GUARDIAN: ‘Our biggest challenge? Lack of imagination’
‘Our biggest challenge? Lack of imagination’: the scientists turning the desert green The Loess plateau, in China, in 2007, left, and transformed into green valleys and productive farmland in 2019. Composite: Rex/Shutterstock/Xinhua/Alamy In China, scientists have turned vast swathes of arid land into a lush oasis. Now a team of maverick engineers want to do the same to the Sinai Steve Rose @steverose7 Sat 20 Mar 2021 12.00 GMT Flying into Egypt in early February to make the most important presentation of his life, Ties van der Hoeven prepared by listening to the podcast 13 Minutes To The Moon – the story of how Nasa accomplished the lunar landings. The mission he was discussing with the Egyptian government was more earthbound in nature, but every bit as ambitious. It could even represent a giant leap for mankind. Van der Hoeven is a co-founder of the Weather Makers , a Dutch firm of “holistic engineers” with a plan to regreen the Sinai peninsula – the small triangle of land that co