Keeping with the theme of hope, permaculture and saving the world, here is another documentary about working with nature to bring healing and life back to barren land.
This project was actually started in the 1990's and it is on a mind boggling scale (an area the size of the Netherlands). This goes beyond just demonstrating that it is possible to coax a working ecosystem out of barren desert. This shows that re-forestation on a large scale actually changes weather patterns. Trees can bring water BACK to an arid region, and restoration of wetlands provides enough humidity to generate rain. This area of China had become a desert, and has now been restored to lush, productive farm land. The project began in 1994, led by pioneering Chinese scientist Li Rui. The documentary "Regreening the Desert" was filmed in 2012 by John Liu. This radical transformation was accomplished in just under 2 decades.
Here is the preview video:
And here is the full 45 minute documentary:
Take a big deep breath. Hug a tree.
There is hope for turning everything around by working with nature.