Fascinating and terrifying. But it does make one wonder how to harness the oceans for power - without destroying them. We humans never seem to think of the others. Not just the humans but all the creatures that live in the land he would flood?
Totally agree with this sentiment. Especially as there *are* ways to get energy from the sea without causing devastation. There's a huge underwater turbine project, the world's biggest, that's just started operations up in the Pentland Firth between the top of Scotland and Orkney:
And Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), EMEC and Marine Scotland looked at ten years of observation records about how bird and mammal life was affected in the test areas when the project was being prototyped. Their conclusion: the wildlife quickly adjusted and none of it was harmed: https://www.thenational.scot/news/15345330.wave-power-is-safe-for-wildlife-says-orkney-study/
And that's got to be a factor in megaprojects like this. And it's got to be free of greenwashing or fudging or outright lying for profits' sake, a la the existing fossil fuel industries.
Thanks for this great article! I first learned of this idea in the "The New Order" mod released for the strategy game "Hearts of Iron IV". It's a dystopian sci-fi-ish look at a future where the Nazis won WWII. Among the over the top developments: the damming of the Straits of Gibraltar!
I had no idea there was a kernel of truth in that idea. Thanks for the education!
I LOVE your ability to find and bring quirky history to life. I have never heard of this guy or this proposed project, and am not surprised it existed but fascinated to read about it. It brings so many modern and often outlandish mega-projects into perspective, too. I'm thinking of the way Singapore is building up its land base by taking Cambodia's sand and putting the survivability of many people in fishing communities at risk.
The ocean season went so many places I didn't expect and it was such a fun ride!
It kinda swept me along too! Didn't know exactly where I'd wash up... #EndingWateryMetaphorsNow
Oh wow, I hadn't looked at Singapore's sand-grab. That's...definitely the win-lose kind of megaproject, yes. Failure of imagination, or selfish capitalist myopia, or - well, both. The bad old way of doing things, sigh.
I was reading about a recent Africa solar energy megaproject called Desertec, to place solar panel networks in the Sahara and pump electricity out, including northwards into Europe. The first version, Desertec 1.0, seems to have failed partly for technical reasons, partly for political ones (including a lack of cooperation between countries in Europe and Africa), and partly because...a certain amount of people in Africa were complaining that they wouldn't be seeing the benefits! So - faint shades of Atlantropa there, maybe. But Desertec 3.0 has just launched:
...and presumably the people involved are a lot wiser now about what it'll take to get it running properly.
As long as everyone keeps agitating for a win-win approach, where everyone gets a share if they get involved - including the people whose land is being used...
Thanks, Elle! Honoured you think so, thank you. And it is absolutely mad as a box of frogs, I agree. I mean - there's a lot of things in this project that might work and go on to do amazing things.
For example, maybe a dam is a bit much, but why not a huge turbine at the bottom of the Strait of Gibraltar, pumping energy out that's split between Europe and Africa? The tech certainly exists to do it (https://www.orkney.com/news/orbital-grid).
A post-colonial, non-racist mini-Atlantropa, except without the bloody awful name, feels like it might be a good thing, if enough people decide to actually work together for a change? Especially in these increasingly energy-desperate times (thanks, Putin)...
This sounds like a plan that might combat rising sea levels. If water is desalination it could be disturbed to arid regions across the globe, and the dams reopened to are the Mediterranean sea to refill from the ocean making Ocean levels lower and maybe even decreasing desalination in oceans reducing climate change.
Fascinating and terrifying. But it does make one wonder how to harness the oceans for power - without destroying them. We humans never seem to think of the others. Not just the humans but all the creatures that live in the land he would flood?
Totally agree with this sentiment. Especially as there *are* ways to get energy from the sea without causing devastation. There's a huge underwater turbine project, the world's biggest, that's just started operations up in the Pentland Firth between the top of Scotland and Orkney:
https://www.orkney.com/news/orbital-grid
And Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), EMEC and Marine Scotland looked at ten years of observation records about how bird and mammal life was affected in the test areas when the project was being prototyped. Their conclusion: the wildlife quickly adjusted and none of it was harmed: https://www.thenational.scot/news/15345330.wave-power-is-safe-for-wildlife-says-orkney-study/
And that's got to be a factor in megaprojects like this. And it's got to be free of greenwashing or fudging or outright lying for profits' sake, a la the existing fossil fuel industries.
