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Q. WHAT CAN MANKIND DO TO STOP THE
DESERTIFICATION OF SPAIN?
A. BUILD A MONSTER CASINO/WATER PARK IN THE DESERT!
Europe's largest casino complex, second in the world behind Las Vegas, is to be built in one of the driest regions of Spain, with the project's investors saying they hope to attract 25 million visitors a year. Gran Scala will eventually contain 32 casinos, 70 hotels, 232 restaurants and 500 shops, alongside replicas of Egyptian pyramids and Roman temples. There will even be a copy of the Pentagon - which will serve as a hotel in Spyland, a theme park dedicated to all things 007. There will be a bullring, too, but we will have to talk about that later.

The complex will be built on 2,000 hectares (4,943 acres) of steppe in Los Monegros, Aragón, a desert area getting drier fast (like the rest of Spain). The regional government gave the go-ahead to the €17bn (£12.1bn) Gran Scala, arguing that the site is desert, where nothing grows, and that it is ripe for construction.
Huge Los Vegas Style Casino complex will suck up whats left of the water in the Aragón
A computer rendering of the worst idea Spain has ever had?

But Greenpeace disagrees. It accuses the Aragon government of dishonesty in the way it has presented the project, arguing that the land is a rich nature reserve that should be protected, not built upon.

"Los Monegros is a place of great natural biodiversity, with a huge range of species from Africa and Asia that have been very well conserved over the last five million years," said Julio Barea of Greenpeace. "In the last five years alone, 200 new species have been discovered there. In one of the driest regions of Spain, where will we get all the water to supply Gran Scala?"

DUST IN THE WIND

According to the Spanish government one third of the country is in immediate danger of turning into desert. Spain is destroying its own environment, with little evidence that anyone will halt it. The Sahara is coming, but a booming economy and greed is preventing anyone from seeing beyond next year. However, it is unlikley that Gran Scala is the best solution to the problem.

Among the causes are unrestricted touristism and residential development, which is sucking the water out of the coastal regions, The factory vegetable fields of Almeria and Murcia (which supply cheap produce to England, are dehydrating the interior. All of these developments rely for their water on the digging of illegal wells. There are estimated to be 510,000 in Spain already and government attempts to shut them down have been met with fierce opposition. That would be so UN-free market.

Just an example: the destruction of thousands of trees on protected land near the village of Navas del Marqués, in Ávila, to build a golf course and leisure complex hit the headlines last year, and work was temporarily halted. But is now going ahead. Gotta golf. Gotta have fun.

It is tempting to conclude that global warming is also contributing to rapid desertification, but Rush Limbaugh has exposed this as pseudo science.

More info here.