Our species has terraformed this planet for millenia. From the initial crops our ancestors planted to the first creeks we redirected or dammed, we have been changing our environment to suit us.
As our technology has grown in recent centuries, we have inherited a long period of industrial driven planetary destruction. But there are many reasons for optimism instead of despair and apathy.
In recent decades movements have been popping up with a focus on the restoration of the planet while growing more healthy and inexpensive food.
In my view, terraforming the Earth in a positive direction and returning the environment to a pristine state is our destiny. It is well under way with large land restoration projects in China, Africa, India, and other areas. People are also practicing this on small chunks of property in growing numbers.
These movements are also accelerating with new technologies. AI is able to help us plan and condense a huge amount of environmental data. Heavy machines, drones and robotics are helping us with seed planting and shaping the land to better manage water and build soil.
This article will quickly explain what these positive terraforming movements are and how they fit into the trajectory of our species healing our world. I guess I should name them: permaculture, regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, and re-greening of deserts.
Permaculture
Permaculture follows nature to grow food and teaches us many principles for partnering with the ecosystem and each other. I feel permaculture should be the base education for every terraformer.
Water management and efficiency of work is key in permaculture. We build earthworks such as swales and terraces to hold water in the land and hydrate it. We research the correct plants to use for their properties of improving the soil, creating mulch, and being valuable for food or other uses. We let the plants and biodiversity do the bulk of the work.
Land Restoration
Restoring barren land on large scales has been happening for decades, mainly in China, India and parts of Africa. Ecosystems that have been degraded from overgrazing, destructive farming practices and drought have been brought back to life.
As a result, vegetation and animals come back. Dead creeks start flowing again. Dust storms, erosion and mud flows stop being a problem.
Often in these projects, hundreds of workers build swales and terraces to hold rain water in the land and let it soak in. Trees, shrubs and crops are planted. This forms new, healthy soil and prevents further erosion. Of course, tractors greatly improve the speed of these land restoration projects.
Regenerative Agriculture
Industrial agriculture relies on destructive practices such as planting single types of crops (monoculture), plowing and dousing the food with pesticides and fertilizers. The goal over the past century has been to turn land into a mechanized profit machine. What it has accomplished is the destruction of life in the soil.
This is also a failing model as fertilizer prices rise and single crops easily get wiped out by a single bug or disease. In the future, we will ridicule these practices as moronic.
Regenerative agriculture covers a wide range of techniques from no-till to planting many crops, cover cropping, and rotational animal grazing. Decades of lessons have shown that when we focus on soil health and copying nature, healthier food can be grown for less money up front.
Agroforestry
Agroforestry incorporates trees and shrubs into food growing and animal systems. The trees are selected for many reasons. They can be windbreaks, bring beneficial predators, create shades, be buffers from wild areas, and provide forage or mulch.
Many crops can be integrated into these systems. Biodiversity is enhanced. Water management is improved, carbon is sequestered, and the soil improves in agroforestry.
Regreening Deserts
Giant efforts are underway to turn back the encroachment of deserts. Drifting sand dunes are stopped by making grids of dead plant matter or sand bags. When the sand becomes stabilized, bushes and trees can be planted which further settles the ground.
Different techniques are used in desert with compacted, hard ground. Swales and small water holding pits can be dug where trees and other plants can grow. Desert creeks are dammed, so the water doesn’t run off in the rare storms.
Projects such as The Great Green Wall across Africa and the Loess Plateau in China are examples where former desert is being transformed into lush green landscapes. This is the epitome of Earth terraforming, in my opinion.
Small projects are beginning in the US based on desert permaculture too. Buying inexpensive desert land and “flipping it” into a food producing oasis might be a strong business model in the future.
Technology will Boost these Efforts
The near future will see these Earth terraforming projects greatly expanded using new technologies. AI and robotics will multiply our efforts greatly.
AI will help with planning and choosing the ways forward. They help by taking in many data points and suggesting the right plants, trees, and designs.
Automation in the form of robotics will greatly expand our speed at creating swales, dams, and reshaping property. Drones are already being used to sow seeds. Each of these technologies will keep expanding.
All of these efforts I consider to be under the label of “terraforming”. As mundane human labor is increasingly replaced by AI and robotics in the near future, this is a chance for us to shift our focus to healing our planet.
Working towards regenerating and healing our ecosystem has many benefits for the individual. It is highly rewarding, gives us healthier and less costly food, and brings people together.
Terraforming Earth will give us back our connection to our homeworld and each other that modern civilization temporarily took from us the past couple of centuries.
