproduction, transport over long distances and environmental destruction by intensive agriculture. See, for example, monocultures and livestock or factory farming, as well as the excessive waste of food in supermarkets instead of preserving it, storing it and distributing it to the needy. A suggestion would be cooling and drying machines for perishable goods such as fish, meat, vegetables and fruit to make them durable before expiration. There are old tried-and-true methods for this, such as pulverization, cookies and chips – there are already vegetable chips, so why not make them from food waste. Retail itself, new startups and jobs could benefit from this innovation of direct preservation of “food waste”, just before or after the expiration date. The respective countries or EU and UN could even promote this and regulate it accordingly! It is really time to reduce the global famine of over 800 million people and hundreds of millions of children through better preservation and distribution systems – especially since the world produces food for well over 10 billion people! The suggested lack of food is hypocritical and a big lie. There is enough energy, food and water for everyone worldwide. The artificial limitation, commercialization and denial of these resources in certain countries or regions is systematic and violates ethical, moral and humanitarian principles, rules and laws – such as international Children’s and Human Rights. You can see many of Greening Deserts also as humanitarian projects and social work.
Climate and environmental protection, nature conservation and species protection are also important issues in the climate crisis. The human-induced impacts of climate and environmental change, such as desertification, global warming and other extreme weather events can be reduced through a more balanced climate or weather system. Glaciers, ice sheets and reflective snow layers play an important role in this – as do large grasslands, wetlands and global forests of course. All the trees and forests in urban areas are also important, as is the coastal greening, marine conservation at the coasts – so like the protection of the lakes, rivers, seas, oceans and other waters. The Greening Deserts and the Trillion Trees Initiative, actions, campaigns and projects moved many nations, organizations and people to plant millions or even billions of trees! Some countries have followed the advice and announced that they will plant one or even several billion trees in the next few years. There is evidence of the advice and recommendations that have been sent to various ambassadors, ministers, institutions and organizations. In some cases, it is easy to see that direct action was taken after being contacted and communicated. Some initiatives and projects even have prominent imitators.
Further important statements, facts and opinions on the topic of climate crisis, nature and environmental protection
Greening Deserts projects are part of the global climate emergency program and offering many solutions to really reduce and solve the global problems. Many of the projects also supporting real values and the Global Goals. Human impact on climate, environmental, natural and weather systems is significant. The excessive disruption, destruction and pollution of natural environmental systems and life forms has made the world what it is today!
Certain industries, institutions, organizations, people and other responsible parties that have destroyed ecosystems and important parts of the environment and polluted the planet are also partly responsible for the extinction of countless species and the destruction of the biosphere. They have caused not only an unstable atmosphere, but also more toxins, greenhouse gases and water vapor. People should be aware of these true facts, logical arguments and reality and care more, learn from them and do much better. It is never too late to change and improve the world together as humanity in a sustainable way. Negative actions and impacts can be prevented or reduced by nations together. Destroyers and polluters are thus prevented or even stopped from causing further pollution and environmental destruction. They should comply with laws, policies and global development goals on their own of course.
Climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, education, resilience and understanding of the true causes or circumstances should be a priority – as should the regular revision and updating of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Download the complete article here.
Further opinions and statements:
For general understanding, many Change Games and Greening Deserts projects are environmental, educational, scientific, social and truly sustainable developments. Most of them were developed by the founder in his spare time. Many are or were non-commercial and private projects. The Greening Deserts and the Trillion Trees Initiative are still private initiatives and can be transformed into organizations or startups at any time.
Many conservationists, environmentalists, climate and nature activists want to protect species, some even the really important and endangered species. That is commendable and there could be many more of these activists. But it is much more important to save the really critically endangered species and protect them at the same time! Still hardly anyone understands how important species rescue is and how unimportant species protection of unimportant species is – at least in comparison and relation to the rapid species extinction of the truly threatened or critically endangered species. Every gardener is a species conservationist. What good does it do the biosphere, nature and mankind if we save the few species we hear about every day – such as the elephant, tiger, panda and co.. On the other hand, countless, much more important species are dying out every day, including many keystone species on which many other species depend. Unfortunately, there is also a lack of awareness and understanding of the biosphere in terms of biomass and species diversity. All life forms in organic soils, grasslands, wetlands, and global forests, as well as water bodies, which even significantly regulate climate and weather systems, are the main component of the biosphere!
If humans really want to prevent species extinction, they must maintain healthy ecosystems and restore important habitats and landscapes, especially wetlands and real forests. This will allow the atmosphere, biosphere and all parts of nature to recover, naturally regenerate and better self-regulate. The connection between species recovery, species protection, climate protection, environmental protection and biodiversity, biosphere and ecosystem services is often not seen accurately. To this day, many people do not realize that climate protection is also species protection and thus contributes significantly to the preservation of the biosphere – because the biosphere consists of species, i.e. biomass. One of the best ways to protect and save species is to preserve the important habitats of these species and to restore ecosystems through greening, reforestation and species protection camps or similar projects on a global scale. The founder and initiator of Greening Deserts has explained these important issues in several articles and offered innovative solutions with global initiatives or international projects such as the Trillion Trees Initiative.
Another important issue is the lack of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) on so many levels. One example is flood protection through nature-based solutions. It is logical that, for example, after drought years, dry and water-repellent soils make erosion and flooding even more extreme. Another problem is the lack of trees and wetlands that have been destroyed. The problem in Germany is and has been the lack of disaster preparedness and management for extreme weather events such as droughts and floods, DRR should be an established system worldwide. Urban flood protection through additional water reservoirs, waterways and underground reservoirs can also help reduce these risks – similar to the concept of sponge cities. Another problem is the lack of trees and wetlands, which have been destroyed primarily by extreme drainage for agriculture and strip mines. Many important ecosystems such as wetlands have been destroyed as a result, including wet forests, marshes, swamps, and floodplains. Facts and scientific advice on how to protect against land degradation, erosion and prevent flooding through disaster preparedness, nature-based solutions and sustainable water management can be found on the Greening Deserts project pages.
Many people from the climate movement, in governments, and even parts of industry have followed and been inspired by Greening Deserts’ articles and projects – especially the articles, master theses and projects. On the topic of soil improvement and the global greening, a lot of experiences have been gained and many experts have been exchanged about meaningful actions. Since 2017, Greening Deserts recommends desert greening with hemp, desert bamboo and thistles, which loosen the soil to great depths as well as improve the soil overall. Appropriate ground covers or special grasses also protect new tree plantings from drying out. Green manure plants such as special field beans and hemp can quickly build humus-rich topsoil. This even works in drylands and wastelands! Read more in Greening Deserts articles “Hemp toilet paper can reduce deforestation, climate change and global warming” and “Hemp cultivation in open-cast mines for sustainable soil improvement and organic farming with hemp“.
Climate, nature and environmental protection is also species protection.
All suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others when they selfishly seek their own happiness or satisfaction.
Love and compassion are the foundations for world peace – at all levels.
The way to change others’ minds is with affection, not anger.
Peace does not mean an absence of conflicts; differences will always be there. Peace means solving these differences through peaceful means; through dialogue, education, knowledge; and through humane ways. – Dalai Lama
Greening Deserts projects have inspired and moved many millions of people to do something for their environment and others who need greener and healthier habitats.
Greening Camps can reduce deforestation, land degradation, desertification and global warming by global greening, conservation as well as promotion of biodiversity, ecosystem restoration and ecological reforestation!
Human ignorance will kill us and all life forms on planet Earth. The only way to prevent this dilemma is more awareness, education, environmental consciousness, respect and tolerance or even understanding.
Mankind does not need to travel to the desert planet Mars, if desertification continues at the current rate, we will have a desert planet Earth in 100 years!
Urban Greening is also Urban Cooling, so Global Greening is Global Cooling. – Oliver Caplikas
Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil. – Plato
Ignorance, hatred and greed are killing nature. – Masanobu Fukuoka
Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hatred, and hatred leads to violence. This is the equation. – Ibn Rushd
It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war. – Miyamoto Musashi
Lasting peace cannot be prepared by threats but only by an honest attempt to establish mutual trust.
Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding. – Albert Einstein
The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you know absolutely nothing about. – Dr. Wayne Dyer
The journey of every ignorant and obedient society always ends in the same place: In the desert. – Mehmet Murat Ildan
We can never achieve peace in the outside world until we make peace with ourselves.
Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace. – Dalai Lama
Please support the global greening, peace process and human progress by supporting our sustainable projects and developments. – Greening Desert
The original article draft was written in January and February 2022, the first public version was finished on 21.02.2022.
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Some comments, opinions and statements of Greening Deserts peace-building projects on social pages:
Children’s Rights and Women’s Rights are Human Rights. – DJOGC
@GreeningDeserts projects calling since February for more peace-building communications and negotiations by less provocations,.. support de-escalation and peace diplomacy! #BuildPeace #Humanity #Peace #Solidarity #UniteNations #UN #StopWar #RussiaUkrainePeace #UkraineRussiaPeace
Further pollution and heating of climate and environment by responsible industries and humans leads to more conflicts and crises! Telling these issues since years, offered solutions so many times. #globalcooling #globalgreening #peaceprocess #urbangreening
More nations must continue with war de-escalation diplomatic, logic, reason, humanitarian and cooperation for peace- building! Reasonable and strategic communication to #CreatePeace #Humanity #PeaceBuilding #PeaceProcess #Solidarity #StopWar #RussiaUkrainePeace #UkraineRussiaPeace
International women organizations unite for peace-building in Europe, Ukraine and Russia. Share more words and actions for #PeaceBuilding #UkraineRussiaPeace #RussiaUkrainePeace #PeaceBuilders #PeaceDays #PeaceProcess can #StopWar until April ! #BreakTheBias #WomensDay
Some Important words for real peacebuilding: Peacemaking and peacekeeping women make for a safer world. #BreakTheBias #InternationalWomensDay #InternationalWomensDay2022 #WomensDay International #PeaceBuilding #PeaceMonth #Peace #StopWar #UkraineRussiaPeace #RussiaUkrainePeace
The Greening Deserts and Trillion Trees Initiative’s community supporting the #globalgreening and peace process in Europe, Russia and Ukraine. We humans and nature forces call for peace-building peace speech! A peaceful end to the war is possible this month! #Peace #PeaceMonth #PeaceProcess
The parties and leaders of some European countries do not understand the seriousness of the situation and the coming consequences, as do many news media. First and foremost, emergency prevention, mental health and disaster risk reduction #DRR should be promoted more every day now – on all levels, especially in the media, news and talk shows! – 10-03-2022
There are many chances and ways to peace. But if things escalate by so much human egoisms and ignorance, profiling, provocations and escalations a point of no return can happen. Reason, de-escalation diplomacy, neutrality, honest compromises,.. and apologies for the mistakes on all sides can create trust, understanding,.. and real peace at the end. Many other actions we can see and have seen lead into more conflicts, escalations, suffering and more wars or even rising world war risks!
We need global disarmament, de-escalation and damage limitation, not rearmament, more escalations and provocations. Certain media, nations, politicians and parties are partwise responsible for escalations who made the conflicts more worse and even rises risk of world war danger!
Since February, we have been calling for more health issues, especially to care more about mental health, peace speeches and real or continous solidarity on social media. Unfortunately, not much has happened in this regard to date 15-03-2022. This can be seen just by the hashtags like #UkraineRussiaWar and many similar fear and war-mongering actions in various media. Certain media, people and parties or politicians have even further escalated and worsened the situation – they poured oil on the fire. It is once again the typical symptom fighting problem instead of cause solution and crisis prevention by reasonable de-escalation diplomacy, language or actions, risk minimization, foresighted action and farsightedness. We need more peace speech and less war speech or spreading of war in the digital or media space! Support peace promoting actions like more peace speech and less war speech, hate speech and other destructive or provocative actions that make the situation worse and more worse. By many of the unnecessary actions, provocations and escalations certainly many people have fallen ill and additionally died! In addition the risk of a world war has increased enormously. If the world war and thus nuclear war breaks out, this will probably be the last.
There are many chances and ways to peace. But if things escalate by so much human egoisms and ignorance, provocations and escalations a point of no return can happen. Reason, de-escalation diplomacy, neutrality, honest compromises and apologies for the mistakes on all sides can really solve the conflicts in a sustainable way. Continuous actions to build understanding and trust can additionally accelerate and improve peace developments as well as peace negotiations.
Everyone who ignores that, pushes or shares the war instead of peace speech is also responsible for suffering people, destruction of environment and humanity. Anger and hatred will make everthing worse, so try to prevent it if you can’t or won’t help. Each action, human and life count, to do nothing won’t help to bring back peace! Share and support #PeaceBuilding #PeaceProcess #PeaceSpeech #Solidarity #StopWar #RussiaUkrainePeace #UkraineRussiaPeace
More peace speech and less hate, military or war speech will lead to real and sustainable peace! Share and support more #PeaceActions #PeaceBuilding #PeaceSpeech and not #HateSpeech #WarSpeech or other escalating, corrupted, influenced, manipulated and provocating “war media”. #X
Main problems of the world are pushing or multiplication of war speech, themes and actions in digital, mental and real life. Many media act very one-sided, push war topics and too little peace. If talking about war, don’t forget peace! #PeaceBuilding #PeaceSpeech #PeaceMedia ?!
Political parties and leaders of certain countries have failed to recognize the seriousness of the situation and the consequences, as has much of the news media. The primary concern is emergency prevention, mental health, and reducing the risk of further escalation and disasters.
