In the book of Genesis, Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba to commemorate a treaty over his rights to a well.
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Researchers, led by Amram Eshel and Aviah Zilberstein of Tel Aviv University, are following Abraham's example and planting tamarisks, or salt cedars, in the Israel's Aravah Desert.
Desert plantations of tamarisk could suck carbon from the air and provide a biomass fuel source without competing for cropland, they said in a press release.
Approximately one hundred and fifty varieties of tamarisk were planted in the harsh desert and irrigated with sewage water and salty waste water from a desalinization plant.
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By using waste water on wastelands to grow a hardy tree, the researchers believe areas like the Sahara desert could be used to fight climate change and provide renewable energy.
"When you take the overall carbon balance of converting agricultural land and freshwater into energy products, you may not gain that much," said Eshel in a press release. "You're investing a lot of energy in the process itself, thus releasing a lot of carbon into the atmosphere."
IMAGES:
Tamarisks growing in the Negev desert (Wikimedia Commons)
Salt cedars (tamarisk) growing in Israel's Aravah Desert. (American Friends of Tel Aviv University)
Tags: Climate Change, Conservation, Deserts, Energy, Global Warming
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