It could also be a goal of big engineering projects to *improve* conditions for wildlife. Why can't that be a goal? It's not technologically unfeasible. For example, using existing engineering (properly cleaned up) as platforms for underwater wildlife: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210126-the-richest-human-made-marine-habitats-in-the-world
This isn't beyond us! It just has to be done in the right way that makes everyone happy, including the capitalists...
...
So very much to unpack in this story. This expression is a priceless gift: "a perfect turducken of Nopes".
I suspect I may have unconsciously stolen this from my friend Jodi (https://jodiettenberg.substack.com/). It's a very Jodi-like line...
Thanks for this great article! I first learned of this idea in the "The New Order" mod released for the strategy game "Hearts of Iron IV". It's a dystopian sci-fi-ish look at a future where the Nazis won WWII. Among the over the top developments: the damming of the Straits of Gibraltar!
I had no idea there was a kernel of truth in that idea. Thanks for the education!
Oh wow! I have that game and had no idea that was a thing. I'll hunt it down - thank you, Joey!
And it's not the only game Atlantropa seems to appear in - although this may be a texturing accident: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/4c85sj/was_atlantropa_ever_part_of_fallout_canon/
I LOVE your ability to find and bring quirky history to life. I have never heard of this guy or this proposed project, and am not surprised it existed but fascinated to read about it. It brings so many modern and often outlandish mega-projects into perspective, too. I'm thinking of the way Singapore is building up its land base by taking Cambodia's sand and putting the survivability of many people in fishing communities at risk.
The ocean season went so many places I didn't expect and it was such a fun ride!
It kinda swept me along too! Didn't know exactly where I'd wash up... #EndingWateryMetaphorsNow
Oh wow, I hadn't looked at Singapore's sand-grab. That's...definitely the win-lose kind of megaproject, yes. Failure of imagination, or selfish capitalist myopia, or - well, both. The bad old way of doing things, sigh.
I was reading about a recent Africa solar energy megaproject called Desertec, to place solar panel networks in the Sahara and pump electricity out, including northwards into Europe. The first version, Desertec 1.0, seems to have failed partly for technical reasons, partly for political ones (including a lack of cooperation between countries in Europe and Africa), and partly because...a certain amount of people in Africa were complaining that they wouldn't be seeing the benefits! So - faint shades of Atlantropa there, maybe. But Desertec 3.0 has just launched:
https://www.poweringafrica-summit.com/partners/dii-desert
...and presumably the people involved are a lot wiser now about what it'll take to get it running properly.
As long as everyone keeps agitating for a win-win approach, where everyone gets a share if they get involved - including the people whose land is being used...
Future Everything is Amazing season idea💡:
"Things Don't Have to Suck!"
Wow, this is fascinating!
Thanks, Elle! Honoured you think so, thank you. And it is absolutely mad as a box of frogs, I agree. I mean - there's a lot of things in this project that might work and go on to do amazing things.
For example, maybe a dam is a bit much, but why not a huge turbine at the bottom of the Strait of Gibraltar, pumping energy out that's split between Europe and Africa? The tech certainly exists to do it (https://www.orkney.com/news/orbital-grid).
A post-colonial, non-racist mini-Atlantropa, except without the bloody awful name, feels like it might be a good thing, if enough people decide to actually work together for a change? Especially in these increasingly energy-desperate times (thanks, Putin)...
This sounds like a plan that might combat rising sea levels. If water is desalination it could be disturbed to arid regions across the globe, and the dams reopened to are the Mediterranean sea to refill from the ocean making Ocean levels lower and maybe even decreasing desalination in oceans reducing climate change.
First off, I love when you reference things I love like Red Mars and Force Ten From Navarone. And now I have to find a copy of the Many Coloured Land.
Finally, what an insane idea this guy had.