Support more peace-building peace speeches and real peace actions, not anger-driven, hateful, harmful military or warlike actions and pseudo-solidarity as seen in so many cases. True peace needs understanding, peaceful and healthy action. #PeaceBuilding #PeaceProcess #PeaceSpeech
The only way to real and lasting peace is de-escalation diplomacy, compromise, diplomatic, non-provocative and reasonable communication with all parties. Create honest trust and understanding by reasonable and trustful dialog or exchange. #PeaceBuilding #PeaceKeeping #PeaceSpeech
We need now more as hope, we need people and nations for daily peace-building actions! Other unimportant things we can do later. Think logical and reasonable, all other actions make no sense if actual crisis escalates into world war. #AssistNature #PeaceBuilding #PeaceProcess #UniteForces
Support@GreeningDesertsbiodiversity, conservation, cultural, humanitarian, peace-building, social and sustainable projects for a greener and better world. Share more solidarity for real peace actions. #GlobalGreening #PeaceBuilding #Peace4Ukraine #PeaceSpeech #ReForestation
An international day of forests or trees is too less for all the global forest ecosystems, life forms and people who provide so much healthy air, food, medicine and water. That’s why we start today the first Global Forest Week with daily news and updates. #ForestDays #ForestWeek
#IntlForestDay #ForestDays #FreshWater #WorldWaterDay #WaterDays
Most of the global fresh water comes from forests. World’s waters and weather cycles depend on trees. #TrillionTrees Initiative .. We need water and we need these forests. Wangari Maathai
Unite for #ForestDays #ForestWeek #IntlForestDay.s The death of the forest is the end of our life. – Dorothy Stang The tropical rain forests are a telling example. Once cut down, they rarely recover. Rainfall drops, deserts spread, the climate warms. – James Lovelock loves trees
Forests provide fresh water, clean air, food, habitats, medicine, ecosystem services and much more. #ForestDays #GlobalForests #IntlForestDays #Trees We’ve all got to come together, and we’ve got to protect what’s left of our ancient forests on this planet. – Stella McCartney
#Biodiversity #ForestDays #IntlForestDay #TrillionTrees #WorldWaterDay Protect the forests for those who can’t speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees. – Qwatsinas We can learn a lot from the forests, regrowth, change and beauty. – Catherine Pulsifer
Need a sense of peace and relaxation, take a walk through the forest. – Byron Pulsifer Support the #GlobalGreening, #PeaceBuilding and reforestation projects of Greening Deserts and Trillion Trees Initiative. #ForestWeek #PeaceTrees #Peace4Ukraine #Trees4Peace #TrillionTrees
About 75% of crops depend on pollinators, 75% of our freshwater comes from healthy forests, and more than half of the world’s population depends on healthy ecosystems for their livelihoods. #IntlForestDay #ForestDays #WorldWaterDay
Coasts, forests, grasslands, lakes, mountains, rivers, seas and many different ecosystems are connected to forest ecosystems. Trees are one of the main species who have conquered the whole world and nearly all habitats – even in deserts and wetlands like swamps. #Tree #ForestDays
#DesertGreening #GlobalGreening #IntlForestDay #PeaceDay #WorldWaterDay If you go to a desert, you will hear this mysterious voice: Be wise, protect your forests! The journey of every ignorant and obedient society always ends in the same place: In the desert. – M. Murat Ildan
Greening Deserts 1001+ Critically Endangered Tree Species Seed Storage and Tree Cultivation Project. The Trillion Trees Initiative will help to share trees and seeds worldwide in the future, especially in regions where more biodiversity.. #trilliontreesinitiative
Droughts and heat waves of recent years clearly show that the climate crisis has a significant impact on our lives, the environment, consumption and our economy. Climate change adaptation with greening, reforestation and resilient plants, trees or forests can help. #IntlForestDay
The forests are the lungs of the world. – Woody Harrelson We need to protect our forests to protect all of life. – Samantha Lynch What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another. Chris Maser #ForestDay
#GlobalForests #IntlForestWeek #IntlForestDay s #Together4Forests ? https://trilliontrees.medium.com Since years we informed so much responsible organizations or people @ EU, WEF, WWF,.. for support. Until today they ignore our ecological, environmental, non-profit and social projects.
Since years @GreeningDeserts and Trillion Trees Initiative called several officials, organizations and institutions to stop further harm from injurious subsidies – especially in Africa, Americas and South Asia! Don’t burn forests, build! #EcoForestry ?! https://twitter.com/TrillionTreesEU
Share if you really care #Biodiversity #ForestDays #GlobalForests #IntlForestDay s #IntlForestWeek The cutting of primeval forest and other disasters, fueled by the demands of growing human populations, are the overriding threat to biological diversity everywhere. – E.O. Wilson
Nature-near boreal forests can have much biodiversity, many tree species like coniferous and deciduous trees, diverse plants like herbs, shrubs, grasses, and species of fungi, lichens, insects, animals and.. #BorealForest #ForestDays #IntlForestDay #TrillionTrees #WorldWaterDay
#Biodiversity #ForestDays #GlobalForestWeek #IntlForestDay s To be without trees would, in the most literal way, to be without our roots. – Richard Mabey We’ve all got to come together, and we’ve got to protect what’s left of our ancient forests on this planet. – Stella McCartney
#ForestDay #TrillionTrees Forests are the flags of nature. They appeal to all and awaken inspiring universal feelings. Enter the forest and the boundaries of nations are forgotten. It may be that some time an immortal pine will be the flag of a united peaceful world. E.A. Mills
Organizations, people and especially politicians talk a lot about tree planting, forests and reforestation – most of them have never planted a single tree or only for profiling. #ForestDay #ForestFacts #TreeFacts #GlobalForestDay #IntlForestDay #WorldForestDay s #WorldWaterDays
Greening Camps and the Trillion Trees Initiative for biodiversity conservation, ecological education, ecosystem restoration, reforestation, environmental and species protection camps can reduce deforestation, global warming and mass extinction. #EndangeredSpecies #TrillionTrees
Some nice African quotes to International Forest Day. Trees we plant today are forests we enjoy tomorrow. – Matshona Dhliwayo. Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven’t done a thing. You are just talking. – Wangari Maathai #ForestDay
I know there is pain when sawmills close and people lose jobs, but we have to make a choice. We need water and we need these forests. – Wangari Maathai Support African efforts to reduce coal and wood burning! Solar heating, lights and renewable energy generation @GreeningDeserts
The Greening Camps and Trillion Trees Initiatives can plant diverse trees and endangered tree species to support biodiversity conservation and real forests. We can support forest owners with advises for #agroforestry, #biodiversity #ecoforestry and real sustainable reforestation!
We recommend to upgrade monoculture tree plantations or “forests” with more diverse plant and tree species. It’s possible to add so many useful species from real and healthy forests, involve botanists, conservationists, biodiversity and ecosystem experts! #EFCM #biodiverseforests
God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools. – John Muir Humanity is cutting down its forests, apparently oblivious to the fact that we may not be able to live without them..
For years we recommended the use of hemp and rice straw for feed pellets. You can also use rice straw pellets for clean cooking and heating! Many households have pellet heating, they are efficient, optimized and relatively sustainable. #food #hemp #feedpellets #ricestraw #pellets
Humanity should not remain insensitive to the forest fire or wildfire every year. Unless we act, the loss of biodiversity and extinction of herbs, birds and animals and the pains of the trees, birds, animals and the poor is also alarming signal for the extinction… – Amit Ray
Remember Forest Lawn Memorial Park at Hollywood Hills in Southern California? It would be great if the Academy Awards or Oscars 2022 showed a little more respect for America’s ancestors, environment, forests and history. #Hollywood plant trees for a #Hollyforest #MemorialForest?
The Trillion Trees Initiative will start a special campaign and tree planting actions to create a memorial forest for the victims of the war in East Europe and European Russia. Let’s plant a tree for everyone who died by the war in Ukraine. Plant trees for #Peace #Trees4Peace !
Do Hollywood and Oscar Celebrations care the world’s forests? Maybe plant some trees for a new wood or even a Hollywoods forest to remember the history or roots of art, culture, environment? #Academy #Awards #BollyWood #ForestDays #ForestWeek #HolyWood #HollyWood #Oscars #woods
Hemp can help to improve air, climate, soil and water quality. Hemp plants supporting biodiversity and saving forests. Hemp paper products can reduce climate change effects like deforestation, desertification and global warming. #Hanf #Hanfpapier #hemppaper #hemp #trees #cannabis
Rewet, restore, reforest and regreen worldwide ecosystems is a mission of the upcoming global greening and ecosystem restoration camps, especially in Africa, Europe and MENA region! #drylands #wastelands #wetlands #DesertGreening #GreeningMENA #ReGreening #ReForest #TrillionTrees
#ForestDay #IntlForestDay #WorldForestDay s We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can’t speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees. Qwatsinas, Native Nuxalk Nation
We want to support African and European nations to plant diverse fruit and native trees. Three greening camp and tree nursery projects for millions of trees are running, including important native plant species. #biodiversity #conservation #palmforest #palmtrees #treespecies
@GreeningDeserts.com informed officials of Germany and EU about climate change effects, global warming, deforestation, desertification, droughts, floods, soil degradation,.. since 2016! Sad that they ignored advice to reduce and avoid some of these risks. #AI #EE #DRR #Greening
Replying to @Greening_Camp
Very interesting, thanks for sharing! Nature near and green places or spaces for better biodiversity, conservation can be established by more wild meadows, wild flower beds, botanical garden sections, parks and city biotopes. #UrbanGreening #UrbanForest #UrbanTrees #raisedbeds
It shows that the world’s cities need much more biodiversity, nature-near forest ecosystems, natural places, spaces and trees. Urban Greening means also creating blue or freshwater habitats #UrbanForests #UrbanTrees #UrbanGreening #IntlForestDay #WorldForestDay #WorldWaterDay s
Greening Deserts started the Greening MENA project to reduce desertification and land degradation by sustainable desalination, irrigation, greening and reforestation especially in North Africa. #GreeningMENA #GM #GreatGreenWall #NorthAfrica #TrillionTrees
Greening Deserts projects like the Greening Camps can support agrophotovoltaic, floating solar, greentech, water and wind energy in each region were we start with greening and reforestation. It will improve biodiversity, protect soils and water reservoirs. #DesertGreening
Greening Deserts projects will improve the climate and reduce global warming in a large scale. @EnergyStoragePR #CleanTech #EE #EnergyStoragePark #GreenTech #GreeningCamp #GreeningDrone #GreenhouseShip #GreeningCoasts #SciencePark #SolarPark #TrillionTrees #WaterPark #WindPark
We will start another global forest week in future. What sounds better for you, a Global, International or World Forest Week? Share constructive feedback and interesting tweets in the comments if you want. #ForestWeek #GlobalForestWeek #InternationalForestWeek #WorldForestWeek
Since years we call Europe or EU to do more for biodiversity in forests and for more resilient forest ecosystems. @GreeningDeserts.com To be without trees would, in the most literal way, to be without our roots. Richard Mabey #European #ForestDay #ForestWeek #IntlForestDay s ?
Men and women, people and institutions, organizations or even nations show courage and solidarity. You have good ideas about trees or forests to share for the Global Forest Week? Scroll down and tweet in the comments. #ForestDays #ForestWeek #GlobalForestWeek #GFW #IntlForestWeek
A tree has roots in the soil yet reaches to the sky. It tells us that in order to aspire we need to be grounded and that no matter how high we go it is from our roots that we draw sustenance. – Wangari Maathai – African Forest Week #ForestDay #IntlForestDay s #ForestWeek Africa?
Regreen and revive soils with bamboo, grass, hemp, or other soil-improving plants. Saving rainwater and using seawater for sustainable irrigation will improve tree plantings and healthy forests. Composting and mineral fertilizers can accelerate the plant growth. @GreeningDeserts
Each day should be #IntlForestDay #PeaceDay #WorldWaterDay ! When humanity really understands these connections or links, the importance of real nature, forests, peace and water, we will all enter a new era of human progress. A world of developers, explorers and space explorers.
Today we finish the Global Forest Week we started on the International Day of Forests. If you have good ideas about biodiversity, conservation, nature, forests and trees you can share it in the comments! #ForestDay #IntlForestDay s #ForestWeek #GlobalForestWeek 21-28 March 2022
An international day of forests or trees is too less for all the global forest ecosystems, life forms and people who provide so much healthy air, food, medicine and water. That’s why we start today the first Global Forest Week with daily news and updates. #ForestDays #ForestWeek
Greening Deserts Trillion Trees Initiative started the first Global Forest Week on the International Day of Forests and World Water Day to show the importance of biodiversity, healthy forest ecosystems and fresh water. #DesertForest.org #IntlForestDay #WorldWaterDay #WetForest.org
You want support biodiversity, real sustainable tree planting and forest actions, reduce droughts and urban heat islands effects? Follow and share Greening Deserts projects @TrillionTreesEU @TrillionTreesIn #TreePlanting #Together4Forests #UrbanForest #UrbanTrees #ReForestation
Greening Deserts Projekte fordern seit 2016 mehr Artenschutz, Artenvielfalt, Klimaschutz, Umweltschutz,.. in Deutschland und Europa! @TrillionTreesEU #Artenschutz #Auen #Biodiversität #Feuchtwald #Feuchtgebiete #Klimaschutz #Moorschutz #Stadtwald #Umweltschutz #Waldtag #Waldwoche
Facts and scientific advice on flood protection and prevention with disaster risk reduction, nature-based solutions and sustainable water management. #coalexit #conversion #DRR #forests #greening #masterplan #mining #restore #wetlands #Tagebau #Feuchtwald
You can download the latest article and updates here:Â Global Greening Deserts Trillion Trees Initiative Climate Emergency, Peace Building and Species Rescue Update
The Green Games and Trillion Trees Initiative develops innovative concepts and projects for sustainable IT and game developments. The future community platform and social networks will connect game developers, publishers and gamers together for global sustainability, climate and environmental goals. This will motivate and support especially species, climate and environmental protection actions as well as organizations. The actions, initiatives and projects also promote more environmentally friendly behaviour.
The founder of Change Games and Greening Deserts launched the first developments for the Trillion Trees Game in 2020 in Leipzig. The game is not just a simple tree planting game, AAA game or larger indie game development. It will be an online game and a platform with many games. People will be able to play mini-games and indie games directly in the game, and they can start other games outside directly through the game. If the games are played in the Trillion Trees Game or special actions and events are started in external connected games, real trees will be planted in the real world. It depends on how much and how long you play, extra tree points can be collected. Later, special tasks, actions, events, achievements and challenges will support special reforestation or forestation projects and conservation actions. Other tree planting, renewable energy projects, recycling actions and important environmental projects, organizations or even movements can then also be supported with appropriate support from the Green Games and Trillion Trees Game Community. Sponsors, grants, and innovative funding models from around the world can accelerate and improve the projects. So the platform and network can bring together not only the game industry and industry, but also some other important industries as well as climate, nature and environmental organizations. The media, culture, IT and global technology industries can benefit as well, especially industries like cleantech, greentech and green IT. Many additional jobs could be created.
