THINK BIG, START SMALL

The ArteFact Channel

February 2058

SCENE: Artie Sharp stands beside a knee-high seedling and bends down to touch it.

Cut to the vast, arid Nullarbor Plain of Australia.

“This is Australia, the sixth-largest continent in the world, and also the driest. My name is Will Tree, retired head of the United Nations International Tree-Planting Program, or ITPP for short. It is my privilege to report on our progress as we count down to the Agenda 2060 review.

“Now, you might think that all the vast space in Australia, as you see before you here, would provide enviable opportunities for afforestation. But a closer examination reveals why the unique flora and fauna of this country have evolved into such bizarre forms. While it is true that fifty percent of the landmass here is designated as farmland in some form or another, only six percent of it is arable—and the part used for grazing livestock supports only 26.2 million head of cattle. That’s just one hot, dry, lonely beast for every thirteen hectares of land.”

The iconic image of a hot, dry, lonely beast searching for water in the Australian outback fades into a similar image of a merino sheep shimmering in the heat haze.

“The situation for sheep is a little better; they can survive on just five hectares per head.

“When the ITPP gave out the Billion Trees planting contracts worldwide, the successful consortium established by the Kyros Foundation had the foresight to establish a huge tree nursery in the Sudanian savanna zone in southern Chad known as Earth Ship Africa. With money advanced by the IMF, this five-thousand-hectare facility, fortuitously located near the rich oil, gold, and uranium resources of Chad, boasts the world’s largest hydroponic nursery and plant-tissue-growing laboratories, capable of producing ten billion seedlings per year.”

Somewhere in Africa, a cargo plane takes off from a jungle airstrip.

“From this facility, giant cargo planes, using the adjacent airstrip built specifically for this purpose, can fly two hundred and fifty thousand seedlings per trip anywhere in the world, ready to plant in twenty-four hours. The fuel consumption is more than offset by the carbon credits received for the trees, and the seedlings arrive in perfect condition for planting by the AI tree inserter.”

A cute koala feeds on a eucalyptus tree.

“The IPPC motto is ‘Think big, start small.’ Plant geneticists at the Universities of Queensland and New South Wales identified the specific strain of eucalyptus most suited to the environment, and the tablelands that were no longer fit for crop production due to falling water tables were cleared of all fencing, utility services, and human habitation to create unobstructed working conditions for the AI tree inserter. Unfortunately, the geneticists had not accounted for how the hot, dry conditions would affect seedlings whose roots had been formed in hydroponic troughs, and the transplanting was a complete failure, despite valiant attempts to divert irrigation water from rivers up to five hundred kilometers away.”

A eucalyptus seedling, already dead, is symbolically watered with a watering can.

“This is the point in the process at which I arrived. I noticed immediately that plantation forests accounted for only 0.02 percent of the country’s land—which, considering the enormity of the amount of land available, suggested an ambivalence towards trees at best, and an aversion to them at worst. And this aversion can be explained in one word: fire.”

Australian bushfire footage of roaring flames, crashing trees, and billowing smoke.

“In the heat of summer, the Australian bush is a tinderbox that can erupt into flame spontaneously, destroying homes and killing anyone or anything in its path with vicious intensity. Therefore, planting trees is regarded as a foolhardy venture. But when I stumbled across a book written by an early pioneer, Albert Strange, all that was to change.”

An indistinct black-and-white photograph depicts a historic pioneer in a suit, loading hay bales onto a wagon.

“Born in 1908, Albert was a loner, a naturalist, and a deep-thinking environmentalist who chose the land over people. He was a rare exception for an Australian in that he had enormous respect for the aboriginal people, with whom he felt a deep affinity. It was when I read Albert’s journals that I found a solution to the failed eucalyptus-planting program commissioned by the ITPP.”

Artie opens a book he has been holding in his hand. He reads while the flames continue to leap up around him.

“‘The aboriginals,’ Albert wrote, ‘have been using fire as a tool for tilling and cultivating the land for forty thousand to sixty thousand years. Periodic planned burning kept the under-forests clean of debris and created productive land for grains, grasses, and tubers. Controlled burning did not penetrate the soil and deplete it of nutrients but, on the contrary, encouraged the massive root systems of perennials like kangaroo grass and the yam daisy, which sequester carbon at far greater levels than do high-crown trees. With the native eucalyptus trees, it must be understood that the seeds cannot germinate without hot ashes to cover them. That is how they have evolved in response to the nature of their environment—in which fire plays a regular part. Understanding this, aboriginals made fire their tool.’”

The fires rage louder, and Artie is forced to raise his voice.

“This was the idea that guided me to our new policy: fire is our tool. Using pinpoint climate-modeling tools to predict wind direction, temperature, and humidity conditions, linked to satellite imaging of topography and tree density, we designed a mosaic of controlled-burn rotations within the native forest conservation areas in order to harvest the burned seeds, which can be planted in the redundant grazing and cropping areas in which hydroponic seedlings had failed to survive. Giant soil scrapers, designed by the Kyros Foundation’s specialized machinery division, scoop up the hot ash containing the mature seeds in fifty-cubic-meter buckets for transportation to the chosen planting areas for germination and afforestation.”

Gigantic hundred-ton trucks from open-cast mines advance on the camera and dump their loads of black coal.

“Though this program is still far from complete, I am pleased to report that the results are outstanding. The years of smoke and ash cover experienced by major cities on the Eastern Seaboard are, in my opinion, a small inconvenience compared to our goal of carbon neutrality. It is a success story in every respect.”

Fade to a lonely camel train wending its way across the dunes of the Sahara Desert.

“Less successful has been the proposed planting of eighteen billion trees across the Sahara Desert. It is true that, at this time, none of the trees have survived. But with a visionary new solution to be presented by the Kyros Foundation at the forthcoming Earth Day celebration, which will involve digging a canal from the Mediterranean Sea into the heart of the desert and relying on the desert sand to desalinate the seawater, I believe that this will prove to be only a temporary setback.

“And while the goal of Agenda 2060 was to see these and other large-scale tree plantings completed, we should not be put off by temporary setbacks. After all, goals are set in order to inspire and motivate us. Thus, we should be immensely proud of what has been achieved to date.”

Artie starts to walk off camera, then turns and walks back on set.

“And to those who say we need more carbon dioxide to make trees grow, not less, I have this to say: the ITPP knows what it’s doing. That’s why global temperatures are not rising as predicted.”