S A H A R A
Imagine a desert stretching from Los Angeles to
New York City, from Seattle to Miami, a desert
covering the lower 48 states of the United States.
That is about the size of the Sahara Desert in
current North Africa. The sand dunes that cover
nearly a fourth of this desert are all that remains
of an ancient ocean, populated with prehistoric
crocodiles and the earliest marine whales.
There are no fossil records of these animal remains
to be discovered among these dunes. A million years
of bone abraded by sand would leave nothing for
scientists to research. Dunes are the sea now, its
waves driven by the wind.
D U N E
A decent dune can travel anywhere from one to over
one hundred and fifty feet a year. It all has to do with
wind, weather and what kind of shape your dune is in.
You don't want to bet on a star-shaped dune to win a
race because conflicting forces forms the sand into a
mountain going nowhere.
Your fastest dune is the Barchan Dune. The secret
lies in its sleek, aerodynamic crescent shape that
rushes the sand over the dune's crest in short order.
With any luck at all you should see it cross the finish
line in about ten thousand years.
S H R I M P
Imagine your desert picnic being disrupted by shrimp
swarming the hot dog relish. Ancestors of the Tadpole
Shrimp, shown above, were undoubtedly marine dwellers.
Time played them false and their world eventually dried up.
Weather patterns shift with the millennia. The rains go
north. Oceans become isolated and die, its many
life forms now extinct. Evidence of their very
existence mostly lost.
Every once in a great while a freak genetic path
reveals itself, and we discover mermaids can
live out of water. This shrimp species spends
most of its existence in suspended animation.
Pooling rainwater revives this animal long enough
to propagate another generation before
returning to the rapidly drying mud and slumber.
C A R A V A N
These merchants transport bundles of salt
across 400 kilometers of the harsh Tenere desert
of Niger. Here temperatures are often above
one hundred and water barely exists.
The land is unable to support plant life.
If you know what you're doing
you can make enough money hauling salt
to support you and your camels.
Benefits include stars at night,
no traffic and few regulations.
No doctors. No retirement.
You are dirt poor.
Somehow, however, you own a smart phone.
And you have your dignity.
I R R I G A T I O N
Parched desert lands bloom with agriculture once water
is reliably supplied to farmers. The soil's rich nutrients
are made available to cash crop vegetables such as
lettuce, Brussel Sprouts and asparagus. And the
growing season is year round. What could go wrong?
Salt.
Water evaporates in the desert sun, leaving
behind trace amounts of salt that accumulates
with each watering. In time, the fields harvest
only cheap hay because the land has become
too salty for growing finicky vegetables.
This isn't smart farming and irrigation methods
have become less wasteful, especially with the
rising costs of water.
M A R S
Columbus stepping into the unknown.
Pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock.
At least they could breath the air,
drink from streams and hunt for food.
The first humans to step onto Martian soil
are confronted with having to survive
a lethal landscape.
Of course, you must first survive the travel
to Mars which will take six to nine months.
You should set aside three years
if you plan to make this venture a round trip.
The greatest effort has been made to ensure
your comfort and safety. Nonetheless,
keep in mind you are pioneers, the pathfinders
of civilization. There are no lifeboats, no parachutes,
no spare-parts and no do-overs available
on this voyage.
Thoughts and prayers.
* * * * *
OVER EASY
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