Games change games. Game developers, publishers and gamers can be real game changers in relation to environment, innovation and ecological gaming.
The game will be realized with highest performance and quality standards such as modular game design, API connectivity, cross applications, green coding, energy efficient cloud streaming for many popular devices in the future. Accessibility, usability and different uses on the platform are considered and optimized over time like other services – such as energy efficient streaming or scaling for diverse devices like smartphones and tablets. More innovative details can be found in the game design papers and concept of Trillion Trees Game development. Experienced game developers are invited to integrate suitable developments. Meant are not only whole games, but also elements or parts like art, graphics, audio or music and sounds.
Game developers, publishers, game consumers or gamers and all branches have to do with game industry should overthink their real impacts on climate and environment. It is not just about energy efficiency, preventing or saving CO2 like many organizations or even institutions want to suggest. It’s about all the factors in relation, starting with first game developments and using resources and services. The impacts of video games on environment and climate change rise up by cloud gaming, game and video streaming plus all the media produced for platforms like Twitch or Youtube. Some games, esport gamers, streamers and let’s players wasting much resources and energy without really knowing their impact. Think about all the productions, supply chains, resources, main and side events, advertising, marketing, promotion, media streaming, etc… what the most people see is just the tip of the iceberg. That’s why Change Games started in 2017 the Green Games community which is now a global movement.
It would be good if more media, Global Game Jams and other game events would take more care of the important issues and points, for example on the topic of energy efficiency, recycling and the environment. The founder visited many events like Gamescom and Games Week in Berlin, also to educate and inform the industry – especially in the field of eSports and online gaming. Unfortunately, when it came to the point of environment and responsibility, there was often a lot of disinterest, misunderstanding or ignorance – who likes to admit mistakes. Mostly only the old typical arguments and problems came, which they try to cope with. It’s sad that nothing or so little has changed for the better over the years, things have even gotten worse, for example in terms of energy consumption. The game industry doesn’t have much time left to change course. Green Games consultants and game experts can help! Just ask, let’s support each other and use our work, services and projects directly or indirectly, like recommendations for other good services and solutions we have found over the years.
The game branch made a lot of extra money during the crisis, the energy and video game consumption was higher than ever before. Now it is time that the game branch or industry takes responsibility and starts finanlly to challenge the most serious problems like the energy consumption, reducing overproduction, improving the supply chains and work conditions by more sustainable production and working. The maybe most important issues in 2021 are carbon footprint of industries like fossil, media, tech, IT and game industry.
Game developers, gamers and publishers should understand the impacts of console, computer and video games on environment, climate change and global warming! Just a few examples for the energy consumption and inequalities. Online gaming in California consumes more energy than the entire population of Ghana or Ethiopia in Africa. Bitcoin mining more than Bangladesh or Nigeria. It’s not just about energy waste, ewaste or carbon footprint. 2021 e-waste is surging at 57.4 million tons with just 17.4% was recycled as per 2019 figures. E-waste impacts climate, environment, health and global warming. E-waste recycling emits emerging synthetic antioxidants. Recycling ewaste requires energy, resources, tech and IT again!
The video game industry is partwise responsible for generating mountains of toxic e-waste and plastics that leach hazardous chemicals into the ground and waters. 91% of worldwide plastics wasn’t recycled, billions of tons of plastic have been made and much of it has becoming trash, litter and microplastics. More than 99% of plastics are produced from chemicals derived from oil, natural gas and coal – which are dirty and non-renewable resources. Only 9% of all plastic waste has been recycled. A main problem is the use of too much plastics and plastic packaging. It is similar with other electronic equipment, gamer gear, high-end gaming PCs, notebooks and countless smartphones. So much models and overproduction of hardware over the half of humanity never can use or will be e-waste after short use. Too less people use their stuff over many years, repair or reuse it by upcycling. More game-related businesses should see these facts, chances and opportunities – not just the recycling.
To be more aware and to care more about we reported about these topics with the Green Games community. We want to integrate special cleantech and recycling programs on the Trillion Trees Game platform in future, for example renewable energy generation by solar and wind power. For example, you can then support local communities in your own region or other regions – such as reducing overconsumption or overproduction and improving renewable energy, recycling, repair and upcycling. This is particularly beneficial to poor countries such as in Africa, Asia or South America. Read more about climate change and environmental impacts of e-waste and video games on our social pages. We want build a special team for all major networks and platforms in the future. When we finally get proper support after many years, we can set this up in 2022, that is when active and financial support for the projects will be offered or proposed. Because to date, sustainability and environmental protection are not really promoted in the games industry.
The video game industry is bigger than the sports and movie industry combined! If there are no real regulations to reduce the bad impacts on climate, humanity will fail to stop the climate crisis. Green Games and Green IT could change that! Read more about on the social networks like Twitter. We will build a special team in future just for all the networks and platforms.
We invite all people with courage to join and support our ongoing project developments. Individual game developers and game studios are welcome to participate in a joint venture, for example with an extra team. In future spaces at the Urban Greening Camp there will be a lot of space, a lot of interesting work and of course a lot of fun. At the moment you can do a lot online and of course in your home office. With the right financial support, it would be no problem to quickly build appropriate teams, create the necessary equipment and infrastructure, and outsource tasks or services, such as those that are too complicated to do on-site or better done externally. The founder has years of experience as a clan and guild founder as well as project developer and event manager. He has assembled and led teams with over a hundred members! This was of course a lot of work and took good time, with financial support this is of course even better and faster. Change Games Entertainment and the Trillion Trees Game development will be continued as private initiative. International joint ventures with game developers and publishers will be developed, first teams can be started if there is enough interest and support.
Some information about actual developments and backgrounds
Change Games Entertainment launched the Greening Deserts and Trillion Trees Initiative with many innovative projects to improve conservation, environmental education, climate and environmental protection, species rescue, and species protection by building, expanding, and supporting biotope networks, wildlife reserves, national parks, and other nature-based habitats. Flower strips, wild meadows, parks, and groves in urban areas can be created through more urban greening and community gardening. It’s not just about planting trees in forests. Urban trees and urban forests are just as important a part of the greening process. Species diversity (biodiversity), species rescue and biodiversity play a particularly important role.
People should understand the true value of a single tree, especially in cities. In August the founder published a world innovation for urban greening with energy storage raised beds, the project development is called Energy Storage Tree. The Urban Greening Camp project started also Greening MENA, RooftopGreening.com and the Urban Greening Network for healthier and greener cities, many followed the good example. With the first Urban Greening Camp and vertical farming startup in Leipzig we will not just cultivate trees and save tree species by professional seed storage and plant breeding. We will develop also awesome applications, products, services and technologies – especially cleantech, greentech, energy efficient, resource saving and greening solutions. Better light setups and water managment, sustainable irrigation, development of new innovative fertilization, natural and smooth pesticides are another aspects. Read more on the project pages in future.
The mentioned and connected projects show how broadly Greening Deserts is positioned and which topics also play into the latest developments, especially into the current game development of the Trillion Trees Game platform. GreenGames.club, Play2Plant.org and TreeGame.org will support the future developments. There will be Green Games Forests in Africa and Europe, especially in regions that need more biodiversity and tree species that can contribute to better climate change adaptation. If you want to be a game changer and a part of the movement or just want to show support, contact us and support the Green Games community with useful contributions. Don’t hesitate contact and connect.trilliontreesgame.com.
Some inspirational thinking and writing:
Climate protection, nature conservation and environmental protection is also species protection.
Electronic and energy waste: environmental impacts, toxics and pollution by media, IT and video games industry are serious treats to life on planet Earth. Reduce climate impact with sustainable supply chains, cleantech, greentech and Green IT!
Greening Camps can reduce deforestation, land degradation, desertification and global warming through global greening, conservation as well as biodiversity enhancement, ecosystem restoration and ecological reforestation!
Some of the biggest world problems and challenges are to reduce the big waste of energy, money and resources, especially at mega events like COP26, E3 or Gamescom. The Green Games Community and upcoming green video game industry could change that!
We need more environmental awareness and sustainability, sustainable living and sustainable working, in all fields or areas. We need to create a world of understanding, acceptance, respect, tolerance, compassion and consciousness. – Oliver Gediminas Caplikas
Computer and video games represent one of the most important new media developments of this generation. Unlike many other forms of entertainment they offer players the opportunity to explore, be creative, learn through interaction and express themselves to others. It is vitally important that we protect and nurture this new art form so that it can reach its full potential. Like most new forms of artistic expression that have come before (music, novels, movies), the primary critics of video games are the people that do not play them. – Will Wright
Today, your cell phone has more computer power than all of NASA back in 1969, when it placed two astronauts on the moon. Video games, which consume enormous amounts of computer power to simulate 3-D situations, use more computer power than mainframe computers of the previous decade. The Sony PlayStation of today, which costs $300, has the power of a military supercomputer of 1997, which cost millions of dollars. – Michio Kaku
What if we started to live our real lives like gamers, lead our real businesses and communities like game designers, and think about solving real-world problems like computer and video game theorists? – Jane McGonigal
The founder of the Leipzig palm startup and Urban Greening Camp for greening and vertical farming developed a world innovation to improve urban habitats. This innovation called ‘Energy Storage Tree‘ can reduce costs of tree planting in cities and generally make urban greening more efficient and cost-effective. It involves innovative, mobile, modular, energy- and water-saving raised bed systems. Extensive concepts have been developed for initial energy storage raised bed systems. These mobile and modular raised bed systems for sustainable recreation, energy and water storage will make urban regions, large cities, small towns but also rural areas more livable. In fact, the raised beds can also be placed in village squares, tram or train stations and bus stops. Several innovations are combined in one general raised bed system and charging station. Energy and water storage enables sustainable and environmentally friendly operation. Ecological components, durability and low maintenance allows very efficient and long operation for decades – at least with minor corrections or repairs every few years. More details on the most important points will follow on the social and project pages. A comprehensive description of the basic concept and the standard variant were already published in August 2021.
The raised bed system is an energy storage station, a space or place to relax and recharge the batteries. The raised bed is equipped with small-growing tree species up to 5m. The special construction and processing of weather-resistant woods allow a long standing time, of course, it varies depending on the stand and location. The stability is increased by extra reinforced outer walls and inner walls with squared lumber in the corners, it is just taken usual measures for stabilization as it is common for raised bed construction. Due to the scalability, it can also be planted with many flowers, bushes, herbs and special shrubs or larger trees. The raised bed provides enough space and sufficient watering for the plants to grow well, also by good energy and atmosphere.
The standard dimensions for the standard design of the basic raised bed construction is 1.20×1.20×1.20m. The minimum basic or standard equipment consists of a mobile raised bed with foldable, robust and weather-resistant wooden benches or painted chipboard. If possible, the woods are treated with ecological or environmentally friendly varnishes or oils. The benches have a small angle of inclination towards the raised bed, so that rainwater can flow into the raised bed through latticed openings. All the inner sides of the raised bed are lined with pond liner and there are holes at the bottom as is common with large pots or planters. Below the raised bed there is an extra tray to catch rainwater. Excess water can drain down the side via drains a few inches above the bottom tray to prevent waterlogging in the raised bed, but at the same time water is available at the bottom for larger plants such as trees or shrubs. The lower compartment is accessible, the water can be drained at any time via a closable drain or water can be taken out for watering. The lowest side of the raised bed is extra reinforced with a solid plate, and is attached with rotating rollers with platforms made of metal or steel. Alternatively, a prefabricated rolling board can be attached at the bottom. These constructions provide extra stability and tilting of the raised bed becomes very unlikely, even with the simple standard variant, the raised bed stands firmly and stably. Due to the weight of the tree and the soil, the benches can be well loaded.
The extended standard variant contains three water reservoirs in the outer walls. One side has closable openings and extra compartments, the spaces between them are about 10-25cm wide, depending on the variant. The dimensions as well as designs are generally variable. Wide, high, rectangular or square raised beds can be made. Wide raised beds are suitable for shallow rooted plants and high ones for deep rooted plants. The benches or solar benches are set at about 50-60cm, so all people regardless of size can sit comfortably. Depending on the application, budget and location, smaller or larger raised bed systems are possible. Various casters can be attached or even replaced at the bottom of the solid top, depending on weight and size. Casters with locks and stoppers are available, or no casters for permanent and long-term installations. More details and sketches are in the utility model, concept and design papers.
Modular functions of the mobile raised bed allow a wide variation and a lot of additional applications. Lockable compartments and flaps provide access to spaces on the sides, for example, to perform cleaning, remove drains or add special fertilizer, mineral and water mixtures. The idea of give and take is harmoniously combined with the raised bed system. The spaces for the water storage tanks and lockable compartments for the modules are easily accessible and watertight. The modules such as adapters, energy storage, climate station and measuring devices are interchangeable – the latter are good for analyzing the tree or other plants, for example. The data can be retrieved, various devices and e-bikes can be charged via adapters. An expansion of the raised bed to include a mobile climate station for the city and regional climate would be conceivable, so like a connection to the power grid. The raised bed system will support the transition towards climate-neutral, greener and smarter cities and urban habitats. Sustainability and environmental awareness is additionally trained by the raised bed. The raised beds are also a meeting point for young people, pupils and students to get inspired by nature-based solutions and ideas. The raised bed system encourages raised bed construction at universities, schools and in school gardens.
Background on the sustainable and ecological developments
Ecological and recycled materials are preferred for raised bed construction. Inexpensive variants can even be realized with simple pallets or chipboard. These are previously oiled, painted or impregnated, as well as lined with pond liner so that they last for many years.
It took months and years to develop, studying raised beds and urban trees from around the world. The basic idea was born in 2017 and matured during the last months, the main reason and intention from the beginning was to make city tree planting more affordable, because especially in western countries like Germany a planting of a city tree can cost up to 3000 euros or even more – worldwide the price in big cities is at least around 1000 dollars. This was also one of the reasons to develop a mobile raised bed system which can reduce the price worldwide to far below 1000 dollars, depending on the country and material costs even below 300!
A raised bed for trees can of course also be realized with used barrels, rain barrels or IBC containers. This is especially suitable for communities and cities with little money, similar to poor regions in Africa or places with great poverty and poor soils. For this purpose, trees can even be kept for a few years in large sturdy garbage bags, as is done in some nurseries or tree plantations in developing countries.
