The Green Sahara

John Gaudet’s The Green Sahara is an entertaining and enlightening account of the Sahara as it went from a vast, verdant home to magnificent flora and fauna and human civilizations to the largest desert in the world, and of how innovative individuals not only coped with the Sahara’s desertification but came up with ideas to regreen it. Nearly every chapter tells of surprising discoveries, including how the green Sahara and its people affected Egyptian civilization and mythology, how the Sahara desert’s dust storms affect weather, people’s health, and agricultural productivity in the America’s, and how lessons gained from coping with desertification have world-wide relevance in dealing with the challenges of climatic changes. – Michael McGahuey, former natural resources management specialist, USAID, CARE (Chad) and the US Peace Corps (Niger)John Gaudet’s The Green Sahara is what everyone working to solve the problem of climate change—from climate advocates to researchers to policy makers—needs right now: an optimistic inquiry into a potential solution, grounded in a data-backed, actionable vision and a genuine love for the people, places, and ecologies at stake. Gaudet’s enthusiasm for the Sahara, and the possibility of making it green once again, shines through on every page, making his well-researched offering an easy and enjoyable read. – Rebecca Pryor, executive director, Guardians of Flushing BayThe African continent has a unique place in human history. Gaudet shows here how it could also play an integral part in our future. The Green Sahara, released posthumously, provides a valuable insight into the management and conservation of aquatic resources, particularly in the context of human-induced changes and today’s environmental challenges. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the impact of climate change and how, even now, we could still make a difference. – Dean Allen, PhD, author and historianJohn Gaudet’s The Green Sahara is a revelation. Instead of viewing the Sahara as forever desolate and forbidding, Gaudet inspires us to appreciate it as a source of hope for a greener future for all of us. Gaudet helped me learn that the Sahara can become green once again, not so much from huge infrastructure investments that have often failed, but from the people who actually live in the region—the innovators and adapters who know their land best and have already made impressive gains. – Andrew Sisson, professor of the practice, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

John Gaudet was an ecologist and author of Papyrus: The Plant that Changed the World (2014) and Pharaoh’s Treasure (2018). He was a Fulbright Scholar and spent 17 years in Africa establishing environmental programs throughout the continent. He wrote for National Geographic, The Washington Post, Salon, and Huffington Post, among other publications. He lived in McLean, VA.