The pattern of the simple standard variant of the raised bed system serves as a model for all cities in the world and is at the same time a good example for public use. More efficient and sustainable greening, resources and energy use is possible in the long run with different variants of the energy storage raised bed system. There is also some space under the raised bed, for example for stones. The concept and some design variants have been further developed by the Urban Greening Network project developer and founder of the new Leipzig palm startup since 2020. In August, final designs and excerpts from the general concept were published on various platforms and made available to the international community.
The initiator of the Greening Deserts Species Rescue and Protection Program CES-RPPÂ for international species protection and biodiversity calls on the European Union and the responsible Commission to finally support the emergency program for the rescue and recovery of species. It is about endangered species which could become extinct tomorrow and especially about the keystone species on which many other important species depend. Only a few days ago a German nature conservation association followed the call and also demands an emergency programv – it would be good to coordinate in this important matter. Nature and environmental protection organizations such as BUND have been invited several times to the species rescue and protection program. Until today, unfortunately, there was no concrete feedback or response. The emergency program and projects for species rescue, biodiversity and ecosystem restoration calls for international support.
Background on the important species conservation program and projects for species recovery and biodiversity
Greening Deserts founder has been calling for international institutions and organizations to support the CES-RPP emergency program for global species rescue, recovery and protection since 2019. Countless departments, employees and organizations of the European Union as well as UN have been informed several times and invited by eMail, hundreds have confirmed the call and the infomail. On the pages of Greening Deserts and the Trillion Trees Initiative you can read a lot of information about the special species rescue program and the species protection projects, including side projects like Afforestation.org, GreenRingAfrica.com, Hemp-Paper.org, PalmPaper.org, RiceStrawPaper.com,… Rice straw paper can reduce greenhouse emissions and environmental pollution significantly, otherwise farmers burn it or it rots and forms methane. Hemp plants can improve the biodiversity and soil – it’s good for bees and other insects! These alternative papers can reduce deforestation and supporting reforestation with improved soils. You can read more about improvement of soils with hemp on Greening Deserts project pages. Support a more sustainable paper, packaging and green building industry!
Extra pages were registered for the global species rescue program, for the German-speaking area Artenrettung.com, for Europe SpeciesProtection.eu and internationally SpeciesRescue.com! The sites were registered in 2020 and 2021. It is about the economic and scientific establishment of species rescue on a global scale. Some international species protection, climate protection, nature conservation and environmental protection organizations have already registered their interest. We are looking forward to new partners in the future to jointly master one of the biggest tasks and challenges for the decade – the reduction of species extinction by mitigating the causes and by promoting global biodiversity – also in urban regions and cities! The Urban Greening Camp project started RooftopGreening.com and the Urban Greening Network for healthier and greener cities, many followed the good example. In August the founder published a world innovation for urban greening with energy storage raised beds, the project development is called Energy Storage Tree.
Germany’s first vertical farming startup for threatened and endangered tree species and important crops is developing further concepts for resource-saving species conservation. The diversity of species is in the foreground and as far as possible, different varieties of a species are cultivated to achieve genetic diversity. Botanical gardens, biotopes, national parks and nature reserves are invited to join the Greening Deserts Species Protection Program CESRPP and the related species conservation projects for more biodiversity in forests. The goal is to save over 300 tree species from extinction by 2025, such as through professional tree breeding and distribution.
Important facts, opinions and statements
The following is important information on species conservation, climate protection, climate change and environmental protection in the climate crisis. It is not primarily about the human-caused part of “climate change” and global warming. It is about the global human impact or influcence on climate, environmental, natural and weather systems. The excessive disturbance or destruction and pollution of the natural environmental systems and life forms!
Certain industries like agriculture, heavy industry, chemical, coal, concrete, steel, arms and war industries which destroyed ecosystems and important parts of the environment and polluted the planet are also responsible for the extinction of species and the destruction of the biosphere. They caused not only an unstable atmosphere, but also more toxins, greenhouse gases and water vapor. They are partly responsible for certain harmful climate changes and mass extinction. Many scientists try to partially deny or excuse this, but it is what it is.., but it is how it is. By the way, facts, real truth or reality will be written by us all humans together. Means the whole humanity, opinions and collective wisdom represent the real reality not just a single opinion or study. Humans should aware and care more about these true facts, logical arguments and real truth! The fact that we are living in a hot age and a time of many climate and weather extremes, means that humanity and all life forms should make the best of it and better adapt. The best way is to promote adaptation, education, resilience and understanding of the circumstances. It is reasonable to live and work with nature, not against it!
Many conservationists, climate, nature, and environmental activists want to protect species, some even the really important and endangered species. This is commendable and there could be many more of these activists. But it is much more important to save the really critically endangered species and to protect them at the same time! Today, still almost nobody understands how important the species rescue and how unimportant the species protection of unimportant species is – at least in comparison and in relation to the rapid species extinction of really threatened or critically endangered species. Each gardener is a protector of species. What is the use for the biosphere, nature and mankind to save the few species we hear about every day. On the other hand, countless much more important species are dying out every day, including many keystone species on which many other species depend. Unfortunately, there is also a lack of awareness and understanding of the biosphere in relation to the biomass and diversity of species. Just look, organic soils, grasslands, wetlands and global forests who regulate even the climate and weather systems are the main part of the biodsphere!
If mankind prevents species extinction by preserving healthy ecosystems and restoring important habitats and landscapes, or if natural regeneration processes are more supported, the atmosphere and biosphere could recover, regenerate naturally and regulate itself. The connection between species recovery, species protection, climate protection, environmental protection and biodiversity, biosphere and ecosystem services is often not seen clearly. Until today, many people do not understand that climate protection is also species protection and thus contributes significantly to the preservation of the biosphere. One of the best ways to protect and save species is to preserve the important habitats of these species and to do ecosystem restoration with greening, reforestation species protection camps on a global level. Greening Deserts founder and initiator explained these important issues in several articles and offered innovative solutions with many global initiatives or international projects.
Another thing is the missing issue or topic of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) on so many levels. One example in the case of flood prevention by nature-based solutions. It’s logic that after such drought years, dry and water repellent soils make erosions and floods more extreme. Another problem are the missing trees and wetlands were destroyed. The problem in Germany is and was the missing disaster risk reduction and disaster management in case of extreme weather events like droughts and floods, DRR should be a worldwide established system. Even urban flood prevention by extra water sheds, water ways and underground reservoirs can help to reduce these risks. Another problem is the lack of trees and wetlands that have been destroyed – especially by extreme drainage for agriculture and open pit mines. Many important ecosystems such as wetlands have been destroyed as a result, including floodplains, bogs, fens and wet forests. Facts and scientific advice on flood protection and prevention with disaster risk reduction, nature-based solutions and sustainable water management you can find on Greening Deserts project pages.
If humanity understands all these relations there will be maybe a chance of get back a certain balance, harmony or peace — to live peacefull with nature and each other. I call it the harmonic coexistence, if you lived my life during the last ten years you would understand what I mean. To all the worldwide scientific colleages, it is no alarmism, it is pure reality and truth, it are serious advises, concerns and of course personal opinions what’s going on. You can experience and research yourself during many years or decades.
Many people of the climate movement, governments and even parts of the industry followed and got inspired by Greening Deserts articles and projects – especially the master works or plans. Read for example the master work for a faster and more efficient coal exit in coal regions, it was published years before there was a Coal Commission in Germany! Published many good papers and solutions for the biodiversity and climate crisis, the green building and energy transition during the years, long before there was the actual climate movement or Fridays for Future. Even the green ring logo was designed for the Green Ring Movement and Trillion Trees Initiative before FFF started. Just to mention the history and origins of some ideas and works. At the end we at Greening Deserts are happy that so many people got inspired and followed the good examples. Desert greening with desert bamboo and thistles loosens and improves the soil. Green manure plants such as special field beans and hemp can quickly build up humus-rich topsoils. This even works in drylands and wastelands! Read more about in the article ‘Hemp toilet paper can reduce deforestation, climate change and global warming‘ and ‘Hemp cultivation in open-cast mines for sustainable soil improvement and organic farming with hemp‘.
Climate protection, nature conservation and environmental protection is also species protection.
Greening Camps can reduce deforestation, land degradation, desertification and global warming through global greening, conservation as well as biodiversity enhancement, ecosystem restoration and ecological reforestation!
Humanity don’t need to travel to desert planet Mars if the desertification continues in the actual rate, we will have a desert planet Earth in 100 years!
Urban Greening is also Urban Cooling, thus is Global Greening Global Cooling.
We need more environmental awareness and sustainability, sustainable living and sustainable working, in all fields or areas. We need to create a world of understanding, acceptance, respect, tolerance, compassion and consciousness. – Oliver Gediminas Caplikas
The world’s first nursery and vertical farming startup for endangered tree species was started by the Leipzig Palms and Urban Greening Camp project. The urban gardening company is connected with the scientific and private project for vertical farming. It is an ongoing project development until we expand into bigger halls of the building and start with the urban farming facilities for special herbs and vegetables. First we have to test a lot of vertical farming and lighting systems. We will keep you updated here and on the other official pages and channels.
There are also good news during the crisis, such as the creation of a successful startup for urban greening, green and clean technologies combined with innovation and knowledge management. Urban agriculture and vertical farming as well as plant cultivation with hydroponics is traded by futurologists as the future of agriculture. This was also a reason to develop an extra Urban Greening Camp in Leipzig years ago and to build it up since 2020. In the run-up, the first tree and plant species have already been cultivated, including particularly endangered species. Herbs and medicinal plants will be cultivated in further grow rooms which are in preparation. There is actual no vertical farming company worldwide who combines biodiversity conservation, urban farming, tree cultivation and species protection. It is also a model project and pilot for various innovative developments — for a more ecological farming and sustainable forestry worldwide, we call it Ecosystem Restoration Systems. #ecorestorsys
Urban Greening Camp vertical farming startup example for endangered trees.
The greening camps will cultivate many native plants and important trees for agriculture and forestry. Cities will be supplied through home improvement stores and garden centers. The camps will simultaneously serve education and training, development and research. Urban and vertical farming is being taken very seriously in some major Asian cities, and complete greenhouse buildings (Urban / Vertical Farming Towers) are even being planned. With sufficient support, we can also realize a vertical greenhouse over several floors in Leipzig. The Urban Greening Camp will not only cultivate plants under artificial light, but also with direct daylight. Innovative solutions and developments in the field of aquaponics, hydroponics and optics will be developed and tested – barrels, canisters and water tanks are already available. A suitable building has already been occupied, and initial talks have been held with the owner. It is not just about endangered tree species, vegetables or a few herbs, but about professional greenhouse facilities, storage and logistic systems – which are also needed for some important species conservation projects. The Urban Greening Camp is a center for biodiversity and species conservation, not only locally or regionally but internationally! Many species conservationists, conservation organizations, botanists, botanical gardens and environmentalists have already been informed and invited. Berlin and Leipzig has many flat roofs, these should be used much more for rooftop greening and roof gardens.
The Urban Greening Camp and Leipzig Palm Project is a platform for cultural, socio-economic and scientific exchange, online as well as directly on site. Active participants are welcome to join the innovative developments and projects. The garden market and tree nursery will cultivate not only palms, but also other important plants such as herbs, ethnobotanical and medicinal plants. Endangered tree species and important flowering plants for bees are also in the program. Permaculture, urban farming, community and urban gardening are not just trendy terms, they are global movements that can make cities more livable and environmentally friendly. In principle, the allotment garden movement which started with the poor gardens and allotments in the 19th century is the first urban gardening movement. For years we have been supporting the movement and cities on urban greening issues. Kindergartens, schools and universities also have the possibility to establish allotment gardens on their premises, talked with a lot of people about how to establish more horticulture, community and rooftop gardens in inner cities.
Green roofs and rooftop solar applications are together possible, so like community and rooftop gardens.
Since 2016, the founder of Greening Deserts has been developing projects such as the greening and research camps for sustainable reforestation, greening, green and clean technologies (cleantech and greentech). Species protection, climate protection, nature conservation, environmental protection and especially sustainable actions as well as economic activities are important tasks of the future ventures. Ecological education and environmentally conscious actions are also important points on the Global Greening Agenda developed by Oliver Caplikas together with colleagues from the EU and UN over the years. The international Greening Act and the new Green Deal have already been successfully implemented in some countries. It is about an honest and conscientious transformation of environmentally harmful economic sectors, the reduction of global overproduction and the improvement of consumption and environmental awareness of societies and the world population as a whole. That is why many innovative projects have been founded over the years, successful campaigns and initiatives have been carried out worldwide. Many people and organizations got inspired and followed the good example.
The crisis has set back some developments and projects, but brought others forward. Like the new Urban Greening project in Leipzig, which is currently focusing on innovative plant cultivation, storage and cooling systems – especially with regard to green building, sustainable architecture, energy storage and economical water management. All of this will be incorporated into future vertical farming solutions and systems that will be developed at the Urban Greening Camp. Solar, wind and water energy applications will play a crucial role. A research facility on a larger roof could show that green roofs and solar systems are possible at the same place and time, for which the Agrovoltaik project was founded. Another important topic is the education and increased promotion of facade solar systems, hydrogen energy storage, transparent solar technologies and Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT). Very interesting in this context is the combination of highly efficient processes for hydrogen production from solar and wind energy. It is so innovative like facade greening and solar facades for cooling and heat storage. Energy efficiency and energy storage plays a special role in the urban cooling and urban greening process. Insulation materials made of hemp and hemp wood are further innovations that are being promoted particularly strongly in Canada and Austria. Germany should not lose touch in many respects.
Another good urban vertical farming example to produce healthy food – depends on light, minerals, substrate and water quality.
The founder has informed many international institutions and universities about the potentials, especially in the field of building technology and energy storage solutions. In the future, buildings could be efficient energy storage devices and decentralized power plants; it is the future of a truly sustainable energy economy and more economical use of natural resources. Facade greening and photovoltaic facades can also protect against high heat and store heat. Urban greening in general can help cool cities and, of course, provides fresh air. More light-colored surfaces, such as lighter asphalt and concrete are also a good option; in New York and other cities, roofs have already been painted white to cool buildings. Greening cities and urban regions is key to urban cooling and thus global cooling.
We invite interested investors, strong partners and sponsors to join the further project development. In late summer, the first round and official meeting of interested parties will take place. Representatives of the city of Leipzig, Halle, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg and other interested cities are also invited. We are looking forward to a successful start of the new startup and a greener future. Check also Greening Deserts other innovative projects like the Greenhouse and Recycling Ship! Together with other Startups we develop(ed) mobile greenhouse solutions so like greenhouse, solar and water containers which can collect and filter rainwater. We want to establish desalinization plants and applications for coastal greening and reforestation. Years ago we published some great concepts to use nature-based solutions like bamboo for loosen hard soils, to filter sea water and to improve the groundwater levels. @ #ecofarming #ecoforestry #ecorestorsys #greeningcoasts
Some more important points and summer updates:
The Leipzig Palms project and Urban Greening Camp is the world’s first nursery and vertical farming startup for indoor arboriculture and endangered tree species! Herbs and medicinal plants are cultivated in further grow rooms. We will use innovative cleantech, greentech and vertical farming techniques for tree cultivation and plant breeding of important plants.
There is no other vertical farming company worldwide who combines biodiversity, conservation, cleantech, greening, greentech, tree cultivation and urban farming. Welcome to the future of arboriculture!
The Urban Greening Camp, nursery and vertical farming startup for endangered tree species saving much energy, place, time, water and other resources by innovative management and real sustainable solutions.
The indoor farming startup in Leipzig works on the next room for critically endangered tree species, herbs and seed storage. Vertical farming will reach new dimensions with cleantech and greentech developments.
The vertical farming company office and workshop are connected with a large corridor to the other rooms and the main hall. The next room for critical endangered tree species is in progress. There are much more rooms, halls and floors in the building we can use in future – or we move to another similar building.
More classic and modern plant growing systems with good soils and substrates will be tested together with new grow lights and hydroponic systems. Manufacturers and sponsors are welcome to send us their products for testing and presentation.
We will test new light systems, not just LED, LEC, HID and CFL lights with optimal light for each plant or tree species and phases of growth — we call it the right light management. Lasers, robotics, sensors and webcams will improve the vertical farming results in future.
You are also welcome to visit the official business and social networks on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and…
Big thanks to the colleagues from Max Planck Society, New York and Toronto University for showing some support during the years — thanks going also to all the other institutions and organizations who don’t ignored the information letter. To all interested parties, welcome on board! You are always welcome to visit the camp in future. Your friend of nature from Leipzig in Saxony, Germany. Oliver G. Caplikas
The Greening Deserts project LE Palms ala Leipziger Palmen is after months of preparation now in the startup phase 1. The foundation takes place in May and will go on until the end of July. The founder and initiator has worked very hard for a long time to successfully launch the new company, even though it was often not easy to continue working due to the crisis and many problems. After more than a year, it is finally time to launch the startup properly. There will be some actions and campaigns, such as the establishment of the platform including blog and store. Further actions will be announced every month, special developments and events will be published in time with corresponding articles and press releases. Social networks, photos and videos will underline the enterprise in the future, there will be sufficient info materials. Interested parties are invited to public actions and future events.
Active support and constructive feedback is always welcome. For this purpose, the official communication channels such as eMail and other contact possibilities via the networks and platforms can be used. The Urban Greening Camp and palm project will be a platform for cultural, socio-economic and scientific exchange. Active participants are welcome to join the innovative developments and connected projects. The nursery and inner-city market garden will cultivate not only palm trees but also other important plants such as medicinal, medicinal and medicinal plants. Endangered tree species and important flowering plants for bees are also included in the program. The Greening Deserts species conservation center, associated projects and plant breeding facilities, archive and future seed storage are part of the species conservation camp. The whole site with office is the European Center for Biodiversity and Species Conservation, it will connect further international libraries, archives, networks and organizations online and with a special biodiversity conservation computing network. Deep Learning and the future Internet (IoE) will play a central role. The Species Conservation and Biodiversity Center, the CES-RPP and Greening Camp project was launched and initiated by Oliver Gediminas Caplikas in recent years.
A brief introduction to the developments, services, products and important goals
The startup project mainly deals with garden products, palm and palm products such as date syrup, palm coffee, palm juice and palm sugar. Innovative developments and new markets are the passion of the startup. Every month new innovative products are introduced, interesting services are offered and research results are presented. After all, it’s not just about simple palm products, but about complex materials and substances. For example, palm leaves can be used to make insulating materials, paper products and pressed boards or building blocks. Since there are enough palm trees and surplus worldwide, many other useful products can also be established – see charcoal and coconut substrate from coconut shells. In addition, many of the products serve health and wellness. There will be much awesome product developments like palm coffee and palm juice with date palm syrup and palm sugar. The Palms Coffee project will focus on new coffee creations, so like ice palm coffee.
The Leipzig startup has set itself the goal in some areas to be one of the market leaders, by opening up completely new markets, this should not be a problem. Strong investors, international partners and sponsors are invited to participate in the startup, especially in the early phase. From 2022 onwards, this will only be possible to a limited extent, as there are already many international interested parties. We always welcome new people, because there is enough potential for so many areas. For example, for the beginning we can employ a temp and interns, active project and team leaders will be in the future are invited as well as botanists, gardeners, economic or scientific professions, also because there is enough work, interesting tasks and a lot to learn. Species conservation, education, climate protection, sustainability, ecological, socio-economic work or action and environmental protection are at the top of the agenda.
The international startup cultivates and brings hardy palm trees to European cities like Berlin, Paris and London. In May and June, LE Palms sponsored the first palm species to the Palmengarten in Leipzig, such as the Wagner palm Trachycarpus wagnerianus and Sabal dwarf palmetto, with more species to follow. As part of the species conservation program, other important species are also being introduced to Leipzig’s green spaces, especially endangered native species. Important grasses, herbs and wildflowers can be introduced together with other species protection and nature conservation projects of NABU and BUND, if they are interested in an exchange and cooperation. Raised crops and raised beds can also provide extra useful areas in public places and at paths.
The Urban Greening Camp project and LE Palms will design extra species protection raised beds, which will also serve as a refuge for particularly endangered species. Similar to the information boards at the Leipzig Zoo, the raised beds will provide a lot of useful information, also via digital interfaces like the QR code and virtual functions like via augmented reality apps. We look forward to creative minds and participation from Leipzig’s cultural landscape. We have all suffered long enough through the crisis and as the new President of America said, it is time to let people, nations and nature heal. We should work and grow together with nature, because any fight against nature will be lost sooner or later. We need more environmental awareness and sustainable work or life in so many areas, such as more sustainable work, production and especially more sustainable and ecological consumption. Species conservation and climate protection does not come by itself, it affects us all, in large as well as small ways.
Experienced arborists, biodiversity conservationists, botanists, environmentalists, tree experts, dentrologists, gardeners and similar professions are invited to participate in the project and future actions. We would like to organize a botanical event and meeting for species conservationists, botanists, botanical gardens and related organizations from all over the world in Leipzig, this was supposed to be prepared already in 2019 and realized in 2020, but was prevented by the crisis. More information about future actions will be published on Greening Deserts project pages.
Finally, some more good news and a quote from the founder
The Greening Deserts biodiversity conservation program, Greening Camps and Trillion Trees initiative for biodiversity conservation, species protection and climate change mitigation, ecological education and ecosystem restoration, environmental protection, sustainable greening and reforestation can reduce the effects of climate change, deforestation, droughts, desertification, floods, land degradation, mass extinctions, global warming and pollution worldwide.
Agroforestry, more flowering trees, food forests, mixed forests, pole crops, and diverse orchards with diverse fruits that are available to animals and humans alike can be combined with more sustainable agriculture and ecological forestry! AI, aquaponics, CleanTech, hydroponics, GreenTech, permaculture techniques and vertical farming, advanced scientific developments in these fields can help improve the whole society, economy and science.
Climate protection, nature conservation and environmental protection is also species protection – so it is also human protection. We need more environmental awareness and sustainability, more sustainable production, sustainable actions, living and working, in all areas or fields! We need to create a world of understanding, acceptance, respect, tolerance, compassion and awareness – otherwise there will be no peace in the world. – Oliver Gediminas Caplikas
Greening Deserts Critically Endangered Species Research and Protection Program (CES-RPP) started an extra project for endangered tree species to focus on the most important issue of global biodiversity conservation and establish more biodiversity in habitats and forests worldwide. This will also promote many other ecosystems, and stabilize as well as improve the atmosphere or air, biosphere, global climate and water cycle. The contribution of trees to the improvement of soil, life, air and water quality should be clear to everyone. There is as much life in a handful of soil from a rainforest as in hundreds of soccer fields, but not so much in fields and meadows. It depends also on the history and vegetation. The main focus of the special species protection project for critically endangered tree species is the building of special seed storage facilities (boxes and cabinets) and other innovative solutions in various areas. The exchange and sharing of experiences are particularly important. With the Urban Greening Camp we can store and preserve seeds professionally. In the field of Indoor Gardening and Vertical Farming we can cultivate many species of trees, especially for the European and Mediterranean regions. We can share seeds and plants with botanical gardens and professional nurseries around the world. Numerous international institutions, organizations, universities, biodiversity and plant scientists, and tree and forest specialists have already been informed about many of these aspects and projects in 2020.
This announcement and information of the new Greening Deserts project for critically endangered species can be shared worldwide. The project title is 1001+ Critically Endangered Tree Species Seed Storage and Tree Cultivation Project. The Trillion Trees Initiative will help to share the trees and seeds worldwide in the future, especially in regions where more biodiversity is needed or trees have become extinct or very rare. Some of the other Greening Deserts projects and special programs can also help establish many of the endangered tree species on which many other species depend. These special biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, environmental greening, ecological reforestation and species protection projects can save millions of life forms worldwide. Healthy ecosystems like forests are habitat for countless organisms and can save many endangered insects, fungi and microbes. That’s why Greening Deserts species conservation projects will focus on biodiversity forests, drylands, grasslands and wetlands. Urban greening and biodiversity in cities will be supported by the upcoming greening, research and species protection camps.
Species conservationists, tree experts, botanists, tree growers, and all friends of nature are invited to join the project, for example by exchanging useful information or sharing constructive feedback and resources. Of course, other experts and scientists who are able to support the project can also join. Together with the CES-RPP, we can set a goal to recultivate and replant forests, typical tree landscapes, and regions with critically endangered tree species and key plant species worldwide. If we focus on cultivating and exchanging seedlings around the world, we can save many tree species from extinction. If all goes well, we can lift the critically endangered status of many trees and truly save them by cultivating plants and sharing seeds. Other important tasks are to show natural alternatives to pesticides, and to promote nature-based solutions and permaculture.
Botanical gardens, nurseries, tree experts, forestry companies and tree-related businesses should pay more attention to these factors. One big cause of the biodiversity loss and mass mortality is deforestation and too many monocultures. This issue is not only about the few established tree species in forestry, it is also about many other important plants and keystone species. With the endangered tree species that we want to cultivate and share worldwide, thousands of other species can be saved and protected. These trees and plants may even bring back other species that were thought to be extinct. Biodiverse forests, meadows and fields are the key to counteracting global species extinction on a large scale. Many of the critically endangered tree species play a particularly important role. On the pages of Greening Deserts and affiliated projects, you can read more about the real problems and good solutions in almost all areas, especially how to act in a truly efficient and sustainable way.
Environmental satellites, GIS systems, and satellite imagery of global vegetation can also help select the right trees for the right areas. Historical archives and plant databases can be used to find suitable tree species for those regions with low biodiversity, like in Europe and North Africa, where few tree species exist and many have been lost or forgotten—especially in relation to the approximately 60,000 tree species, of which about 10,000 are endangered and 1400 are critically endangered. That’s why Greening Deserts has set the goal of saving the most endangered tree species, while working together with interested species protection organizations, tree nurseries, botanical gardens and institutions in this area. It is not only about biodiversity hotspots, new forests and a few more tree species, but about many other plants, animals and ecosystems that used to have a greater biodiversity. Biodiversity in cities and urban regions is more important than many people think. Ecosystem and landscape experts can help to find good places for greening and reforestation, or even for completely new forests, such as in man-made deserts or urban concrete jungles. Urban greening and urban forests will play an increasingly important role over time, especially in relation to the issues of biodiversity, global greening, health and the urban cooling aspect.
Some cities are now already up to four degrees hotter than in the old days, i.e. the 1.5 or 2 degree target has long been exceeded in some regions! Many people around the world have died as a result of the droughts and heat waves of recent years. The passive effects of the climate crisis, such as environmental or natural disasters and pandemics are underestimated, especially when it comes to poverty. Experts estimate that over 100 million people will fall into poverty during the actual crises. All the more reason why we need holistic solutions to the climate crisis and global solidarity with these poor, sick and weak people. Healthy ecosystems and a healthy environment are the basis for the health of all life forms. Adapting to climate change and strengthening cultures is important not only for humans but for animal and plant species. Only together with nature we can overcome the crises. Nature-based solutions play an increasingly important role. One can see the Corona crisis as part of the climate crisis, especially since the virus was originated in a region of damaged or polluted environment in China. Many people think the virus came from a wet market with endangered species in Wuhan, but some scientists think it started to spread by wild animals like bats. The chance of a spread of zoonotic viruses that can be transmitted between animals and humans is higher in damaged ecosystems.
Climate protection and environmental protection is also species protection—and therefore human protection. Species recovery, species conservation, and biodiversity with species protection camps and special protection programs like the Trillion Trees Initiative can reduce global species extinction with appropriate international support. The camps primarily serve to restore near-natural ecosystems. Global greening can accelerate the peace-building process and reduce climate change effects like global warming and air pollution. Environmental awareness, ethical and social principles, sustainable production and work, and human rights and indigenous rights are very important for future development. For years, we have been informing organizations and institutions about Greening Deserts projects. Requests for funding and support of these important developments and projects have been sent several times.
The global extinction of species, lack of biodiversity and species protection or too little species rescue in many areas also increasingly affects human health. The current crisis and drought years have clearly shown everyone how quickly ecosystems can collapse or become unbalanced. The important role of missing tree species, especially in tree-poor regions of Europe and the Mediterranean, is greatly underestimated. Several hundred other species can depend on each individual tree species! Since many thousands of tree species are critically endangered and only rarely present, hundreds of thousands of species that depend on these trees are missing. This is one reason behind the extinction of numerous species. Trees fulfill important functions and are key elements of ecosystems and cycles. Climate and weather systems are also significantly influenced and stabilized by trees and forests, as well as all associated plants.
One unfortunately still hears many limited arguments or opinions in agriculture and forestry. Agroforestry, food forests, flowering trees and more trees with fruits for animals and humans are possible to combine more sustainable agriculture and ecological forestry! AI, aquaponics, cleantech, hydroponics, greentech, permaculture techniques and vertical farming, scientific developments or achievements can also help improve all these areas or sectors. Many of the long discussed conflicts are really unnecessary, especially the land use conflict. Think about all the space in the air, underground, underwater and on waters. A lot of things are possible at the same time if one is creative, willing to compromise and understanding. Often there is simply a lack of awareness and will. If all nations plant a few billion trees during the next years we could reach the goal of a trillion trees extra for planet Earth easily. If the most of the humans plant a few hundred trees in their life the humanity could plant another trillion trees in just one generation – it could be so easy if all humans would act together. In the meanwhile we will push the trillion trees initiatives with good actions, examples and projects. Many people and organizations were informed about the Greening Deserts sustainable developments, innovative ideas and outstanding projects.
Here are some of the main projects: Afforestation.org, Artenschutzcamp, Desert Bamboo Africa, Climate Adaption EU, Ecosystem Restoration Network, Eichenpark, Energy Storage Park, Greening Coasts, Greening Drones, Greenhouse Ship, Green Ring Africa, Great Green Wall North Africa, Hemp Papers, LE Palms, Palm Coffee, Recycling Ship, Reforestation Europe, Rice Straw Paper, Rooftop Greening, Seeding Balloon, School Forests, Species Protection Europe, Transparent Solar, Trillion Trees Africa, Trillion Trees Foundation, Urban Greening Network,.. tbc..
The first Urban Greening Camp and species protection camp will be located in Leipzig, Germany. It will be also an biodiversity center and international biodiversity conservation platform. The state of Saxony is a relatively central region in Europe. Effective logistics, sustainable working and sustainable packaging as well as shipping should not be a problem. The founder and initiator Oliver Gediminas Caplikas is working hard on the concepts and projects, at the moment he prepares a new location and the launch of a new startup. The startup project mainly deals with palms and palm products. More about the new project development in the next article and press release. Many interesting developments, information and projects on the topics have been published in scientific networks and on various platforms during the last years. Read more on Greening Deserts official project pages.
Constructive feedback and real support is always welcome. Feel free to contact and to connect by the social networks or other official channels. Sustainable joint ventures, investments, partnerships and sponsorships are always welcome.
You can download the complete article as PDF, it is the second edit of February. Greening_Deserts_species_protection_projects_for_critically_endangered_species
Since 2018, new records have been set in terms of droughts, hottest months and driest years in centuries. The drought, heat and pests have been affecting the forests more and more since 2019 and unfortunately there is no improvement in sight in 2020 either. In Germany there was the most severe forest damage in over 200 years. Fires and storms have greater effects, because of the large amount of damaged wood and the tree damage, there are more problems with pests and fungal attack. Fine dust and environmental toxins from agriculture give many plants and animals the rest, especially insects such as bees suffer from environmental destruction. Air pollution, insecticides and pesticides are not only a danger for bees, they also endanger many other species, especially in areas of agriculture and livestock farms. Many of the typical trees and forests in forestry are monocultures and conifers such as douglas firs, spruces, pines, larches and firs – unfortunately they do not offer much nectar. Almost 80 percent of the conifers were felled because of damage. At just under 70 percent, the proportion of damaged wood in 2019 was more than three times as high as in 2010. As already described in the article on the Leipzig Oak Park of Diversity project, even strong tree species such as oaks are affected. Whether from pests, powdery mildew or drought stress, the plants suffer very badly from drought. Like many deciduous trees, oaks are deep-rooted, which draw water from the lower soil layers. What they don’t need themselves, they release closer to the surface. This makes oak a good soil regulator, for example through its pronounced symbioses with microorganisms and fungi. Oaks and other robust trees suffer from climate change, as do many people and animals. Damage to trees and forests is not only caused by fire, drought and heat waves, but also by fungus, pests, snow breaks, storms, floods and environmental toxins – as well as air and water pollution.
There are around four billion hectares of forest on earth. There are around 60,000 tree species worldwide and over 10,000 of them are threatened with extinction. According to an assessment by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), more than half of European tree species are endangered. Of the approximately 450 tree species, 265 do not occur on any other continent. More than 150 species are threatened, 66 species are at the highest level of endangerment and therefore close to extinction. In total, more than 28,000 animal and plant species are listed as endangered worldwide. These are data and statistics from recent years and some of the figures are already out of date, especially after the massive droughts and forest fires. It can be assumed that many more species are now threatened and in some regions even extinct.
According to climate research, long-term studies and weather experts, extreme drought is becoming normal in Europe in summer. In spring there is also a lack of water for healthy plant growth in many places around the world. The soils and forests can hold less water because the important reservoirs are not only dried out but damaged, i.e. the storage capacity is reduced and in some cases reduced for years. If middle and deeper soil layers harden, humus layers decay to dust or are destroyed, even a lot of rain does not help at first. It then takes years of moderate rain and much plant growth until these soil layers are loosened and watered again. Trees, hedges and other plants that can form complex, strong and deep roots need a few years to loosen middle and deep soil layers. Many plants lose branches, leaves and fruit during a drought or extreme drought. The proportion of trees with significant crown thinning increased to about 35 percent in 2019. If the trees and plants are generally weakened, they are more susceptible to parasites and other pests such as bark beetles, jewel beetles and processionary moth. In most cases, the damaged wood cannot remain in the forest. Much of this wood is not suitable for wood processing or high-quality products for the construction and furniture industries. Often the only option left is to process it into inferior wood products such as chipboard or wood pellets. A lot of damaged wood has been coming onto the market since 2018 and the price of wood has collapsed dramatically, the forecasts for 2021 and 2022 do not look any better. There is currently so much wood per year that would normally be enough for three years or more. The forest and wood industries are recording massive losses, and even cheap oak is already being sold as firewood. Forest companies and forest owners will have to work for a long time to compensate and repair the damage of recent years.
Future challenges, conflicts, wars and crises because of the worldwide water availability and water supply
The water reserves in the soil are becoming increasingly scarce, the soils are becoming drier overall. It has been relatively dry in Germany since 2015. The past two years exceeded the previous record drought of 1976. At that time it was exceptionally dry for five years and some tree species were replaced or supplemented by drought-resistant species such as hornbeam, service tree and field maple. But the adaptation of forests to the crisis and forest restructuring makes no sense if the groundwater will levels sink, lakes, rivers and water reservoirs partially dry up. Dry periods in winter are also a big problem, because when there is no snow there is much less water due to the melting of snow. The problem has been known for a long time, for example the lack of water supply due to the disappearance of glaciers and large areas of snow or ice. When mountains and oceans absorb more sun, the planet heats up even faster, especially at the North Pole. Fires and very hot times in northern areas of Russia also accelerate the thawing of the permafrost soil. Similar to the largest share of the greenhouse gas methane from agriculture or livestock farming, methane is released by the decomposition of the thawed biomass. As this happens in a very short time, the atmosphere, biosphere and weather systems cannot simply compensate for this, resulting in extreme climate changes and an increase in extreme weather conditions. For some years now, climate researchers have been able to prove the connection between extreme drought and severe flooding. In the meantime, there have been several fires, droughts and floods of the century, not only in Germany and Europe – but unfortunately also in Africa, America, Asia and India.
According to various surveys, around 80 percent are very concerned about the persistent drought. In France, Poland, the Czech Republic and other European countries, the spring was marked by low rainfall this year. French forests are very much endangered by the drought years and the hot summer of 2019. It was one of the deadliest heat waves in all of Europe, killing thousands of humans. The harmful effects of the droughts can be clearly seen on satellite images, many brown and gray fields in Europe and many large cities such as Berlin are affected. It affects especially regions in the north and east, in principle all federal states are affected. The cities in particular need more greenery, as they can heat up much more as the surrounding area. What you see more and more often are dry meadows, trees and bushes. The parks and water areas are therefore just as important as the greening of roofs and facades. The soil moisture, the total groundwater level and the groundwater levels in different regions of Germany are too low, at least in relation to normal amounts of precipitation and water levels. In April 2020, there was far too little rainfall in almost all federal states; the states of Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia were particularly affected. The soil moisture in the topsoil and total soil is simply too little for many plants. Due to the lack of water available to plants, drought stress or water stress quickly occurs. The photosynthesis of the plants and the growth decrease. If the usable soil water continues to fall, plant water stress occurs and the plants begin to dry up.
The drought monitor of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research showed that the total soil in large parts of Germany was characterized by extreme to extraordinary drought in April and midsummer 2020. Similar to the drought monitor from the Environmental Research Center in Leipzig, there is also a research project in Switzerland called Drought CH or Trockenheit.ch, where information on the current situation is shown. The colleagues also summarize a lot of interesting data from the last few years. Such information is becoming more and more important, especially if conflicts over water resources increase in the future, whether in the energy industry for cooling or in agriculture for agricultural irrigation. It affects many European countries. If the water reserves become increasingly scarce, conflicts of use over water resources can be intensified considerably. The use of water, water resources and water management must become more economical or more sustainable so that there is not another water crisis in the next few years. Using ponds, water towers and underground water reservoirs to collect rainwater makes more and more sense, especially when you consider that around 80 percent of all irrigation throughout Germany is done with groundwater. An increasing demand for water from agriculture contrasts with other usage interests and problems, such as the public supply of drinking water, over 70 percent of which is obtained from groundwater. In addition, forests consume a lot of groundwater in dry times, this can affect rivers and other waters. The drought year 2018 and 2019 severely dried out many soils and water reservoirs, to compensate this it takes many years of rain above the usual annual average. Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony are the federal states with the lowest rainfall. Specific figures can be found on the relevant weather portals and statistics pages.
Forest dieback, desertification and expanding deserts in Europe
Due to the third year of drought in a row, there will also be considerable problems for the plant world in winter and spring 2020, as many soils and plants will not be able to recover so easily under these extreme conditions. The garden, park and forest maintenance is therefore more important than ever this year, every citizen should lend a hand in his spare time, even if it are just a few buckets of water for the tree in front of the door or some irrigation for bushes, hedges or trees at the streets. Unfortunately, awareness of sustainable use and the problem of water waste is still not taken seriously. The production of one kilo of beef requires around 15,000 liters of water, pork almost 6,000 and chicken 4,300 liters. The average water footprint in Germany is 3,900 liters per person per day. This figure includes the amount of water that is used for the production of consumed food and goods in one’s own country, but also the water that is needed, for example, for the manufacture of clothing or electrical appliances abroad. This also applies to ‘more ecological’ electric cars, which unfortunately are still made with a lot of coal, plastic and oil. The coal electricity for car production and rail traffic alone is astronomical.
2019 was the hottest year in the history of Europe, according to scientific findings, with the drought year 2018 and the drought summer 2020, it is now the worst drought in a row for 250 years. The droughts and heat waves of recent years clearly show that the climate crisis is having a significant impact on our lives, the environment, consumption and our economy. An adaptation of the plants to the more extreme climate occurs naturally, but should be supported and improved by sustainable strategies of climate change adaptation. This should not only apply to crops or to livestock, but also especially to endangered species. The selfish nature, way of life and work in certain areas of society and industry, such as fossil energy, monotonous agriculture and forestry, is harming the environment. Selfishness, ignorance and little will to change in the direction of sustainability, nature and environmental protection have produced a destructive chemical industry, energy industry, aviation, shipping, heavy industry, monoculture agriculture and monotonous forestry.
The biodiversity, soil and water quality have suffered extremely, valuable landscapes and habitats have been destroyed or have been lost due to rigorous greed for profit and environmental degradation. If things continue like this, even regardless of the climate crisis, there will soon be no more fertile land, only dust and desert. Greening Deserts Climate analyses and long-term studies, in coordination with international climate researchers and climate models, have repeatedly confirmed an increase in extreme weather conditions – even before the drought years or floods of the century, as in Europe and India in 2018 and 2019. There have been several warnings that extreme droughts and floods will become more frequent in Europe, initially in southern Europe and, with further drought years, also in central Europe. This has now even been confirmed in a study by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig. Now all we need are realistic solutions and feasibility studies to counteract these extremely rapid changes. A wind of change is blowing.
Usually the jet stream with the high and low pressure areas moves from west to east and brings Central Europe a mix of sun, clouds and rain. However, with the accelerated climate change, the high pressure areas tend to persist for weeks over some European regions in summer. As a result, there are long heat waves and droughts, in the low-pressure areas there are more frequent heavy rain and floods. Various temperature and heat records have been set over the years, in 2020 there were many cold summer nights and very large temperature fluctuations. Due to the many dry and windy days, the drought has increased overall. The logging caused by wind and storm damage amounted to 18.5 million cubic meters in 2018. That is four times as much compared to the previous year. There are many forest fires because the soil and top layers with branches, leaves or needles are very dry. The risk of fire is also very high for agriculture, especially when dry fields catch fire, for example from careless drivers and smokers or from broken glass. A field fire, forest fire or forest fire is no fun because it can spread to settlements.
In many German cities there is a state of emergency, as the asphalt and concrete deserts often heat up more than the surrounding areas can quickly reach heat records of over 40 degrees. Many people, animals and plants die. In the Frankfurt metropolitan area, thousands of dead trees will probably have to be felled due to the weeks of drought and heat in the midsummer 2020. Particularly in the driest areas of Germany, many villages and towns are affected by the tree death. Due to the drought stress and plant water stress that has damaged and weakened the plants over the years, a relatively short heat phase is enough to give the plants the rest, then often watering them does not help. On the contrary, too much water at once can even damage the plants, for example if the plant cannot absorb much water due to a large part of dried up leaves, there is then a risk of accelerated root rot at the high temperatures, which can occur more often with tap water and dried out roots. If many of the deeper soil layers have completely dried out, the water cannot drain off properly, and waterlogging then forms in some places. Gardeners and plant experts know the problem. So if possible use rainwater and then not too much at once, preferably over a large area and spread over a few evenings. If the soil is not too hard, you can put drainage in some places with a pointed stick. If the soil is slightly damp overall, the rainwater can then penetrate better into deeper layers and root areas.
Climate change knows no borders, large parts of Europe are affected by drought and water scarcity. We need an adaptation and improvement of the water management or regulation as soon as possible in order to secure the public drinking water and industrial water supply in the long term. The fear of the consequences of a third year of drought is great, especially if the water table drops, entire rivers and lakes dry up. The drought threatens historical gardens and even well-known parks, the drought also has an indirect effect on all plant growth in the area. Only if the spread of healthy and relatively wild nature is promoted by favorable conditions nature as a whole can recover and regenerate. In the case of monoculture agriculture and monotonous forestry, this is difficult, but not impossible. Some consequences can only be felt years later, as environmental and weather systems sometimes react very slowly. It is similar to the nitrate or slurry problem, where in some extreme cases the groundwater wil be polluted over the years.
Really serious consequences for agriculture are still to come, probably in the years 2025 to 2030. From 2013 to 2015 there have been massive changes in global weather systems and cycles. Many of these changes also occur gradually and over long periods of time, so they cannot be seen as clearly as the consequences of a drought summer. So that you can really change something sustainably and positively, you should think in time windows of over 10 years or even decades. It is frightening to see even natural mixed forests which are suffering from climate change. The drought years even have a strong impact on humid areas, as the groundwater level often falls due to the long dry periods. Wetlands and bogs can dry out, which increases the likelihood of bog and forest fires. In addition, there are the problems of peat extraction and the drainage of landscapes for agriculture. The diverse forest conversion and the expansion of wetlands such as floodplains and moors must finally be given priority. Many nature reserves, national parks, natural regions and near-natural landscape protection areas should be expanded and connected, if possible for example with flower strips and wild meadows. Protected areas in nature and landscape protection should also be expanded and include urban regions and larger city parks or city forests. Special wilderness biotopes for a relatively free development of really ’natural nature’ should be made possible in the protected areas. Because nature is not the same as nature, at least according to the understanding of society and people.
Soil quality and healthier soils through more ecological forestry and sustainable agriculture, as well as better water management, are important to mitigate the negative consequences and effects of climate change. The already often mentioned building up of humus, cultivation of deep-rooting plants, soil improvement and green manure plants can contribute significantly to soil formation and improvement of the overall soil. Protective layers with ground cover and wildflower meadows can protect the soil in particularly hot and dry times. The principle applies, just let it grow and support nature in the development of biodiversity with natural seeds. Naturally with suitable species depending on the region and vegetation zone, i.e. suitable plants of / for mountainous areas, wetlands, grasslands, meadows and forests. To do this, one should think more about aquatic plants and then use them to improve water bodies. Because a large part of the rivers and lakes in Germany is in a precarious state, at least when it comes to the ecological aspect, neighboring agriculture, shipping and biodiversity. Without ecosystem services, human life on earth would not be possible. Worldwide, around 60% of the ecosystem services examined by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment are in a critical state; they are at great risk from environmental pollution and environmental damage.
We all have to help make whole landscapes more diverse and resistant to climate extremes, including urban regions and cities – for this purpose, among other things, the Urban Greening Camp project started. More urban greening, solar and water surfaces as well as lighter surfaces can cool down urban areas, so-called for near-natural recreation areas and biological diversity. Agriculture based on solidarity and community gardens are also good solutions that can bring more biodiversity and community profits.
Here are a few more suggestions for improvement.
Professional advice and recommendation to good addresses and contacts in the above areas for corresponding consideration is possible, for this you can simply contact the author of this article by email.
Greening Deserts analyses and research projects have been dealing with climate change and extreme weather conditions such as exceptional heat, drought and floods since 2016. Despite all the optimism, the prognosis for the coming years does not look rosy. It takes a lot of effort, motivation and support to be able to work and live normally throughout the crisis. Cohesion is more important than ever in these times, egoism and ignorance only make things worse. We need more solidarity and courage, whether through useful information, the exchange of experiences or other meaningful actions. Simply going out into the streets unfortunately does not bring as much as taking part in constructive actions and actively participating in constructive actions for species protection, climate protection, nature conservation and environmental protection. For example planting trees, watering urban trees and plants, sowing wildflowers and caring for parks and meadows. Leaving this to others like the green space authorities or city cleaning is not a solution. In some countries or regions the corona crisis can result in massive financial problems and financial crises. There will be a lack of funds and resources for many of important environmental tasks or work in future. We all need to hold together in relation to the health of us all and the environment. Healthy ecosystems are the basis for a healthy life.
The global economic crisis and COVID-19 recession (Great Lockdown) will occupy society and the economy for many years to come. In principle there are several crises, e.g. the education crisis, health crisis, cultural crisis and social crisis. Greening Deserts articles also deal with these topics, especially in relation to the effects, consequences and causes of climate change. Many potential solutions are offered, but most of them can only be solved together – some of the suggestions have already been implemented personally or privately. I hope that many will follow. Good additions, ideas and suggestions for improvement are of course always welcome. @ feedback.greeningdeserts.com. Your friend of nature, Oliver Gediminas Caplikas. The next article deals with climate change adaptation and urban greening on many levels, for example with vertical farming. Heat-resistant and drought-tolerant plant species as well as special climate change woody plants will play an important role. Some of the plants are even drought-resistant or have a high ‘drought resistance’.
Climate protection, nature conservation and environmental protection is also species protection. These topics are important not only for the International Climate Week and international world days such as Arbor Day, World Tree Day or World Forest Day. In these times humanity has to deal with important climate problems in relation to the economy, ecology, environmental protection, nature conservation and sustainability almost every day, week, month and year. Like the corona crisis, the climate crisis knows no borders. It concerns us all. Global environmental awareness, sustainable living, more sustainable work and production can improve the climate and reduce human-made climate change effects, such as man-made deforestation, desertification and global warming. We can cool planet earth with more green landscapes, urban greening and diverse forests worldwide. Grasslands and wetlands play a special role in this.
Show that you can live and work really sustainably by saving energy, food, water and other natural resources. Reduce waste and pollution, especially plastic waste. Use alternative packaging and ecological products like bamboo or hemp products like Hemp Papers or Rice Straw Papers. Reduce deforestation, desertification and land degradation by using alternative heating and ecological building materials instead of wood. Do more for green places in your city, try to establish more community gardens, city parks, city forests, urban farming areas, fascade and rooftop gardens. The future of sustainable agriculture is ecofarming, aquaponics, hydroponics, permaculture, organic and vertical farming – even in urban areas. With urban greening on a large scale urban areas can help to cool down planet earth. Cleantech, greentech, green building, sustainable living, sustainable working and sustainable architecture is the future of sustainable building, sustainable production and sustainable cities. With large-scale urban greening, urban areas can help cool down planet earth. We all can learn a lot of desert cultures and desert cities, bedouins and indigenous people in arid landscapes or drylands. Many towns and regions around the Mediterranean Sea are also good examples, doing things like choosing light colors for their houses and roofs – but still missing more green roofs and rooftop solar on the buildings. Fascade greening and fascade solar could be a good addition to urban development in future. We need to be fast because of the desertification and rising droughts in Europe. The deserts and drylands of Africa are moving toward South Europe!
House boats or ships, mobile housing and underwater buildings can expand architecture and environmentally friendly habitats. Bamboo, hemp wood, rice straw building materials and fuels could reduce deforestation significantly. These methods would accelerate the process towards more climate neutral houses and urban areas. And again, the future of real sustainable cities, energy and traffic transition is AI and Cleantech, Energy Efficiency and Green Building, Greentech and Sustainable Architecture, Sustainable Living and Urban Greening, Sustainable Production and Sustainable Consumption, Sustainable Transport and Sustainable Working, Transparent Solar concepts and designs. Sustainable Agriculture, Ecological Forestry and Organic Farming in relation to community gardening, aquaponics, hydroponics, worldwide greening and permaculture projects can support the changes or transitions. Not to forget Sustainable Aviation, Sustainable Shipping and Sustainable Tourism. Think about new markets like a Plastic Fishing Market and Recycling Ships for example.
A good formula for real sustainable living and sustainable working is: Repair, Reuse, Recycle, Replace and Upcycle. – especially plastic. #RRRRU
Greening Deserts sustainable projects and initiatives such as Greening Camps and the Trillion Trees Initiative focuses on climate protection, education, research, the environment and species protection. We not only want to reforest or regreen the man-made deserts, arid areas and wasteland in Europe and Africa, we want also to create international platforms for sustainable economy, education, culture and science. The greening camps will also be climate camps and research camps for innovative cleantech and greentech developments. The camps will involve every region and culture in the greening and development process. The camps will also be a platform for the respective regions, with training and education in the foreground. There will be additional spaces or rooms for a library, lounge, workshop and a media room. This can enable many community activities and different types of events to be carried out, also online and virtually. International institutions, organizations, partners, projects, investors and sponsors are cordially invited to join our community network and projects!
There is a wide range of information about these topics, including innovative developments and real sustainable solutions to solve climate crisis, food, energy and water problems with global impact. Most of the solutions were confirmed by science and feasibility studies or similar concepts. International institutions and organizations were informed many times about Greening Deserts concepts, project developments and connected projects. @Agrophotovoltaik, Desert Bamboo Africa, Greening Coasts, Greening Drones, Greenhouse Ship, Green Ring Africa, Great Green Wall North Africa, Seeding Balloon, Transparent Solar,…
We not only need more actions, initiatives and innovations in the field of climate protection, nature and environmental protection. We need more action and effective solutions in relation to sustainable living and sustainable working in all areas, from big to small! Because the main problem and the main cause of the pollution are not only the car, coal and heavy industry, as well as agriculture, but it is every single one who causes and pushs the global warming and other negative climate changes by its consumption. This over-consumption and overproduction especially in areas of unhealthy monoculture food, IT technology, X-cars, smartphones and other pointless products are not just excessive waste but a meaningless destruction of resources and lives. Why should every year billions of animals and other life forms (animals and plants) die for humans if they can not even consume so many products. In some countries more than the half is thrown away, much products outdate or spoil because it is not effectively distributed or shared. Hundreds of millions of children go hungry every day and at the same time so many destroy and waste foods. In terms of food for example, one should improve preservation, logistics and distribution systems, use sustainable transport, drying and refrigeration systems more effectively worldwide instead of continuing to produce more – clearly, the solution is generally fairer distribution or sharing. If you extrapolate everything, the world produces food for over 10 billion people, countless mobile phones and notebooks for every single person.
Why do humans need so many products – more than they can even consume? Most of it becomes garbage. Metals, plastics and toxins get into the environment and sometimes even into our food. Recycling uses a lot of energy and resources. We need radical changes through more sustainable, cleaner and more sensible procurement, energy use, supply chains and production; we need intelligent, on-demand systems everywhere, so that products worldwide will be produced only as needed. In some cases, of course, essential products must be stored or produced for stock, like basic food or products like rice, for example. There should be reserves and storage for emergency cases, fast–rising demands or other critical things. But we and the world really don’t need hundreds of the same products that will become junk or scrap. Producers worldwide need to improve their operations in these areas, establishing Cleantech, Greentech, Sustainability, AI and On-Demand Systems. Large companies, as well as corporations, should simply produce less and only based on real demand by real consumers. At the very least, products which are constantly not consumed or thrown away – many meats such as chicken, pork and beef – should not be overproduced. They produce not only manure and methane which produce particulate matter, but they or the production wastes water and pollutes the groundwater and the environment in the long term.
We finally need a rethink in forestry and agriculture in terms of a more sustainable economy like Agroforestry, EcoFarming, EcoForestry, Mixed Culture and Permaculture. According to the latest findings and long-term studies, agriculture is responsible for most of the air pollution (approximately 40 percent) and the resulting water pollution! Years of deforestation had dried out whole landscapes and caused massive loss of wetlands, bogs and marshlands which can convert toxins and store up to fifty times as much CO2 as rainforests. Additionally, liquid manure and methane are a massive problem because the gases in the atmosphere create new fine dust, contaminating the groundwater for many years to come. In the coming Greening Camps, not only should these areas be researched, but also research the fields of green and clean technologies. The focus is on aquaponics, hydroponics, greenhouse, biowaste and water management, as well as new urban farming innovations.
Droughts in Germany and Europe: Drought threatens soils, agriculture and forests
It has been relatively dry in Germany since 2015, and the drought and heat waves in 2018 have seriously affected the environment. The soils of the forest are partly drier than the soils of grassland or greenland. The soil has dried out, even down to the deep layers. The groundwater very often sinks below critical levels, which significantly effects forests and bodies of water such as rivers and lakes. The water reserves are becoming increasingly scarce. Conflicts of use because of water scarcity can be exacerbated considerably. Water use and water management must become more economical and more sustainable so that there won’t be a real water crisis in the years to come. Using ponds, water towers and underground water reservoirs to collect rainwater makes more and more sense. This can be done with foils, trenches, solar pumps and agrophotovoltaic surfaces. Intelligent drip irrigation also saves a lot of water, because in dry times an incredible amount of water is wasted through irrigation or evaporation.
The fear of the consequences of another year of drought after 2019 is great, especially when drinking water becomes scarce and entire rivers or lakes dry out. After the exceptionally dry April and July, the probability of another year of drought becomes greater, but this cannot be definitively said until the end of 2020. Persistent drought threatens biodiversity, botanical gardens and well-known parks, even if many plants are watered; the aridity of the surrounding area has an indirect effect on all plant growth. An unhealthy environment in the neighborhood also affects healthy areas in the region; only if the spread of healthy nature is promoted by favorable conditions, can nature as a whole recover and regenerate. This is difficult, however, with monocultures, polluting agriculture and monotonous forestry. It is possible to change into a more sustainable agriculture and ecological forestry, still this year.
Since environmental and weather systems sometimes react very slowly, some consequences can only be felt years later, similar to the nitrate or slurry problem, where in some extreme cases the groundwater is still polluted years later. Many of the slow and creeping processes will have really serious consequences for agriculture. We will all have to live with the short-term and long-term effects of the climate crisis. Like nature, we can adapt to a certain extent, but active reduction of the problems and causes are of critical importance. Air quality is particularly important, because this also affects bodies of water and groundwater. According to the latest scientific research, air pollution from agriculture is even higher than pollution from traffic and the coal industry combined. This is not only due to the fine dust from dry fields, slurry spreading, keeping four, etc.; a big problem is the ammonia, which creates new fine dust in higher atmospheric layers. In the end, everything ends up in the water affectingthe water cycle and water quality.
Soil quality and healthier soils through more complex or versatile forestry and more ecological agriculture, as well as better water management, are important to mitigate the consequences of climate change. The use of humus generating plants, deep roots, soil improvement and green manure plants can significantly contribute to soil formation and improvement of the overall soil. Some plants even have the potential to save the climate. Industrial hemp, for example, and hemp plants promote biodiversity and improve the moisture content; the leaves and plant roots can also form humus. The pronounced roots loosen the soil. The hemp fibers of the stems can be used for hemp paper, hemp cardboard and other packaging. Undemanding types of hemp are suitable for this, as they can cope well with drought and do not have to be fertilized.
Protective layers with ground cover and wildflower meadows can protect the soil in particularly hot and dry times. The principle applies, just let it grow and support nature in the development of biodiversity with natural seeds. Work naturally with suitable species depending on the region and vegetation zone, i.e. suitable plants for mountainous areas, wetlands, grasslands, meadows and forests. To do this, one should think more about aquatic plants which can be used to improve water bodies. A large part of the rivers and lakes in Germany are in a precarious state, at least when it comes to the ecological aspect, neighboring agriculture, shipping and loss of biodiversity. This is also a problem of other European states. The economy and politics really need to care about the ongoing desertification and rising droughts in Europe. The deserts and drylands of Africa moving towards South Europe! The southern regions need fast climate adaption models and resilience plans to prevent worst case scenarious. Droughts, floods and rising fires are just the tip of the iceberg.
We all have to help make whole landscapes more diverse and more resistant to climate extremes, including urban regions and cities. For this purpose, among other things, the Urban Greening Camp project started. Solidarity agriculture and community gardens are also a good solution which can bring more biodiversity and community profits. Show courage, solidarity and support for a healthy nature and more sustainable life on planet Earth. Show that you can really live and work sustainably by using energy or electricity, water and natural resources sparingly. Avoid overconsumption and pollution, especially plastic and air pollution from cars, planes and ships. Avoid environmental pollution of any kind, especially through the use of fossil fuels and polluting fuels such as coal. Reduce plastic waste and uses alternative materials such as bamboo, hemp and rice straw paper. Remember your human connection to the planet, and work for a better and fairer climate.
Clean air, fresh water and a healthy environment are human rights. Climate protection, nature protection and environmental protection are also plant protection, animal protection and human protection or species protection, in general! We should all be more aware about climate justice and environmental justice; especially in future when a huge part of humanity will be affected by the climate crisis, extreme weather and rising sea levels.
Short summary:
Greening Deserts sustainable projects and initiatives such as Greening Camps and the Trillion Trees Initiative have been working on sustainable projects for society, a healthier nature and a more diverse environment for years. The projects mainly serve the protection of species and environmental protection. We want to reforest or regreen man-made deserts, arid regions and wastelands in Europe and Africa, as well as create international platforms for more sustainable research, economy, education, culture and science. The greening camps will also be climate and research camps for innovative cleantech and greentech developments. The camps can include almost any region and culture in the greening and development process. Larger camps will have an energy storage park and maybe even expanded to a cleantech and greentech campus or science park.
Join the Greening Deserts projects and initiatives like the Trillion Trees Initiative to reduce negative climate changes, deforestation, droughts, desertification, land degradation, floods and global warming on a large scale – especially in human-made deserts, drylands and wastelands. Different nations, organizations, personalities and institutions have already expressed their interest. Let’s make the world green again, together!
Let’s plant billions or even a trillion trees to improve the climate and to reduce global warming significantly, especially with urban greening camps in urban areas. It is maybe the cheapest and most effective solution. Good solutions are regreening drylands and wastelands with different kinds of resistant and typical plants, for example ground cover, wild grasses, wild flowers and medicinal plants – the basis for the following tree plantations and mixed forests. Seeds can be dropped by seeding balloons and seeding drones. Another way is to use bamboo and hemp to loosen the soils and to produce topsoil layers in the first years.
The project developers thinking about a Greening Foundation, Greening Fund or Trillion Trees Fund to manage the green finance for the forestation and greening projects, but also for innovative Cleantech and Greentech developments or projects like Agrophotovoltaik, Desert Bamboo Africa, Hemp Houses, Hemp Papers, Greening Coasts, Greening Drones, Greenhouse Ship, Green Ring Africa, Great Green Wall North Africa, Seeding Balloon, Seeding Drones and Transparent Solar Greenhouses.
All these projects were founded and initiated by the founder Oliver Gediminas Caplikas during the last years. Strong future partners and investors for the ongoing project developments are always welcome! Invest in true values like education, ecological or real sustainable products and services together with our upcoming education, greening and research camps. Your investment in Greening Deserts projects will really change the world and will make future and history.
Building a basic camp with a little team needs approx three to nine months, depends on the conditions and region. Greening and forestation of each concerned region starts from the very beginning, so like planting trees for the first parks. Bigger camps can get an Energy Storage Park with a Solar Park, Water Park and Wind Park. Smaller camps will have of course solar energy and water supply, too. There are many developments and other projects connected, most of them will be realized with the camps. You can read more about on the official and social pages.
Greening Deserts are economical, educational, cultural, social, scientific and sustainable projects to reduce desertification and global warming, to improve healthy environments, sustainable agriculture (EcoFarming) and ecological forestry (EcoForestry). It is also interesting for urban areas, city forests and gardens – especially community and rooftop gardens. Many ambassadors, ministers, trade commissioners, scientists and experts were invited to join Greening Deserts campaigns, initiatives and projects during the years. We exchanged a lot about the sustainable developments, technics and techniques could be developed at the new Greening Camps.
Many scientists confirming Greening Deserts concepts and projects, for example to plant a trillion trees to reduce human-made climate change effects and global warming worldwide. With financial support the projects like the Greening and Research Camps could finally start with forestation and greening, especially of drylands or wastelands in Africa and Europe. The Greening Camp project development is running since 2018, after successful funding in 2020 or 2021 the project can start fast as possible and build the first pilot camps. You are ready for the real Green Deal, so you are welcome to join Greening Deserts as investor, future partner or sponsor.
Visit the official pages for more information:
http://independent.academia.edu/GreeningDeserts
http://www.trilliontreesinitiative.com
http://www.trilliontreesinitiative.org
More important information about Greening Deserts special projects like the new Critically Endangered Species (CES-RPP) research and protection program.
It’s about Greening Camps, innovative developments, research, global goals and effective solutions. Greening Deserts projects like the greening and research camps will be platforms for Cleantech, climate protection, nature conservation, culture, education, environmental and species protection, Greentech and science. All camps can have a library, lounge and media room. Perfect to exchange with education, book and media branch, to experiment with creative designs, green building and sustainable architecture. Bigger camps can get an Energy Storage Park and even could be expanded to a kind of campus or science park.
We have not much time to establish hundreds of camps, greenhouses and new special areas – on land and at sea – for the most endangered species and keystone species of this world. It is similar as with other cascade effects like the permafrost and wetlands problem. If more keystone species like the bees extinct, even relative unknown or small ones, it will accelerate the mass extinction and reach ‘tipping points’ in relation to the critical biodiversity loss is ongoing. The only way is to focus on this most important issue of the world and put it on the first place of all agendas, concentrate on the most endangered known species and find the forgotten and unknown keystone species with best of search algorithms, networks and intelligent systems like AI, Deep Learning, cloud and crowdworking, archive management and intelligent library systems – powered by best of computing environments, so like special supercomputers. It has really more priority as using so much computing resources for astrological calculations, brain simulations or other mega applications which doing all the same or nearly similar kind of tasks or work. Not to mention all the energy wasting computers, servers and smartphones in idle mode or used for time wasting tasks like certain films, series or war games.
Think for example about wasting hundred of billions each year for space exploration and missions like for Mars, countless new rockets and satellites for the same tasks. It was all senseless if the world goes down in near future. Many of them doing nearly the same work, we the humanity not really need, it’s similar like other overproducing industries. It is really a problem all that waste in space! We need a more sustainable aerospace industry and better regulations. During the years we worked out best of solutions together with countless international institutions and organizations, especially because of real sustainable working solutions, on demand production and more efficient production on more realistic demand analyses, same with optimizing sustainable supply chains and markets.
Every day counts to protect the most endangered species with all means and to bring this aspect, this task and the topic to the top on all relevant agendas – on all possible channels, daily and internationally. Of course, corresponding protected areas with the highest concentrations of life forms in all possible regions and climate zones also have priority. The ‘overprotected’ species and programs, resources, energies, .. in this context.. they should also concentrate more on these aspects, because to protect so much elephants, polar bears, giraffes, pandas, etc. who are relative save and every day important key species dying out ! It is a similar problem as with the neglected tipping points and the wrong prioritization of politics and economy – see United Nations Climate Change Conference. Only if the problems mentioned are resolved promptly the cascade effects can be reduced and possibly over decades of massive efforts stopped, and new disasters in this regard prevented. Then there may be a real chance to prevent extinction (also of humanity). Every action and every person counts in this regard, whether large or small, known or unknown. We maybe have approx two years to solve these problems and ten years to plant a trillion trees worldwide.
Bees have been declared as the most important species on planet earth. However, according to wildlife experts and scientists, the bees have joined the endangered species long list. Insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and other pesticides must be reduced, so like the air pollution. Let’s plant more wild flowers and flower trees, especially for the bees, birds and other animals who need trees to survive.We need more biotopes, real natural and wild habitats or wildlife reserves with wild meadows, mixed forests and protected areas like game reserves, landscape conservation, nature conservation and water conservation areas. Greening Deserts projects goals are mainly to restore natural landscapes like mixed forests, grasslands and wetlands – to bring back biodiversity, clean air, topsoils and water. Reduce and stop deforestation in near future, replace wood with other sustainable materials like hemp and rice straw.
Further information and news:
The Greening Camp plants like desert bamboo and hemp will improve the soils, underground water and waters in general. Drylands and wastelands can be turned into fertile lands easily with Greening Deserts technics and technologies were developed during the last three years. Hemp improves the soils in just a few years, after this other soil improving plants, environmental friendly crops and trees can be planted. Hemp will be a side product of the forestation or greening processes, it can be delivered to hemp product producers like the hemp paper branch and hemp wood industry. All would win at the end – the poor people or regions, the degraded lands or soils, the forestry, paper and wood industry – even big wood paper consumers like the book, newspaper and packaging industry. Hemp and rice straw paper books could reform the book and paper branch in many ways. If you want to know more about, don’t hesitate to contact. We are experts in these fields and markets since 2003. The worldwide cleaning of air, water,.. and the whole greening process can accelerate the global peace building process significantly.
And again! You and colleagues are welcome to join the Greening Deserts campaigns and initiatives like the official Trillion Trees Initiative to reduce negative climate changes, deforestation, droughts, desertification, land degradation, floods and global warming on a large scale – especially in human-made deserts, drylands and wastelands. The initiative was founded in 2018.
The founder launched another great initiative to reduce plastic waste in worldwide waters and it will open a complete new sustainable market. It’s called Plastic Fishery, more news will come on the plastic fisher network and platform.
Awareness programs, communications letters and statements were initiated and shared with thousands of worldwide governments, institutions and organizations in summer, autumn and winter 2019.
What do you think about? If it is also interesting for you, colleagues or company we can exchange more. Diverse collaborations, cooperations, partnerships and sponsorships are possible. Feel free to contact by the official channels and pages on Greening Deserts network.
Climate protection, nature conservation and environmental protection is also species protection. Please do not ignore and forward if you can, it affects us all. Childrens Rights are Human Rights. Clean air, soils, waters and healthy environments are Human Rights, too. We need more environmental awareness and sustainability, sustainable living and sustainable working, in all fields or areas. We need to create a world of understanding, acceptance, respect, tolerance, compassion and consciousness. – Oliver Gediminas Caplikas
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If you want to use a short link, you can use http://bitly.com/TrillionTreeInitiative, https://bit.ly/TrillionTreesInfo, http://trilliontrees.eu, http://trilliontrees.in, http://trilliontrees.us, http://trilliontrees.net, http://trilliontrees.info, http://trilliontrees.africa
Further comments and information:
After the official announcement and publishing of the Trillion Trees Initiative by Greening Deserts founder in 2017, 2018 and 2019 some imitators started also trillion trees initiatives. You can check it on Facebook, Google and Twitter by searching “trillion trees initiative” in the period of time. News media and journalists should check these facts, because there are a lot of fake news or half true information out there. For example there is the official Trillion Trees Initiative, the Trillion Trees Campaign by Plant-for-the-Planet, the One Trillion Trees Initiative by the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Trillion Trees programme or partnership by Birdlife, TrillionTrees.org and WWF. The problem is that many media outlets make no difference between the correct names, they writing for example about the “Trillion Trees Initiative” but mean the other Trillion Trees initiatives.. it is typical for mainstream media, they often copy the same half-truths scattered by certain media houses months ago. If you look closer you can see the interest groups or stakeholders of certain corporate groups, industries and political groups behind this. The main problem is, they want to plant a lot of monocultures and plant trees in areas like grasslands; this will harm biodiversity and damage more environments as before. Another point is that some of them try to do greenwashing or treewashing. The scandal is that they still collect donations and exploit cheap labor even though they have enough money. You also never hear that they really support the locals and indigenous people. We therefore distance ourselves from the other Trillion Trees initiatives, except TrillionTrees.org and the Trillion Trees Campaign, because we see that they really mean well; but it is a long way doing real ecosystem restoration, plant the right trees and native plants to support natural regeneration and wilderness.
Greening Deserts Trillion Trees Initiative got inspired by the history of the worlds forests and that the world lost over a trillion trees by deforestation, pollution and other environmental destruction caused by the humanity. Some ideas are inspired by the example of the Trillion Trees Campaign which was founded in 2006!